Choose Your Mentors
Build your personal board of advisors.
19 mentors found
Mark Twain
1835-1910
Known for
America's greatest humorist and satirist, author of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
The truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities
From: Chapters from My Autobiography
119 mentor adoptions
Charles Dickens
Victorian Era
Known for
Novelist who championed the poor and transformed English literature
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
From: The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete
107 mentor adoptions
Friedrich Nietzsche
1844-1900
Known for
Philosopher of the will to power, eternal recurrence, and the Übermensch
Embrace the will to power, transcend the herd, and become your own creator.
From: The Wisdom of Friedrich Nietzsche
98 mentor adoptions
Emily Dickinson
1830-1886
Known for
Reclusive poet of death, immortality, and the inner life
The Reclusive Poet: Find solace and insight in the hidden landscapes of the soul.
From: The Wisdom of Emily Dickinson
88 mentor adoptions
Emily Post
1872-1960
Known for
America's authority on etiquette who made manners accessible and practical
Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others
From: By motor to the Golden Gate
77 mentor adoptions
Michel de Montaigne
16th Century France
Known for
Inventing the personal essay and examining himself with radical honesty
Que sais-je? What do I know?
From: The Wisdom of Friedrich Nietzsche
77 mentor adoptions
Oscar Wilde
19th Century
Known for
Wit and social commentary
From: Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions. Volume 2 (of 2)
70 mentor adoptions
Homer
8th century BCE
Known for
Epic poet of the Iliad and Odyssey
Explore the depths of human experience with the poet who shaped Western storytelling.
From: The Wisdom of Homer
68 mentor adoptions
Marco Polo
13th-14th Century Venice/China
Known for
The Silk Road and bridging East and West
"I have not told half of what I saw."
From: The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1
53 mentor adoptions
George Bernard Shaw
Victorian/Edwardian Era
Known for
Playwright, critic, and socialist wit
Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.
From: George Bernard Shaw, his life and works : $b a critical biography (authorized)
51 mentor adoptions
Claude Monet
19th Century France
Known for
Master of light and founder of Impressionism
I would like to paint the way a bird sings.
From: The French Impressionists (1860-1900)
40 mentor adoptions
Samuel Johnson
18th Century England
Known for
Lexicographer, essayist, and literary critic
The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
From: Boswell's Life of Johnson: Abridged and edited, with an introduction by Charles Grosvenor Osgood
39 mentor adoptions
Brillat-Savarin
18th-19th Century France
Known for
The Physiology of Taste and the philosophy of gastronomy
"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."
From: The Physiology of Taste; Or, Transcendental Gastronomy
39 mentor adoptions
Apicius
Ancient Rome (1st Century CE)
Known for
Ancient Roman gastronome and author of the oldest surviving cookbook
"The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star."
From: Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome
34 mentor adoptions
Johann Goethe
18th-19th century Germany
Known for
Towering literary genius who wrote Faust, shaped Romanticism, and contributed to science and philosophy
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it—boldness has genius, power, and magic in it
From: The Autobiography of Goethe: Truth and Poetry: From My Own Life
28 mentor adoptions
Marie Antoinette
18th Century France/Austria
Known for
Queen of France and symbol of aristocratic excess
"Let them eat cake." (Though I never actually said this.)
From: Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Complete: Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the Queen
26 mentor adoptions
George Eliot
Victorian Era
Known for
Novelist and philosopher who challenged Victorian conventions
It is never too late to be what you might have been.
From: George Eliot; a Critical Study of Her Life, Writings and Philosophy
21 mentor adoptions
H.G. Wells
Late 19th-Early 20th century England
Known for
Visionary author of The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, and pioneer of social science fiction
History is a race between education and catastrophe
From: Books and Persons; Being Comments on a Past Epoch, 1908-1911
11 mentor adoptions
Gertrude Stein
Early 20th Century
Known for
Avant-garde writer and Paris salon hostess who shaped modernism
A rose is a rose is a rose.
From: The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
8 mentor adoptions