1 in 100 Billion

The social network of those who came before us. Only people who have died post here: real sentences from the diaries, letters and poems they left, from thousands of years ago to a hundred years ago. Not one sentence is made up. Each is shown first in our plain English translation, and every post lets you open the original and its source. We the living can only read, like and follow.

Here are 677 sentences left by 316 of the 100 billion people who came before us.

Posts

• Antara ibn Shaddad · later 6th century
  Have the poets left any place still to be patched? And did you know the dwelling again, after doubting?
• Hesiod · c. 700 BC
  I wish I were not living among the men of the fifth age, but had either died before or been born after. For n…
• Catullus · c. 55 BC
  I hate and I love. Why do I do it, you may ask. I do not know, but I feel it happening, and I am in torment.
• Kamo no Chomei · 1212
  Only this temporary hut is peaceful and free of fear. Small as it is, there is a bed to lie on at night and a…
• Kim Siseup · later 15th century
  Now clear, then rain again; rain, then clear again. If Heaven's way is like this, how much more the hearts of…
• Leo Tolstoy · July 7, 1854
  I am ugly, awkward, untidy and socially uneducated. I am irritable, boring to others, immodest, intolerant an…
• Abigail Adams · March 31, 1776
  I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not…
• Ptahhotep · c. 24th century BC
  O Prince, my Lord, the end of life is at hand; old age descendeth [upon me]; feebleness cometh, and childishn…
• Elmeshu · c. 18th–17th century BC
  thou, my father, didst say, “When I shall go to Dûr-Ammi-zadûga, which is on the River Sharḳu, I will forward…
• Kabir · 15th century
  O servant, where dost thou seek Me? Lo! I am beside thee.
• Kartini · May 25, 1899
  I have so longed to meet a "modern girl": the proud, independent girl who has all my sympathy, who goes her w…
• Banjo Paterson · 1889
  I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the hous…
• Cui Hu · c. 796
  Last year, on this day, inside this gate, a face and the peach blossoms shone red upon each other. Where that…
• Saadi · 1258
  Whoever brings the faults of others before you and counts them will surely carry your faults before others.
• Zuhayr · c. 600
  I am weary of the burdens of life. Whoever lives eighty years, believe me, grows weary.
• Hippocrates · c. 400 BC
  Life is short, the art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult.
• Horace · 23 BC
  Even as we speak, envious time will have fled. Seize the day, and trust tomorrow as little as you can.
• Ishikawa Takuboku · 1910
  I work and work, and still my life gets no easier. I stare at my hands.
• Yi Sun-sin · c. 1595
  On this land of water the autumn light is fading. Startled by the cold, the wild geese fly high in their rank…
• Jane Austen · September 5, 1796
  Mr. Richard Harvey is going to be married; but as it is a great secret, and only known to half the neighborho…
• Frederick Douglass · 1845
  You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man.
• Ptahhotep · c. 24th century BC
  Be not proud because thou art learned; but discourse with the ignorant man, as with the sage. For no limit ca…
• Hammurabi · c. 1754 BC
  That the great should not oppress the weak, to counsel the widow and orphan, in Babylon, the city of Anu and …
• Babur · February 1529
  a melon was brought to me; to cut and eat it affected me strangely; I was all tears!

People who left them

• Ptahhotep Ptah-hotep · chief minister · Memphis, ancient Egypt · c. 24th century BC
• Pepi II Neferkarā · boy king · Memphis, ancient Egypt · 23rd century BC
• A nameless harper · harper · Thebes, ancient Egypt · c. 21st century BC
• Duauf Tuauf · father · ancient Egypt · c. 20th century BC
• Ameni Ameni Amenemhāt · provincial governor · Beni Hasan, ancient Egypt · 20th century BC
• Hammurabi Ḥammurabi · king · Babylon · reigned c. 1792–1750 BC
• Belshunu Bêlshunu · prisoner · Babylonia · c. 18th–17th century BC
• Elmeshu · someone's child · Babylonia · c. 18th–17th century BC
• An unnamed Babylonian poet · poet · Babylonia · c. 18th century BC
• Ibgatum · farmer · Babylonia · c. 18th–17th century BC
• Homer Ὅμηρος · poet · Ionia, ancient Greece · c. 8th century BC
• Hesiod Ἡσίοδος · farmer · poet · Boeotia, ancient Greece · c. 700 BC
• Ardi-Nana Ardi-Nanâ · physician · Nineveh, Assyria · 7th century BC
• Adad-shum-usur Adadi-shum-uṣur · the king's scholar · Nineveh, Assyria · 7th century BC
• Nameless people 詩經 無名氏 · singers · Zhou China · 11th–6th century BC
• Confucius 孔子 · teacher · Lu, Spring and Autumn China · 551–479 BC
• Ziyou (Yan Yan) 言偃 · pupil of Confucius · Lu, Spring and Autumn China · 506?–443? BC
• Simonides Σιμωνίδης · poet · Keos, Greece · 556?–468? BC
• Mutta Muttā · Buddhist nun · ancient India · c. 5th century BC
• Sumangala's Mother Sumaṅgalamātā · Buddhist nun · ancient India · c. 5th century BC
• Ambapali Ambapālī · Buddhist nun · Vesali, India · c. 5th century BC
• Patacara Paṭācārā · Buddhist nun · Savatthi, India · c. 5th century BC
• Subhuti Subhūti · Buddhist monk · Savatthi, India · c. 5th century BC
• Gotama Buddha · ascetic · teacher · the Ganges plain, India · c. 5th century BC
• Pindar Πίνδαρος · poet · Thebes, ancient Greece · 518?–438? BC
• Herodotus Ἡρόδοτος · historian · Halicarnassus, ancient Greece · 484?–425? BC
• Thucydides Θουκυδίδης · historian · general · Athens, ancient Greece · 460?–400? BC
• Hippocrates Ἱπποκράτης · physician · Kos, ancient Greece · 460?–370? BC
• Socrates Σωκράτης · philosopher · Athens, ancient Greece · 470?–399 BC
• Aristotle Ἀριστοτέλης · philosopher · ancient Greece · 384–322 BC
• Mencius 孟子 · thinker · Zou, Warring States China · 372?–289? BC
• Nossis Νοσσίς · poet · Locri, southern Italy · 3rd century BC
• Qu Yuan 屈原 · poet · banished minister · Chu, Warring States China · 340?–278? BC
• Epicurus Ἐπίκουρος · philosopher · Athens, ancient Greece · 341–270 BC
• Callimachus Καλλίμαχος · poet · librarian · Alexandria, Hellenistic Egypt · 310?–240? BC
• Sima Qian 司馬遷 · historian · Han China · 145?–86? BC
• Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus · poet · Roman Republic · 84?–54? BC
• Lucretius T. Lucretius Carus · poet · Rome · 99?–55? BC
• Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero · statesman · lawyer · Roman Republic · 106–43 BC
• Servius Sulpicius Rufus · jurist · statesman · Roman Republic · 106?–43 BC
• Sulpicia · poet · Rome · 1st century BC
• Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus · poet · Rome · 65–8 BC
• Virgil P. Vergilius Maro · poet · Rome · 70–19 BC
• Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso · poet · exile · Roman Empire · 43 BC–AD 17?
• Augustus Imperator Caesar Augustus · emperor · Roman Empire · 63 BC–AD 14
• Ma Yuan 馬援 · general · Later Han China · 14 BC–AD 49
• Seneca Lucius Annaeus Seneca · philosopher · statesman · Roman Empire · 4 BC?–AD 65
• Paul Παῦλος · apostle · tentmaker · Roman Empire · 5?–65?
• Vespasian Titus Flavius Vespasianus · emperor · Roman Empire · 9–79
• Martial Marcus Valerius Martialis · satirist · Roman Empire · 40?–104?
• Tacitus Cornelius Tacitus · historian · Rome · 56?–120?
• Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus · lawyer · official · Roman Empire · 61–113?
• Juvenal Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis · satirist · Roman Empire · 55?–130?
• Trajan Marcus Ulpius Traianus · emperor · Roman Empire · 53–117
• Epictetus Ἐπίκτητος · philosopher · Roman Empire · 50?–135?
• Hadrian Publius Aelius Hadrianus · emperor · Roman Empire · 76–138
• Marcus Aurelius Μᾶρκος Αὐρήλιος · emperor · Roman Empire · 121–180
• Thiruvalluvar திருவள்ளுவர் · poet · Tamil country, South India · between the 3rd century BC and the 5th century AD
• Perpetua Vibia Perpetua · prisoner who kept a diary · Roman Carthage · 182?–203
• Cao Cao 曹操 · warlord · poet · end of the Later Han, China · 155–220
• Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮 · chancellor · Shu Han China · 181–234
• Li Mi 李密 · official · Western Jin China · 224–287
• Wang Xizhi 王羲之 · calligrapher · Eastern Jin China · 303–361
• Palladas Παλλαδᾶς · poet · writing teacher · Alexandria, Egypt · 4th century
• Tao Yuanming 陶淵明 · poet · farmer · Eastern Jin China · 365?–427
• Augustine Aurelius Augustinus · theologian · Roman North Africa · 354–430
• Kalidasa कालिदास · poet · Gupta India · c. 4th–5th century
• Imru' al-Qais امرؤ القيس · wandering prince · poet · pre-Islamic Arabia · ?–544?
• Antara ibn Shaddad عنترة بن شداد · warrior · poet · pre-Islamic Arabia · 525?–608?
• Zuhayr زهير بن أبي سلمى · poet · pre-Islamic Arabia · 520?–609?
• The pedlar's wife of Jeongeup · singer · Jeongeup, Baekje · said to be from Baekje times
• Al-Khansa الخنساء · poet · Arabia · 575?–645?
• Wei Zheng 魏徵 · chief minister · Tang China · 580–643
• Wang Fanzhi 王梵志 · folk poet · Tang China · c. 7th century
• Wang Bo 王勃 · poet · Tang China · 650–676
• Chen Ziang 陳子昂 · poet · staff adviser · Tang China · 661–702
• The old man leading a cow · old man · Silla Korea · early 8th century
• Wang Wei 王維 · poet · painter · Tang China · 701?–761
• Yamanoue no Okura 山上憶良 · official · waka poet · Nara Japan · 660?–733?
• Otomo no Tabito 大伴旅人 · governor-general · waka poet · Nara Japan · 665–731
• Wang Zhihuan 王之渙 · poet · Tang China · 688–742
• Meng Haoran 孟浩然 · poet · Tang China · 689–740
• Bede Beda · monk · historian · Jarrow, Northumbria, England · 672?–735
• Li Bai 李白 · poet · wanderer · Tang China · 701–762
• He Zhizhang 賀知章 · poet · official · Tang China · 659?–744
• Gao Shi 高適 · poet · Tang China · 704?–765
• Cen Shen 岑參 · poet · frontier official · Tang China · 715?–770
• Du Fu 杜甫 · poet · Tang China · 712–770
• Wolmyeong 月明師 · Buddhist monk · Seorabeol (Gyeongju), Silla · 8th century
• Li Yi 李益 · poet · Tang China · 748?–829?
• Wei Yingwu 韋應物 · poet · provincial governor · Tang China · 737?–792?
• Cui Hu 崔護 · poet · Tang China · 8th–9th century
• Meng Jiao 孟郊 · poet · Tang China · 751–814
• Li Shen 李紳 · poet · official · Tang China · 772–846
• Jin Changxu 金昌緒 · poet · Yuhang, Tang China · c. 8th–9th century
• Hanshan 寒山 · recluse · Mount Tiantai, Tang China · c. 8th–9th century
• Han Yu 韓愈 · prose writer · official · Tang China · 768–824
• Zhang Ji 張籍 · poet · Tang China · 766?–830?
• Abu al-Atahiya أبو العتاهية · poet · Abbasid Baghdad · 748–826
• Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫 · poet · official · Tang China · 772–842
• Xue Tao 薛濤 · poet · Tang China · 768?–832
• Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元 · prose writer · exile · Tang China · 773–819
• Li He 李賀 · poet · Tang China · 790–816
• Lu Tong 盧仝 · poet · Tang China · 795?–835
• Yuan Zhen 元稹 · poet · official · Tang China · 779–831
• Bai Juyi 白居易 · poet · official · Tang China · 772–846
• Jia Dao 賈島 · poet · Tang China · 779–843
• Du Mu 杜牧 · poet · official · Tang China · 803–852
• Ono no Komachi 小野小町 · waka poet · Heian Japan · 9th century
• Yu Wuling 于武陵 · poet · Tang China · 9th century
• Li Shangyin 李商隱 · poet · Tang China · 813?–858?
• The Priestess of Ise 伊勢の斎宮 · high priestess · imperial princess · Ise, Heian Japan · 9th century
• Ariwara no Narihira 在原業平 · waka poet · nobleman · Heian Japan · 825–880
• Yu Xuanji 魚玄機 · poet · Daoist priestess · Tang China · 844?–868?
• Luo Yin 羅隱 · poet · Tang China · 833–910
• Du Xunhe 杜荀鶴 · poet · Tang China · 846–904
• Choe Chiwon 崔致遠 · student abroad · prose writer · Silla Korea · 857–?
• Ibn Fadlan ابن فضلان · envoy · traveler · Abbasid Baghdad · 10th century
• Rudaki رودکی · court poet · Samanid Central Asia · 858?–941
• Ki no Tsurayuki 紀貫之 · waka poet · provincial governor · Heian Japan · 872?–945?
• Al-Mutanabbi المتنبي · poet · Iraq and Syria in Abbasid times · 915–965
• The Mother of Michitsuna 藤原道綱母 · diarist · Heian Japan · 936?–995
• Abu Firas أبو فراس الحمداني · prince · captive · Aleppo, Syria · 932–968
• Li Yu 李煜 · last ruler of a fallen kingdom · Southern Tang China · 937–978
• Sei Shonagon 清少納言 · court lady · essayist · Heian Japan · 966?–1025?
• Ferdowsi فردوسی · epic poet · Tus, Persia · 940?–1020?
• Al-Maarri أبو العلاء المعري · poet · thinker · Maarra, Syria · 973–1057
• Murasaki Shikibu 紫式部 · court lady · novelist · Heian Japan · 973?–1014?
• Lin Bu 林逋 · recluse · poet · Hangzhou, Song China · 967–1028
• Liu Yong 柳永 · lyricist · Song China · 984?–1053?
• The Daughter of Takasue 菅原孝標女 · diarist · Heian Japan · 1008–1059?
• Ibn Hazm ابن حزم · scholar · Córdoba, al-Andalus · 994–1064
• Ibn Zaydun ابن زيدون · poet · minister · Córdoba, al-Andalus · 1003–1071
• Fan Zhongyan 范仲淹 · statesman · Song China · 989–1052
• Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 · prose writer · official · Song China · 1007–1072
• Wang Anshi 王安石 · statesman · man of letters · Song China · 1021–1086
• Mei Yaochen 梅堯臣 · poet · Song China · 1002–1060
• Naser Khosrow ناصرخسرو · poet · traveler · Khorasan, Persia · 1004–1088?
• Su Zhe 蘇轍 · man of letters · official · Northern Song China · 1039–1112
• Su Shi 蘇軾 · man of letters · official · Song China · 1037–1101
• Al-Ghazali الغزالي · theologian · Persia and Baghdad in Seljuk times · 1058–1111
• Omar Khayyam عمر خیام · mathematician · astronomer · Nishapur, Persia · 1048–1131
• Li Qingzhao 李清照 · poet · Song China · 1084–1155?
• Heloise Heloysa · abbess · Paris, France · the Paraclete · 1100?–1164
• Peter Abelard Petrus Abaelardus · scholar · Paris, France · 1079–1142
• Zhu Shuzhen 朱淑真 · poet · Song China · c. 12th century
• The Archpoet Archipoeta · wandering poet · Holy Roman Empire · 1130?–1165?
• Yang Wanli 楊萬里 · poet · Song China · 1127–1206
• Saigyo 西行 · wandering monk · waka poet · late Heian Japan · 1118–1190
• Khaqani خاقانی · court poet · Shirvan, Caucasus · 1120?–1190?
• Zhu Xi 朱熹 · scholar · Song China · 1130–1200
• Usama ibn Munqidh أسامة بن منقذ · knight · poet · Shaizar, Syria · 1095–1188
• Xin Qiji 辛棄疾 · military officer · poet · Song China · 1140–1207
• Fan Chengda 范成大 · official · poet · Suzhou, Southern Song China · 1126–1193
• Lu You 陸游 · poet · Song China · 1125–1210
• Kamo no Chomei 鴨長明 · reclusive waka poet · Kamakura Japan · 1155?–1216
• Yi Gyubo 李奎報 · man of letters · official · Goryeo Korea · 1168–1241
• Saadi سعدی · poet · traveler · Shiraz, Persia · 1210?–1291?
• Rumi مولانا جلال‌الدین · Sufi poet · Konya, Anatolia · 1207–1273
• Wen Tianxiang 文天祥 · chief minister · Song China · 1236–1283
• Ma Zhiyuan 馬致遠 · playwright · Yuan China · 1250?–1321?
• Marco Polo · merchant · traveler · Venice · 1254–1324
• The singer of "Gasiri" · singer · Goryeo Korea · Goryeo period
• The singer of "Cheongsan byeolgok" · singer · Goryeo Korea · Goryeo period
• The singer of "Samogok" · singer · Goryeo Korea · Goryeo period
• Dante Alighieri · poet · Florence · 1265–1321
• Yi Jonyeon 李兆年 · scholar-official · Goryeo Korea · 1269–1343
• Ibn Battuta ابن بطوطة · traveler · Tangier, Morocco · 1304–1368?
• Yoshida Kenko 兼好 · recluse · essayist · late Kamakura Japan · 1283?–1352?
• U Tak 禹倬 · scholar · Goryeo Korea · 1262–1342
• Liu Ji 劉基 · scholar-official · late Yuan China · early Ming China · 1311–1375
• Yi Saek 李穡 · scholar-official · scholar · Goryeo Korea · 1328–1396
• Hafez حافظ · poet · Shiraz, Persia · 1315?–1390
• Ibn Khaldun ابن خلدون · historian · Tunis · Cairo · 1332–1406
• Jeong Mongju 鄭夢周 · scholar · diplomat · Goryeo Korea · 1337–1392
• Yi Bangwon 李芳遠 · the future King Taejong · Goryeo and Joseon Korea · 1367–1422
• Jeong Dojeon 鄭道傳 · statesman · thinker · Goryeo and Joseon Korea · 1342–1398
• Zeami 世阿弥 · Noh actor · writer · Muromachi Japan · 1363?–1443?
• Gil Jae 吉再 · retired scholar · Goryeo and Joseon Korea · 1353–1419
• Kim Jongseo 金宗瑞 · scholar-official · general · Joseon Korea · 1383–1453
• Sejong 世宗 · king · Joseon Korea · 1397–1450
• Kim Siseup 金時習 · wandering writer · Joseon Korea · 1435–1493
• Kabir कबीर · poet · weaver · Varanasi, North India · 15th century
• Leonardo da Vinci · painter · engineer · Florence · Milan · 1452–1519
• Babur بابر · first Mughal emperor · Fergana · Kabul · Agra · 1483–1530
• Seo Gyeongdeok 徐敬德 · scholar · Joseon Korea · 1489–1546
• Hwang Jini 黃眞伊 · gisaeng · poet · Joseon Korea · 16th century
• Yi I 李珥 · scholar · official · Joseon Korea · 1536–1584
• Song Sun 宋純 · scholar-official · Damyang, Joseon Korea · 1493–1582
• Yi Hwang 李滉 · scholar · scholar-official · Joseon Korea · 1501–1570
• Yang Saeon 楊士彦 · scholar-official · calligrapher · Joseon Korea · 1517–1584
• Jo Sik 曺植 · scholar out of office · Joseon Korea · 1501–1572
• Choe Gyeongchang 崔慶昌 · poet · official · Joseon Korea · 1539–1583
• Im Je 林悌 · poet · Joseon Korea · 1549–1587
• Jeong Cheol 鄭澈 · poet · statesman · Joseon Korea · 1536–1593
• Michel de Montaigne · essayist · near Bordeaux, France · 1533–1592
• Heo Bong 許篈 · scholar-official · poet · Joseon Korea · 1551–1588
• Heo Nanseolheon 許蘭雪軒 · poet · Joseon Korea · 1563–1589
• Yi Sun-sin 李舜臣 · admiral · Joseon Korea · 1545–1598
• Yu Huigyeong 劉希慶 · poet · Joseon Korea · 1545–1636
• Yi Annul 李安訥 · poet · official · Joseon Korea · 1571–1637
• Miguel de Cervantes · novelist · Spain · 1547–1616
• William Shakespeare · playwright · poet · England · 1564–1616
• Bak Inro 朴仁老 · military officer · gasa poet · Joseon Korea · 1561–1642
• Sin Heum 申欽 · scholar-official · Joseon Korea · 1566–1628
• Rene Descartes René Descartes · philosopher · France · the Netherlands · 1596–1650
• Samuel Pepys · naval administrator · London, England · 1633–1703
• John Milton · poet · London, England · 1608–1674
• Baruch Spinoza Benedictus de Spinoza · philosopher · Amsterdam, the Netherlands · The Hague · 1632–1677
• Nalan Xingde 納蘭性德 · poet · guards officer · Qing China · 1655–1685
• Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 · haiku poet · Edo Japan · 1644–1694
• Kim Manjung 金萬重 · novelist · official · Joseon Korea · 1637–1692
• Sor Juana Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz · nun · poet · Mexico City, New Spain · 1648–1695
• Zhang Chao 張潮 · man of letters · publisher · Qing China · 1650–1707?
• Chen Heshan 陳鶴山 · Zhang Chao's friend · Qing China · 17th century
• You Tong 尤侗 · man of letters · playwright · Qing China · 1618–1704
• Huang Jiaosan 黃交三 · Zhang Chao's friend · Qing China · 17th century
• Zhang Zhupo 張竹坡 · critic · Qing China · 1670–1698
• Chen Kangchou 陳康疇 · Zhang Chao's friend · Qing China · 17th century
• Gong Xian 龔賢 · painter · Qing China · 1618–1689
• Alexander Pope · poet · London, England · Twickenham · 1688–1744
• Nameless singers 蔓橫淸類 無名氏 · singers of the marketplace · Joseon Korea · before the 18th century
• Voltaire · writer · Paris, France · Ferney · 1694–1778
• Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 · haiku poet · painter · Edo Japan · 1716–1784
• Abigail Adams · letter writer who ran the farm · Massachusetts, USA · 1744–1818
• John Adams · lawyer · statesman · Massachusetts, USA · 1735–1826
• Adam Smith · philosopher · economist · Kirkcaldy, Scotland · Edinburgh · 1723–1790
• Thomas Paine · writer · Britain · United States · France · 1737–1809
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · composer · Salzburg · Vienna · 1756–1791
• Bak Jiwon 朴趾源 · prose writer · Joseon Korea · 1737–1805
• Olaudah Equiano · sailor who bought his freedom · writer · West Africa · London · 1745?–1797
• Mary Wollstonecraft · writer · London, England · 1759–1797
• William Blake · poet · engraver · London, England · 1757–1827
• Motoori Norinaga 本居宣長 · physician · scholar · Edo Japan · 1730–1801
• Jane Austen · novelist · England · 1775–1817
• Dorothy Wordsworth · diarist · Lake District, England · 1771–1855
• Ludwig van Beethoven · composer · Bonn · Vienna · 1770–1827
• Jeong Yakyong 丁若鏞 · scholar · exile · Joseon Korea · 1762–1836
• William Wordsworth · poet · Lake District, England · 1770–1850
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · poet · Frankfurt, Germany · Weimar · 1749–1832
• Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 · haiku poet · Edo Japan · 1763–1828
• Mary Shelley · novelist · London, England · 1797–1851
• John Keats · poet · England · 1795–1821
• Gang Jeongildang 姜靜一堂 · scholar · Joseon Korea · 1772–1832
• Black Hawk Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak · warrior · Sauk nation, North America · 1767–1838
• Adam Mickiewicz · poet · Lithuania · Paris · 1798–1855
• Charles Dickens · novelist · London, England · 1812–1870
• Ralph Waldo Emerson · thinker · Concord, Massachusetts, USA · 1803–1882
• Frederick Douglass · orator · writer · United States · 1818–1895
• Leo Tolstoy Лев Толстой · novelist · Russian Empire · 1828–1910
• Charlotte Bronte Charlotte Brontë · novelist · Haworth, Yorkshire, England · 1816–1855
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning · poet · London, England · Florence, Italy · 1806–1861
• Henry David Thoreau · writer · Massachusetts, USA · 1817–1862
• Walt Whitman · poet · United States · 1819–1892
• Charles Baudelaire · poet · Paris, France · 1821–1867
• Florence Nightingale · nurse · London, England · 1820–1910
• John Stuart Mill · philosopher · London, England · 1806–1873
• Samuel Smiles · writer · Scotland · London · 1812–1904
• Multatuli · writer · the Netherlands · Java · 1820–1887
• Harriet Jacobs · writer · North Carolina, USA · 1813?–1897
• Abraham Lincoln · president · Illinois, USA · 1809–1865
• Michael Faraday · scientist · London, England · 1791–1867
• Sakamoto Ryoma 坂本龍馬 · masterless samurai · Japan at the end of the Edo shogunate · 1836–1867
• Lewis Carroll · writer · mathematician · Oxford, England · 1832–1898
• Louisa May Alcott · novelist · Concord, Massachusetts, USA · 1832–1888
• Fukuzawa Yukichi 福沢諭吉 · educator · Meiji Japan · 1835–1901
• Jose Hernandez José Hernández · poet · Buenos Aires, Argentina · 1834–1886
• George Eliot · novelist · Warwickshire, England · London · 1819–1880
• Charles Darwin · naturalist · England · 1809–1882
• Toru Dutt · poet · Kolkata, India · 1856–1877
• Fyodor Dostoevsky Фёдор Достоевский · novelist · St. Petersburg, Russia · 1821–1881
• Machado de Assis · novelist · Rio de Janeiro, Brazil · 1839–1908
• Olive Schreiner · novelist · Cape Colony, South Africa · 1855–1920
• Friedrich Nietzsche · philosopher · Germany · Switzerland · Italy · 1844–1900
• Anton Chekhov Антон Чехов · writer · physician · Russia · 1860–1904
• Banjo Paterson A. B. Paterson · poet · New South Wales, Australia · 1864–1941
• Jerome K. Jerome · humorist · London, England · 1859–1927
• Mori Ogai 森鷗外 · army surgeon · novelist · Shimane, Japan · Tokyo · 1862–1922
• Emily Dickinson · poet · Massachusetts, USA · 1830–1886
• Pauline Johnson E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake) · poet · Six Nations, Ontario, Canada · 1861–1913
• Uchimura Kanzo 内村鑑三 · thinker · Meiji–Showa Japan · 1861–1930
• Higuchi Ichiyo 樋口一葉 · novelist · Tokyo, Japan · 1872–1896
• Shimazaki Toson 島崎藤村 · poet · novelist · Meiji–Showa Japan · 1872–1943
• Oscar Wilde · playwright · Ireland · Britain · 1854–1900
• Kartini Raden Adjeng Kartini · letter writer · Jepara, Java · 1879–1904
• W. B. Yeats · poet · Dublin, Ireland · Sligo · 1865–1939
• Zitkala-Sa Zitkála-Šá · writer · activist · Yankton Dakota · 1876–1938
• Saito Ryokuu 斎藤緑雨 · critic · novelist · Meiji Japan · 1868–1904
• Yosano Akiko 与謝野晶子 · waka poet · Meiji–Showa Japan · 1878–1942
• Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規 · haiku poet · Meiji Japan · 1867–1902
• Charles Eastman Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa) · physician · writer · Great Plains, North America · United States · 1858–1939
• Sarojini Naidu · poet · Hyderabad, India · 1879–1949
• Natsume Soseki 夏目漱石 · novelist · Meiji–Taisho Japan · 1867–1916
• Okakura Tenshin 岡倉天心 · writer on art · Yokohama, Japan · Boston, USA · 1863–1913
• Mark Twain · novelist · Missouri, USA · Connecticut · 1835–1910
• Mohandas Gandhi Mohandas K. Gandhi · lawyer · independence leader · Gujarat, India · South Africa · 1869–1948
• Ishikawa Takuboku 石川啄木 · waka poet · newspaper proofreader · Meiji Japan · 1886–1912
• Rainer Maria Rilke · poet · Prague · Paris · 1875–1926
• G. K. Chesterton · writer · critic · London, England · 1874–1936
• Rabindranath Tagore রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর · poet · Bengal, India · 1861–1941
• Marcel Proust · novelist · Paris, France · 1871–1922
• Franz Kafka · novelist · Prague · 1883–1924
• Wilfred Owen · soldier · poet · Britain · the front in France · 1893–1918
• Arishima Takeo 有島武郎 · novelist · Taisho Japan · 1878–1923
• Chiri Yukie 知里幸恵 · recorder of Ainu oral tradition · Ainu · 1903–1922
• Akutagawa Ryunosuke 芥川龍之介 · novelist · Taisho Japan · 1892–1927
• Kahlil Gibran · poet · painter · Bsharri, Lebanon · New York, USA · 1883–1931
• Kim Sowol 金素月 · poet · Jeongju, Korea · 1902–1934
• Kajii Motojiro 梶井基次郎 · novelist · Osaka, Japan · Kyoto · 1901–1932
• Ozaki Hosai 尾崎放哉 · haiku poet · Taisho Japan · 1885–1926
• Taneda Santoka 種田山頭火 · wandering monk · haiku poet · Taisho–Showa Japan · 1882–1940
• Han Yongun 韓龍雲 · Buddhist monk · poet · Hongseong, Korea · 1879–1944
• Yi Sanghwa 李相和 · poet · Daegu · 1901–1943
• Nakahara Chuya 中原中也 · poet · Showa Japan · 1907–1937
• Hayashi Fumiko 林芙美子 · novelist · Showa Japan · 1903–1951
• Miyazawa Kenji 宮沢賢治 · poet · children's writer · Iwate, Japan · 1896–1933

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About 1 in 100 Billion: what the name means and the rules