JD Vance as classic literary figures.

I’m so sorry.

1. JD Austen 2. JD Shakespeare

For President's Day, a reminder:

Of the 45 people who have served as President of the United States, at least 33 studied Latin in school.

Why? Latin Education is Leadership Education.

A brief thread: 1/


For the Founding Generation? Latin proficiency was a prerequisite for higher education.

Adams and Jefferson were reading Cicero, Caesar, and Virgil at a young age.

Ancient Greek was expected, too.

Some, like James Madison, even studied and mastered Hebrew at university. 2/

Happy President's Day!

In 1771, Thomas Jefferson's brother-in-law asked him what books every gentleman should own.

Jefferson responded with a list of hundreds.

I'll include the full list at the end of the thread, but here are a few gems I think you'll want to check out: 🧵👇 10. Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso (1581)

This Italian epic melds history with myth to tell the story of the First Crusade and its "deliverance" of Jerusalem from Muslim rule.

An inspiring chivalric tale, it is fundamentally about the clash between love and duty.

For Valentine's Day, a top ten countdown of the best classic love poems.

Which one's your favorite? And which ones did I miss? Let me know. 10. Sonnet #43, from Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘦? 𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴..."

On this day, Feb. 9, 1881, Fyodor Dostoevsky breathed his last.

His dying wish?

For his children to be gathered around him and read a story.

It was his final lesson to his children, and it is the key to understanding his work.

Thread 👇 Dostoevsky's daughter Aimée recounts the scene:

“He made us come into the room, and, taking our little hands in his, he begged my mother to read the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

He listened with his eyes closed, absorbed in his thoughts..." 2/

On this day, Jan. 27, 1302, Dante Alighieri found himself cast into the wilderness.

Not allegorically. Literally.

But only after losing everything could he find his true life's purpose.

A thread on Dante's midlife crisis, what he learned from it and you can too. 🧵👇 1/ Dante wasn't always *just* a poet. His first vocation was politics. A dangerous game in Florence.

At age 35, he was at the top of the city's political pile.

At age 37? It was all gone.

His career? Over. His wealth? Stolen.

His life? He was an exile, on pain of death. 2/

Let's have some fun and play "Finish that line..." Shakespeare edition.

Answer key at the end of the thread. Share your score in the replies.

Let's start with an easy one.

1. From Julius Caesar:

"Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ____" 2. From King Lear:

"How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a ____"

Happy 133rd Birthday, J.R.R. Tolkien.

If you've ever been inspired by Tolkien's works, perhaps you'd like to learn what books inspired him.

A thread of 15 works that shaped Tolkien's imagination: 1. Andrew Lang's Red Fairy Book

Lang's Fairy Books and his version of Sigurd and the Dragon captivated Tolkien as a child.

Tolkien later wrote: "I desired dragons with a profound desire... the world that contained even the imagination of Fáfnir was richer and more beautiful."

Everyone knows A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens’s timeless tale of Christmas redemption.

But did you know he wrote four other Christmas novellas?

Here’s the story of why Dickens returned to Christmas again and again — and why they're still great reads today. 🧵👇 First published on December 19, 1843, A Christmas Carol was an immediate sensation — selling out its 6,000 print run before Christmas Eve.

The novella’s success inspired Dickens to make Christmas literature a yearly tradition.

Happy 126th Birthday to C.S. Lewis, born on this day, November 29, 1898.

In 1962, he was asked what books most influenced him.

He responded with a list of 10 books.

They're Great Books. I recommend you read them -- or, at least, read this thread about them: 10. George MacDonald's Phantastes

A fantasy novel about a young man searching for his female ideal in a dream-world.

Lewis once said: "I have never concealed the fact that I regard [MacDonald] as my master... I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him."

Long before Tolkien’s fantasy worlds enchanted us, other stories enchanted him.

Ever wonder which books sparked his imagination?

Here's a thread of 15 works — some high-brow, some low, all fascinating — that shaped Tolkien's world: 1. Beowulf

Beowulf was Tolkien's academic specialty, and he consciously drew upon it in LOTR.

Ents, orcs & elves are all taken from Beowulf.

Gollum is partly based on the monster Grendel.

And the dragon Smaug (in The Hobbit) mirrors Beowulf's dragon.

But that's not all.

Leonardo da Vinci was a true polymathic genius, not just as an artist and inventor, but also as a thoughtful writer

Scattered in his Notebooks are memorable aphorisms on life, philosophy, and art.

Here are 15 of his best. 🧵 15. Impatience, the mother of stupidity, praises brevity.

Happy 170th Birthday (one day late) to one of literature's most acid pens, Oscar Wilde.

A thread of the controversial playwright's most insulting (and amusing) quotations.

Which is your favorite?🧵👇 20. "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their life a mimicry, their passions a quotation." - De Profundis

In 1887, Mark Twain was asked what books every boy and girl should read.

He responded with a list of seven.

It's a list of Great Books, and they're not just for kids.

I think adults should read them, too -- or, at least, read this thread about them: 🧵 7. Defoe's The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

A timeless shipwrecked adventure story, Crusoe faces challenge after challenge on his desert island.

Crusoe's saga is a testament to the importance of perseverance, ingenuity, and never giving up.

Before he was a leader, Napoleon Bonaparte was a reader.

He read *everything* -- romances, plays, histories, myths.

A thread of (some of) Napoleon's favorite works of literature. 🧵👇

(Inspired by "Napoleon's Library" by Louis Sarkozy - an interesting book, I recommend it). 10. Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther

Napoleon idolized Goethe and even summoned him for a meeting in 1808.

Werther is an epistolary novel, chronicling the obsessions and failures of a highly emotional young man, struggling to cope with a failed romance.

He's "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history."

At least, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says so.

On today, his 315th birthday, a thread of the most quotable wit and wisdom of the inimitable Dr. Samuel Johnson. 🧵👇 20. "A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still."

~Dr. Johnson, Boswell's Life

Happy Father's Day!

Celebrate with this thread of fatherly advice from one of the most quotable books of all time:

The Earl of Chesterfield's "Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman." 🧵👇 15. "I recommend you to take care of the minutes: for hours will take care of themselves."

Twelve of Literature's Most Underrated Classics (from your suggestions).

A thread: 🧵👇 But first: most of these books are highly (and properly) esteemed.

They just have fallen off mainstream classics reading lists.

So, when I declare these titles "underrated," that's all I mean -- that they're often overlooked and not as widely read as they should be.

Happy Birthday, William Butler Yeats, born June 13, 1865.

His poems possess a lyricism and emotional intensity that is nonpareil and an insight into the modern world that often feels prophetic.

A thread of excerpts from my favorite W.B. Yeats poems: 🧵👇 10. When You Are Old, by W.B. Yeats (1893)

"A gentleman never hurts anyone's feelings, 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺," Oscar Wilde once wrote.

A thread of the playwright's most insulting (and amusing) quotations.

Which is your favorite?🧵👇 25. “I never saw anybody take so long to dress, and with such little result.” - The Importance of Being Earnest

It's been said that C.S. Lewis possessed "the rare gift of being able to make righteousness readable."

A thread of some of his most memorable quotes.

Which is your favorite? 🧵👇 1. "There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal."