On the Happy Life
→ Lucilius Junior
The happy man is one whose reason recommends to him every act. The wise man's soul ought to be such as would be proper for a god—uplifted, fearless, and greater than his troubles.
Archive
Browse our complete collection of 97 letters, speeches, lectures, and essays, organized chronologically from 1964 to 1585.
82 Letters
1 Speeches
5 Lectures
9 Essays
62 Years Covered
1964
On Taking One's Own Life
→ Lucilius Junior
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. The willing, destiny guides them. The unwilling, destiny drags them.
1963
On Master and Slave
→ Lucilius Junior
They are slaves, people declare. Nay, rather they are men. Slaves, you say. Nay, comrades. Slaves, you insist. Nay, they are unpretentious friends.
Letter from Birmingham Jail
→ Fellow Clergymen
I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the eighth-century prophets left their little villages and carried their 'thus saith the Lord' far beyond the boundaries of their hometowns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the Greco-Roman world, I too am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my particular hometown.
1962
On Despising Death
→ Lucilius Junior
Death either annihilates us or strips us bare. If it strips us bare, then there remains the better part after the separation; if it annihilates us, then nothing remains and our troubles are at an end.
On Festivals and Fasting
→ Lucilius Junior
Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: 'Is this the condition that I feared?'
On the Terrors of Death
→ Lucilius Junior
No evil is great which is the last evil of all. Death arrives; it would be a thing to dread, if it could remain with you. But death must either not come at all, or else must come and pass away.
On True Friendship
→ Lucilius Junior
When friendship is settled, you must trust; before friendship is formed, you must pass judgment.
On the Shortness of Life
→ Lucilius Junior
It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it.
On the Shortness of Time
→ Lucilius Junior
Continue to act thus, my dear Lucilius—set yourself free for your own sake; gather and save your time, which till lately has been forced from you, or filched away, or has merely slipped from your hands.
1946
Letter to W.E.B. Du Bois
→ Prof. W.E.B. Du Bois
There is so much similarity between the position of the Untouchables in India and of the position of the Negroes in America that the study of the latter is not only natural but necessary.
Letter to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
→ Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
I have often heard of your name and work and of course have every sympathy with the Untouchables of India. I shall be glad to be of any service I can render if possible in the future.
1939
Some Recent Work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard
→ Franklin D. Roosevelt
Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future.
Letter to Adolf Hitler
→ Adolf Hitler
Friends have been urging me to write to you for the sake of humanity. But I have resisted their request, because of the feeling that any letter from me would be an impertinence.
1933
Recovery Before Reform
→ Franklin D. Roosevelt
You have made yourself the trustee for those in every country who seek to mend the evils of our condition by reasoned experiment within the framework of the existing social system.
1931
The Economic Situation and the Gold Standard
→ Ramsay MacDonald
The choice is between a managed currency and the gold standard. I believe that a managed currency is inevitable and that the sooner we face this fact the better.
1930
Letter to B. K. Dutt
→ Batukeshwar Dutt
I am anxiously waiting for the day when I will embrace the gallows. It will demonstrate to the world how bravely the revolutionaries can sacrifice themselves for the cause.
Letter to Father
→ Sardar Kishan Singh
I am astounded to learn that you have filed a petition to defend me in the Lahore Conspiracy Case. This is something I never expected from you.
Letter to B. K. Dutt's Sister
→ Pramila Devi
Do not come to Lahore until you receive another letter from me. Battu has been transferred to another jail and his separation has become unbearable for me.
Letter to Jaidev Gupta
→ Jaidev Gupta
Please do me a favour. There is a terrible famine of books at Borstal Jail. They have made me in charge of the library there.
1929
Letter to I.G. (Prisons), Punjab
→ Inspector-General (Jails), Punjab
Justice demands that every under trial should be given all those facilities which help him to prepare and contest the case.
Letter to Shaheed Sukhdev
→ Sukhdev Thapar
I am full of ambition and hope and of full charm of life. But I can renounce all at the time of need, and that is the real sacrifice.
1928
Discovery of the Raman Effect
→ Editor, Nature Journal
In the case of every liquid so far examined, the scattered light contains modified radiations which are not present in the incident beam.
1925
Striving for Swaraj
Our wise men have warned us, in solemn accents of Sanskrit, to talk away as much as we like, but never to write it down. There are proofs, many of them, that I have habitually disregarded this sage advice, following it only when called upon to reply.
The Cult of the Charka
Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray has marked me with his censure in printer's ink, for that I have been unable to display enthusiasm in the turning of the Charka. But, because it is impossible for him to be pitiless to me even when awarding punishment, he has provided me with a companion in my ignominy in the illustrious person of Acharya Brajendra Nath Seal.
1921
The Union of Cultures
It cannot but be admitted that this is a day of victory for the people of the West. The world is theirs to draw upon as they please and their stores are overflowing. We are left standing at a distance, agape, watching our share growing less and less; and with the fire of our hunger blazes the fire of our wrath.
East and West in Greater India
The History of India,— of whom is it the History? This history began with the day when the white-skinned Aryans, overcoming all obstacles, natural as well as human, made their entry into India. And yet they could not say that this India was exclusively their India.
The Way to Get It Done
The river may think that it divides a country, but it really brings one part nearer another by carrying commerce and keeping open a permanent way. In a disunited country foreign domination is just such a unifying agency, and it is as the instrument of divine providence for this purpose that British Rule in India has been touched with glory.
A Cry for Peace
The world is crying for peace. The West is desiring the restoration of peace through a League of Powers. But can Powers find their equilibrium in themselves? Power cannot be made secure only against power, it must also be made secure against the weak, for there lies the peril of its losing balance.
Our Swadeshi Samaj
We must clearly understand that in the present age it is not Samaj alone that guides the destiny of people, it is the Sarkar, the government. And if we remain content only to worship the Samaj, if we are afraid to handle the Sarkar, then the outcome will be that others will handle our Sarkar for us, and in their use it will become an instrument of torture for the Samaj.
1917
The Spirit of Japan
One morning the whole world looked up in surprise, when Japan broke through her walls of old habits in a night and came out triumphant. It was done in such an incredibly short time, that it seemed like a change of dress and not like the slow building up of a new structure.
What is Art?
In Art, man reveals himself and not his objects. For which reason the question, 'What is Art?' can never be finally answered without taking man himself into consideration.
Nationalism in the West
The idea of the Nation is one of the most powerful anaesthetics that man has invented. Under the influence of its fumes the whole people can carry out its systematic programme of the most virulent self-seeking without being in the least aware of its moral perversion.
1916
Japan: A Lecture
Japan has felt, in her world, the touch of some presence, which has evoked in her soul a feeling of reverent adoration. She does not boast of her mastery of nature, but to her she brings, with infinite care and joy, her offerings of love.
1915
Mourning Gokhale: A Letter of Grief and Dedication
→ Mahatma Gandhi
He was an incomparable friend, stern and loyal in admonition and reproof, tender and gracious in sympathy and kinship.
1914
Education and Freedom
→ C.F. Andrews
Education should be a joyful process of discovery, not a mechanical cramming of facts. We must free our children from the prison of examinations and marks.
1912
The Gardener and Gitanjali
→ W.B. Yeats
I am glad that you have found some beauty in my translations. I know they are not poetry in the true sense of the word, but they may serve as a bridge between two literatures.
India's Epic
Generally speaking poetry may be divided into two classes: some of them are the individual utterances of their authors, others breathe the voice of a large community. The Muse of a whole country or race speaks through them.
1910
The Law of Love - Tolstoy's Final Letter to Gandhi
→ Mahatma Gandhi
The longer I live-especially now when I clearly feel the approach of death-the more I feel moved to express what I feel more strongly than anything else, and what in my opinion is of immense importance, namely, what we call the renunciation of all opposition by force, which really simply means the doctrine of the law of love unperverted by sophistries.
Love as the Highest Law of Life
→ Mahatma Gandhi
Love... represents the highest and indeed the only law of life, as everyone knows and feels in the depths of his heart, but which is so clouded by falsehood that people do not see it.
Response on Indian Home Rule
→ Mahatma Gandhi
I have just received your letter and your book, Indian Home Rule. I read your book with great interest because I think the question you treat in it: the passive resistance — is a question of the greatest importance, not only for India but for the whole humanity.
Letter with Indian Home Rule
→ Leo Tolstoy
As a humble follower of yours, I send you herewith a booklet which I have written. It is my own translation of a Gujrati writing.
1909
Second Letter to Tolstoy
→ Leo Tolstoy
I beg to tender my thanks for your registered letter in connection with the letter addressed to a Hindu, and with the matters that I dealt with in my letter to you.
First Reply to Gandhi
→ Mohandas K. Gandhi
Just now I have received your very interesting letter, which gives me great pleasure. May God help all your dear brothers and co-workers in the Transvaal.
First Letter to Leo Tolstoy
→ Leo Tolstoy
I take the liberty of inviting your attention to what has been going on in the Transvaal (South Africa) for nearly three years.
1908
A Letter to a Hindu
→ Tarak Nath Das
Love is the only way to rescue humanity from all ills, and in it you too will find the solution of the Indian question.
1907
The Evolution of Life - Mechanism and Teleology
Life transcends both mechanism and finality by its very definition. The essence of life is in the movement by which life is transmitted; it is this continuity of movement, it is this heredity, that is the life of life.
1903
The Joy of Living
→ Kermit Roosevelt
I want you to feel that you have in you the making of a man, and I want you to be eager to develop what is best in you.
1902
A Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury
→ The Secretary of the Treasury
Forty-five tons best old dry government bonds, suitable for furnace, gold 7 per cents., 1864, preferred.
Religion and Neurology
The pivot round which the religious life, as we have traced it, revolves, is the interest of the individual in his private personal destiny.
1901
The Economic Drain from India
→ Secretary of State for India
The political economy of British rule in India is a most deplorable and destructive process of bleeding the country to death.
1900
Mission and Purpose in India
→ Miss Josephine MacLeod
I want to do things only because they are my Father's will.
1897
De Profundis
→ Lord Alfred Douglas
The one thing that gave me comfort was the written word. In Miserere mei, Deus, I found a form of prayer. Behind the yellow bars of my cell I watched the sunrise.
1894
My Ideal Indeed Can Never Be Yours
→ Alasinga Perumal
My ideal indeed can never be yours. You are you, I am I. You have to be Alasinga, I have to be Vivekananda.
1889
A New Study of a Starry Sky
→ Theo van Gogh
This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big.
The Crucified One
→ Franz Overbeck
My dear friend Overbeck, I have just now had all anti-Semites shot. Dionysos.
1888
The Starry Night and the Cypress
→ Theo van Gogh
I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day. I have been working on a new painting representing a starry night.
Letter to Theo about Health and Art
→ Theo van Gogh
People matter more than things, and the more trouble I take over pictures, the more pictures in themselves leave me cold. I would far rather give up painting than see you killing yourself to make money.
1878
Letter to Theo about Spiritual Crisis and the Miners
→ Theo van Gogh
It would not be easy to live without the Faith in Him and the old confidence in Him; without it one would lose one's courage. Those people, never see the sunshine—yet they trust themselves to God.
1877
Letter to Theo about Theological Studies
→ Theo van Gogh
I long to write to you again, perhaps it will be a rather long time before we see each other. Polish it all the time, and polish it again—work, take pains, that is what one must do.
1864
Letter to Mrs. Bixby
→ Mrs. Lydia Bixby
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
1863
The Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
1862
Are You Too Deeply Occupied to Say if My Verse is Alive?
→ Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive? The Mind is so near itself – it cannot see, distinctly – and I have none to ask.
1861
My Very Dear Wife
→ Sarah Hart Shumway Ballou
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days, perhaps tomorrow.
1860
On the Origin of Species Defense
→ Asa Gray
I am aware that the conclusion at which I have arrived will be denounced by many as highly irreligious, but he who denounces it is bound to show why it is more irreligious to explain the origin of man as a distinct species by descent from other forms.
1859
A theory most dangerous to natural theology
→ Thomas Huxley
I know that you will be prepared to listen with that candor which I have ever found in you. I am quite conscious that my work will be assailed from all quarters, but I believe the truth will eventually prevail.
1858
On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties
→ Alfred Russel Wallace (via Charles Lyell)
I never saw a more striking coincidence; if Wallace had my manuscript sketch written out in 1842, he could not have made a better short abstract!
1856
Master, I Am a Man Who Has Perfect Faith
→ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Master, I am a man who has perfect faith. Master, we have not come through centuries, caste, heroisms, fables, to halt in this land today.
1855
I Greet You at the Beginning
→ Walt Whitman
I greet you at the beginning of a great career, which yet must have had a long foreground somewhere, for such a start.
1848
To My Old Master
→ Thomas Auld
I intend to make use of you as a weapon with which to assail the system of slavery—as a means of concentrating the facts of that institution.
1845
The Meaning of Freedom
→ William Lloyd Garrison
I can hardly believe that I, who was but yesterday a slave on a Maryland plantation, should today be seated in New England writing these words as a free man.
1844
On the Species Question
→ Joseph Dalton Hooker
I am almost convinced that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable.
1843
My Darling, Darling Angel
→ Jenny von Westphalen Marx
My darling, darling angel, what a place you have in my heart! When I am apart from you, I feel like a schoolboy who has lost his way.
1819
Letter to Fanny Brawne - On Beauty and Love
→ Fanny Brawne
I never knew before, what such a love as you have made me feel, was. I cannot conceive any beginning of such love as I have for you but beauty.
Letter to Fanny Brawne - Passionate Declaration
→ Fanny Brawne
I want a brighter word than bright, a fairer word than fair. I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days—three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.
My Bright Star
→ Fanny Brawne
I want a brighter word than bright, a fairer word than fair. I almost wish we were butterflies and lived but three summer days—three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.
1818
The Mansion of Many Apartments
→ John Hamilton Reynolds
I compare human life to a large Mansion of Many Apartments, two of which I can only describe, the doors of the rest being as yet shut upon me.
1817
On Beauty and Truth
→ George and Thomas Keats
I spent Friday evening with Wells & went the next morning to see Death on the Pale horse. It is a wonderful picture, when West's age is considered; But there is nothing to be intense upon; no women one feels mad to kiss; no face swelling into reality.
Negative Capability
→ George and Tom Keats
Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason.
1816
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer
→ Charles Cowden Clarke
I sat down to read King Lear once again the thing appeared to demand the prologue of a Sonnet, I wrote it & began to read—(I know you would like to see it)
1813
The Resurrection of Friendship
→ John Adams
The same political parties which now agitate the United States have existed through all time, and this difference of opinion, instead of being a cause of concern, is in the order of nature and may even be useful.
Pride and Prejudice Published at Last
→ Cassandra Austen
I have got my own darling child from London. I must confess that I think her as handsome as ever. The work is rather too light & bright & sparkling; it wants shade.
1812
A Letter of Reconciliation
→ Thomas Jefferson
A new year has commenced, and brings with it a hope that it may be more auspicious to our beloved country than the preceding one has been.
1806
We Have Penetrated the Continent
→ Thomas Jefferson
In obedience to your orders we have penetrated the Continent of North America to the Pacific Ocean, and sufficiently explored the interior of the country to affirm with confidence that we have discovered the most practicable route which does exist across the continent.
1802
It was impossible for me to leave the world
→ His Brothers
It was impossible for me to leave the world before I had brought forth all that I felt called upon to bring forth. Oh, you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me.
1801
Letter to Cassandra about 'First Impressions'
→ Cassandra Austen
I would not let Martha read 'First Impressions' again upon any account, and am very glad that I did not leave it in your power.
1800
Letter to Cassandra about the Ball
→ Cassandra Austen
There were twenty dances, & I danced them all, & without any fatigue. It was the same room in which we danced 15 years ago! I thought it all over, & in spite of the shame of being so much older, felt with thankfulness that I was quite as happy now as then.
1796
I Wake Filled with Thoughts of You
→ Josephine de Beauharnais
I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the remembrance of last night's delirium have robbed my senses of repose.
Letter to Cassandra about Tom Lefroy
→ Cassandra Austen
I mean to confine myself in future to Mr. Tom Lefroy, for whom I don't care sixpence.
1794
On Federal Authority and the Whiskey Rebellion
→ Alexander Hamilton
I consider this insurrection as the first formidable fruit of the Democratic Societies; brought forth I believe too prematurely for their own views, which may contribute to the annihilation of them.
1784
My Dear Friend
→ William Strahan
You and I were long friends; you are now my enemy, and I am yours. But let me tell you that I consider your present political conduct as the only error of a sensible man, and I still regard you with the same friendly feelings I ever had.
Of Flying Machines and Human Progress
→ Sarah Franklin Bache
A few days ago I witnessed an astonishing sight - men floating through the air in a silk bag filled with inflammable air. What use may this discovery be put to? Perhaps making lift of human bodies, so as to facilitate the carriage of burdens?
1780
On the Method of Scientific Discovery
→ Joseph Priestley
What signifies Philosophy that does not apply to some Use? But if you had never studied the Nature of Air... we should never have enjoyed the immense Advantage of breathing dephlogisticated Air, as a Remedy for putrid Diseases.
1776
Remember the Ladies
→ John Adams
I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors.
1768
On Air Baths and Health
→ Dr. Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg
I rise almost every morning and sit in my chamber without any clothes whatever, half an hour or an hour, according to the season, either reading or writing.
1605
The Monteagle Letter - Warning of the Gunpowder Plot
→ Lord Monteagle
My lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care of your preservation, therefore I would advise you as you tender your life to devise some excuse to shift of your attendance at this parliament.
1585
I Have Taken All Knowledge to be My Province
→ Lord Burghley
I have taken all knowledge to be my province; and if I could purge it of two sorts of rovers — whereof the one with frivolous disputations, confutations, and verbosities; the other with blind experiments, and auricular traditions and impostures — hath committed so many spoils, I hope I should bring in industrious observations, grounded conclusions, and profitable inventions and discoveries.