Photograph by Elisa Cabot. (CC BY 2.0)

Milan Kundera

Image from an illuminated manuscript of Boethius teaching two students.

Boethius

(c. 480 - c. 524)

Black and white image of German dramatist Heinrich von Kleist.

Heinrich von Kleist

(1777 - 1811)

English writer and scholar J.R.R. Tolkien.

J.R.R. Tolkien

(1892 - 1973)

Sherwood Anderson

(1876 - 1941)

Alice Munro

Margaret Atwood

Black and white photograph of a young Mark Twain with dark hair.

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

Samuel Butler

(1835 - 1902)

Rachel de Queiroz

(1910 - 2003)

Photograph of English art critic, novelist, and painter John Berger.

John Berger

(1926 - 2017)

Samuel Johnson

(1709 - 1784)

Julie Beck

Photograph of German literary critic Walter Benjamin.

Walter Benjamin

(1892 - 1940)

Black and white photograph of French novelist, essayist, and playwright Albert Camus.

Albert Camus

(1913 - 1960)

Jay Griffiths

Jane Kenyon

(1947 - 1995)

Black and white photograph of political scientist and philosopher Hannah Arendt holding a cigarette.

Hannah Arendt

(1906 - 1975)

Photograph by Brendan Schulman (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Dara Horn

Painting of Benjamin Franklin reading a batch of papers next to a classical bust.

Benjamin Franklin

(1706 - 1790)

Image of Japanese haiku poet Matsuo Bashō.

Matsuo Basho

(1644 - 1694)

Alciphron

(c. 200 - c. 280)

Giovanni Pontano

(1426 - 1503)

Photograph of American poet Mary Oliver.

Mary Oliver

(1935 - 2019)

Shantideva

(c. 685 - c. 763)

Émeric Bergeaud

(c. 1818 - c. 1858)

Dorothy Parker working at her typewriter.

Dorothy Parker

(1893 - 1967)

Depiction of Persian mathematician and poet Omar Khayyam.

Omar Khayyam

(1048 - 1131)

Emilia Pardo Bazán

(1852 - 1921)

Painting of a man with shoulder-length curly hair wearing a white square collar

Benedict de Spinoza

(1632 - 1677)

French man of letters Denis Diderot.

Denis Diderot

(1713 - 1784)

Oil painting portrair Michel de Montaigne in red robes and white collar

Michel de Montaigne

(1533 - 1592)

David Wootton

David Wootton

Betty Friedan

(1921 - 2006)

Émilie du Châtelet

(1706 - 1749)

Clarice Lispector

(1920 - 1977)

Miya Tokumitsu

Preston Sturges

(1898 - 1959)

Hans Holbein portrait of Sir Thomas More.

Thomas More

(1478 - 1535)

Claire de Duras

(1777 - 1828)

Russian author Anton Chekhov.

Anton Chekhov

(1860 - 1904)

Zadie Smith

Giacomo Leopardi

(1798 - 1837)

Jiddu Krishnamurti

(1895 - 1986)

Classical engraving of Aristophanes with a long beard.

Aristophanes

(c. 446 BC - c. 386 BC)

Margery Kempe

(c. 1373 - c. 1438)

Image of French poet François Villon.

François Villon

(1431 - c. 1463)

Maddy Crowell

Maddy Crowell

Rana Dasgupta

Henry Freedland

Henry Freedland

Japanese diarist and poet Sei Shōnagon.

Sei Shonagon

(c. 966 - c. 1025)

Zhu Youdun

(1379 - 1439)

American writer Phillip Lopate.

Phillip Lopate

Rose Wilder Lane

(1886 - 1968)

Portrait of young Arthur Schopenhauer wearing a brown suit and a cravat.

Arthur Schopenhauer

(1788 - 1860)

Alex Comfort

(1920 - 2000)

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Plato

(c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC)

Italian poet Dante Alighieri.

Dante Alighieri

(1265 - 1321)

Adam Sternbergh

Bernardino de Sahagún

Bernardino de Sahagún

(c. 1500 - c. 1590)

William Davies

Photography by Joi. (CC BY 2.0)

John Perry Barlow

(1947 - 2018)

George Saunders

Chinese poet Tao Qian.

Tao Qian

(365 - 427)

Black and white image of Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca the Younger.

Seneca the Younger

(4 BC - 65)

Psychologist and writer Lauren Slater.

Lauren Slater

Al-Ghazali

(1058 - 1111)

Efua Traoré

Painting of Ivan Goncharov sitting in a chair.

Ivan Goncharov

(1812 - 1891)

Epicurus

(c. 341 BC - c. 270 BC)

Dubravka Ugrešić

Black and white photograph of Friedrich Nietzsche with a huge mustache.

Friedrich Nietzsche

(1844 - 1900)

Guy Maddin

Saint Augustine (detail), by Philippe de Champaigne, c. 1645.

Saint Augustine

(354 - 430)

Portrait of English writer Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary Wollstonecraft

(1759 - 1797)

American writer Ray Bradbury.

Ray Bradbury

(1920 - 2012)

Manuel Camilo dos Santos

(1905 - 1987)

British writer Vita Sackville-West.

Vita Sackville-West

(1892 - 1962)

American poet, journalist, and essayist Walt Whitman.

Walt Whitman

(1819 - 1892)

Painted portrait of English philosopher Jeremy Bentham.

Jeremy Bentham

(1748 - 1832)

Black and white image of English scholar, writer, and clergyman Robert Burton.

Robert Burton

(1577 - 1640)

Painting of Persian Muslim poet Farid ud-Din Attar.

Farid ud-Din Attar

(c. 1142 - c. 1220)

Blaise Pascal

(1623 - 1662)

Portrait of Chinese Daoist Zhuangzi.

Zhuangzi

(c. 369 BC - 286 BC)

Ann Bridge

(1889 - 1974)

Image of English naturalist Charles Darwin.

Charles Darwin

(1809 - 1882)