Though professing philosophy as his guide in life and following her rule, Marcus Aurelus makes no pretence to learning or wisdom for himself.

"I have learned from my grandfather Verus : the lessons of noble character and even temper.

From my father's reputation and my memory of him: modesty and manliness.

From my mother: piety and bountifulness, to keep myself not only from doing evil but even from dwelling on evil thoughts, simplicity too in diet and to be far removed from the ways of the rich.

From my mother's grandfather: not to have attended public schools but enjoyed good teachers at home, and to have learned the lesson that on things like these it is a duty to spend liberally.

From my tutor: not to become a partisan of the Green jacket or the Blue in the races, nor of Thracian or Samnite gladiators; to bear pain and be content with little; to work with my own hands, to mind my own business, and to be slow to listen to slander."

Meditation of an Emperor - The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius

This book deals with the story of Seneca who was one of the eminent Latin writers and philosophers of the Silver Age. Young, he was fascinated with the philosophical thoughts of the Stoics, to which sect he became devoted. He even adopted the austere modes of life they inculcated, and refused to eat the flesh of animals; but when the emperor, Tiberius, threatened to punish some Jews and Egyptians for abstaining from certain meats, at the suggestion of his father, he departed from this singularity.

Seneca : Story of the Philosopher, Dramatist and Roman Statesman

This book deals with the story of Thomas Edison. This remarkable inventor, of whom the public has heard so much, was born in 1847 at the little village of Milan, Ohio. His mother was of Scotch parentage, but born in Massachusetts; she was finely educated, literary and ambitious, and had been a teacher in Canada. Young Edison's only schooling came from his mother, who taught him spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic. He lost his mother in 1862, but his father, a man of vigorous constitution, is still living, aged seventy-four. When he was seven years old, his parents removed to Port Huron, Michigan. The boy disliked mathematics, but was fond of reading, and, before he was twelve years old, had read the "Penny Cyclopædia, " Hume's "England, " and Gibbon's "Rome." He early took to the railroad, and became a newsboy on the Grand Trunk line, running into Detroit. Here he had access to a library, which he undertook to read through; but, after skimming over many hundred miscellaneous books, he adopted the plan of select reading on subjects of interest to him...

The Story of a Prolific Inventor: Thomas Edison

This book deals with the life and works of Victor Hugo, one of the great and best-known french writer. His romances occupy an important position in the history of literature. "Men like Victor Hugo can be killed or they may be banished, but they cannot be bought; neither can they be intimidated into silence. He resigned his pension and boldly expressed himself in his own way.He knew history by heart and toyed with it; politics was his delight. But it is a mistake to call him a statesman. He was bold to rashness, impulsive, impatient and vehement. Because a man is great is no reason why he should be proclaimed perfect. Such men as Victor Hugo need no veneer-the truth will answer: he would explode a keg of powder to kill a fly. He was an agitator. But these zealous souls are needed-not to govern or to be blindly followed, but rather to make other men think for themselves. Yet to do this in a monarchy is not safe.The years passed, and the time came for either Hugo or Royalty to go; France was not large enough for both. It proved to be Hugo; a bounty of twenty-five thousand francs was offered for his body, dead or alive. Through a woman's devotion he escaped to Brussels. He was driven from there to Jersey, then to Guernsey.It was nineteen years before he returned to Paris-years of banishment, but years of glory. Exiled by Fate that he might do his work!..."

Livres