Khalil Gibran (1883 - 1931) Lebanese-American poet and writer. He was the author of The Prophet, The Broken Wings , Beloved, The Three Ants and many others (His name is sometimes spelled Kahlil)

Sleeping at noon
the body of the Blue Heron
poised in nobility

Earl Mines, Professor of Japanese at Princeton
University. Japan linked poetry
Princeton University Press, 1979

Winston Churchill (1874-1965)  British politician, army officer, and writer. 

Treplion's last speech in Chekov's , the Sea Gull.
"I'm coming and more to the conclusion
that it's a not thinking at all of what form to
choose, writes because it comes pouring
out from his soul."

Thomas Edison - (1847-1931) American inventor and businessman. He invented many devices in fields such as electric power generation, communication, sound recording, and motion pictures.

Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879, - April 18, 1955)

Source: Albert Einstein: a documentary biography, Carl Seelig (1956), p. 194.

Life
is like a butterfly
whatever it is.

Alex Kerr, Lost Japan
Lonely Planet Publishers 1996

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 -1900) German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist, and a Latin and Greek scholar.

Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879, - April 18, 1955)

Oscar Wilde - (October 16, 1854 - November 30, 1900) Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet.
(Picture by W. and D. Downey - From Wikimedia Commons)

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910) American writer, humorist, publisher, and lecturer.

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 - April 15, 1865) The 16th president of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865

Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist. He is considered to be one of the greatest French writers. 

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 -1900) German philosopher, cultural critic, composer, poet, philologist, and a Latin and Greek scholar.

Eugène Ionesco (1909 - 1994) Romanian-born French dramatist. Wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost dramatists of the 20th century. 

Mary Ann Evans (1819 - 1880) Also known by her pen name George Eliot, was one of the leading English writers of the Victorian era .

Will Durant,  Durant explains,  "The essential causes of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars"

(Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 665).

Albert Camus ~ (November 7, 1913 – January 4, 1960) French philosopher, author, and journalist.

Photo credit: Manfred Richter

Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC) Chinese philosopher and politician. His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, sincerity and justice.

Albert Camus ~ (1913 – 1960) French philosopher, author, and journalist.