Collection Quotees

Horace was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). His career coincided with Rome's momentous change from a republic to an empire. Horace can be regarded as the world's first autobiographer. In his writings, he tells us far more about himself, his character, his development, and his way of life, than any other great poet of antiquity.

Cicero was a Roman statesman and philosopher who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire. Cicero is considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists. Cicero's influence on the Latin language was immense. He wrote more than three-quarters of extant Latin literature that is known to have existed in his lifetime, and it has been said that subsequent prose was either a reaction against or a return to his style, not only in Latin but in European languages up to the 19th century.

Charles Bukowski was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his adopted home city of Los Angeles. Bukowski's work addresses the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women, and the drudgery of work. The FBI kept a file on him as a result of his column Notes of a Dirty Old Man in the LA underground newspaper Open City.

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. Tolstoy received nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906 and for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902, and 1909. That he never won is a major controversy. Tolstoy is best known for the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction.

Alexander the Great was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. A member of the Argead dynasty, he was born in Pella—a city in Ancient Greece—in 356 BC. He succeeded his father King Philip II to the throne at the age of 20, and spent most of his ruling years conducting a lengthy military campaign throughout Western Asia and Northeastern Africa.

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, Leonardo da Vinci also became known for his notebooks, in which Leonardo made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and paleontology.