When you have looked around this website a little bit, you have found quotes everywhere. I just love quoting other people’s pearls of wisdom! Some of the quotes are from my favorite books, others I found online. And the Internet makes it so easy to access this wealth of wisdom, too. So below is a list with all the wonderful books—and some songs, too—from which I have quoted, here on this website or in my books. For some of the ancient Greek and Chinese classics there are several different translations; I just listed examples in this list.
Even though I read e-books, I just love to sit down with a real book in my hands. And I love spending time in bookstores, browsing through all the wonderful books there, inhaling the atmosphere. So should you want to acquire one of the books listed below, I encourage you to get it at your local bookstore. You can find an independent bookstore near you here.
But yes, of course I too buy online sometimes. And some older books are in the public domain now and accessible online for free. Thus you find links to public domain materials in the following list where applicable. For your convenience, the cover images link to Amazon.com for books—or music—available there. I participate in their Associates program.
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Aesop (620 – 564 BCE), The Old Man and his Sons / The Bundle of Sticks. In: Aesop’s Fables.
E-book available online in different formats at Project Gutenberg and at Internet Archive. |
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Allen, James (1902). As A Man Thinketh.
E-book available online in different formats at Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive. |
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Arthus-Bertrand, Yann (1999). Earth from Above. |
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Beah, Ishmael (2007). A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. |
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The Beatles (1967). Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, from the album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”.
Vimeo video from the 1968 movie “Yellow Submarine”. |
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Buber, Martin (1923). Ich und Du.
German original. |
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Buber, Martin (1937). I and Thou. Translated by Ronald Gregor Smith.
E-book available online in different formats at Internet Archive. |
| — | Chesterton, G. K. (1911). Alarms and Discursions.
E-book available online in different formats at Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive. |
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Eliot, T. S. (1941). The Dry Salvages, V. In: Four Quartets. |
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Empedocles (1908/2009). The Fragments of Empedocles, translated into English verse by William Ellery Leonard.
E-book available online in different formats at Internet Archive. |
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Franklin, Benjamin (1755). Poor Richard’s Almanac.
E-book available online in different formats at Internet Archive. |
| — | Franklin, Benjamin (n.d.). Unpublished letter to Mary Stevenson Hewson on January 27, 1783. In: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, sponsored by The American Philosophical Society and Yale University.
Digital edition by the Packard Humanities Institute. |
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Harburg, Edgar Yipsel “Yip” (1939). Over the Rainbow, sung by Judy Garland in the movie “The Wizard of Oz”.
YouTube clip from the movie. |
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Hardy, Thomas (1902). The Mayor of Casterbridge – The Life and Death of a Man of Character.
E-book available online in different formats at Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive. |
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Howard, Aaron (2014). Heart on Fire. |
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Hume, David (1741-2; 1748): Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary.
E-book available online in different formats at Internet Archive. |
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Kelsang Gyatso, Geshe (2000). Eight Steps to Happiness: The Buddhist Way of Loving Kindness. |
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Laozi (n.d.). Tao Te Ching.
There are many different translations of this Chinese classic. Some are available as e-books at Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive, and Sacred Books of the East. More modern translations are for example by Stephen Mitchell, which is contemporary, or by Addiss and Lombardo, who stay closer to the original text. |
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Lennon, John (1971). Imagine, from the album “Imagine”.
Original video (poor video quality) on YouTube. |
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Marsden, John (1995). The Third Day, the Frost. |
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Mey, Reinhard (1974). Über den Wolken, from the album „Wie vor Jahr und Tag“.
Recent YouTube video from a German TV show. |
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Min, Anchee (2000). Becoming Madame Mao. |
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Montgomery, L. M. (1908). Anne of Green Gables.
E-book available online in different formats at Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive. |
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Moore, Clement Clarke (1822). Twas the Night before Christmas.
Also called A Visit from St. Nicholas. There are a lot of illustrated books with this beautiful poem. E-book available online in different formats at Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive. |
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Plato (360 BCE). Cratylus.
E-book available online in different formats at Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive. |
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Rumi, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad (n.D.). The Works of Shams of Tabriz.
Shiva, Shahram (1995). Rending the Veil: Literal and Poetic Translations of Rumi. Hohm Press. |
| — | Sackville-West, Vita (1926). The Land: Winter.
E-book available at Project Gutenberg Canada. |
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Shakespeare, William (1603?). Hamlet.
E-book in different formats available at Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive. Shakespeare, William (n.d.). The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. In: Oakshot Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Illustrated, Inline Footnotes) (Classics Book 4) [free Kindle Version]. The Complete Works of Shakespeare online. |
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Shaw, George Bernard (1903). Man and Superman. A Comedy and a Philosophy.
E-book available online in different formats at Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive. |
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Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1821). Queen Mab, Book II.
E-book available online in different formats at Wikisource and Internet Archive. |
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Twain, Mark (1872). Roughing It.
E-book available online in different formats at Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive. |
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de Vigny, Alfred (1913). Journal d’un poète.
E-book available online in different formats at Internet Archive. |
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Wilder, Thornton (1930). The Woman of Andros.
E-book available online at Internet Archive. |
