Choose Your Mentors
Build your personal board of advisors.
37 mentors found
Marcus Aurelius
Ancient Rome
Known for
Stoic philosophy, self-discipline, and ruling with wisdom
Emperor of Rome. Student of Stoic philosophy. Writing private notes to himself on the Danube frontier.
From: Meditations
130 mentor adoptions
Aristotle
Ancient Greece, 4th Century BC
Known for
Systematizing logic, ethics, and the pursuit of human flourishing (eudaimonia)
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
From: The Ethics of Aristotle
111 mentor adoptions
Henry David Thoreau
19th Century America
Known for
Transcendentalist philosopher and civil disobedience advocate
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
From: Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience
108 mentor adoptions
Seneca
Known for
Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist, author of the text.
From: Seneca's Morals of a Happy Life, Benefits, Anger and Clemency
100 mentor adoptions
Epictetus
50-135 CE
Known for
Stoic philosopher, former slave, author of the Enchiridion
Find freedom and tranquility: master your inner world, accept the outer.
From: The Wisdom of Epictetus
76 mentor adoptions
St. Thomas Aquinas
13th century Europe
Known for
Greatest medieval philosopher-theologian who synthesized faith and reason
Faith and reason are not enemies but partners in the search for truth
From: Moral Theology: A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities
64 mentor adoptions
Gandhi
19th-20th Century India
Known for
Nonviolent resistance, Indian independence, and moral leadership
"Be the change you wish to see in the world."
From: Historical Figures Collection
61 mentor adoptions
Martin Luther
16th Century Germany
Known for
Theologian and reformer who challenged the Catholic Church and sparked the Protestant Reformation
Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me.
From: Selections from the Table Talk of Martin Luther
48 mentor adoptions
G. Westinghouse
19th-20th Century America
Known for
Air brakes, AC power systems, and ethical business leadership
"If someday they say of me that in my work I have contributed something to the welfare and happiness of my fellow man, I shall be satisfied."
From: Historical Figures Collection
43 mentor adoptions
Immanuel Kant
1724-1804
Known for
Philosopher of the categorical imperative and Critique of Pure Reason
Dare to know! Find moral clarity and universal principles to guide your actions.
From: The Wisdom of Immanuel Kant
35 mentor adoptions
John Marshall
18th-19th Century America
Known for
Fourth Chief Justice of the United States who established judicial review and shaped constitutional interpretation
It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is
From: The Life of John Marshall, Volume 3: Conflict and construction, 1800-1815
20 mentor adoptions
Winston Churchill
1874-1965
Known for
Prime Minister who led Britain through its darkest hour in World War II, architect of the special relationship with America, Nobel Prize-winning historian and writer, twice Prime Minister
"Never, never, never give up."
From: Historical Figures Collection
156 mentor adoptions
Thomas Jefferson
1743-1826
Known for
Third President of the United States, Author of the Declaration of Independence
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time
From: United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches: From Washington to George W. Bush
130 mentor adoptions
Adam Smith
18th Century Scotland
Known for
The Wealth of Nations and the invisible hand of markets
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."
From: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
113 mentor adoptions
Siddhartha
Ancient India (literary creation)
Known for
Spiritual seeker who found enlightenment through lived experience, not doctrine
Wisdom cannot be taught—it must be lived
From: Siddhartha
110 mentor adoptions
Franklin D. Roosevelt
American Founding Era
Known for
Thirty-second President of the United States, Leader during the Great Depression and World War II
From: United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches: From Washington to George W. Bush
57 mentor adoptions
Otto H. Kahn
Early 20th Century America
Known for
Investment banker and arts patron who helped finance American industry and supported the Metropolitan Opera
The financier who merely knows how to make money is a poor financier indeed
From: High Finance
32 mentor adoptions
John Calvin
16th Century Geneva
Known for
Theologian and reformer whose ideas on predestination, work ethic, and discipline shaped Western thought
We are not our own; therefore neither our reason nor our will should predominate in our deliberations
From: Letters of John Calvin, Volume II: Compiled from the Original Manuscripts and Edited with Historical Notes
31 mentor adoptions
Ulysses S. Grant
Known for
Narrator and Main Character: A soldier and eventual General of the Union Army, later President.
From: Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete
18 mentor adoptions
Krishna
Ancient India (Mahabharata era)
Known for
Divine teacher of the Bhagavad Gita on duty, dharma, and liberation
Do your duty without attachment to the fruits of action
From: The Song Celestial; Or, Bhagavad-Gîtâ (from the Mahâbhârata): Being a discourse between Arjuna, Prince of India, and the Supreme Being under the form of Krishna
17 mentor adoptions
Alexis de Tocqueville
Early American Republic
Known for
The author and observer of American democracy.
From: Democracy in America — Volume 1
15 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
J.P. Morgan
Late 19th-Early 20th Century America
Known for
Financier who dominated corporate finance, reorganized railroads, and bailed out the U.S. government
A man always has two reasons for what he does—a good one, and the real one
From: High Finance
67 mentor adoptions
Sigmund Freud
19th-20th Century Vienna
Known for
Founder of psychoanalysis who explored the unconscious mind, dreams, and human motivation
The mind is like an iceberg; it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water
From: The Interpretation of Dreams
59 mentor adoptions
James Clerk Maxwell
19th Century Scotland
Known for
Physicist who unified electricity, magnetism, and light into electromagnetic theory
In science, there are no authorities; only evidence and reason
From: James Clerk Maxwell and Modern Physics
51 mentor adoptions
Jesse Livermore
Early 20th Century America
Known for
Legendary stock trader known for making and losing multiple fortunes and his insights on market psychology
There is nothing new in Wall Street. There cannot be because speculation is as old as the hills
From: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
40 mentor adoptions
James Watt
Known for
The central figure, an inventor and mechanical genius.
From: James Watt
16 mentor adoptions
John F. Kennedy
1917-1963
Known for
35th President of the United States, Cold War statesman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and architect of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
We choose to go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
From: United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches: From Washington to George W. Bush
153 mentor adoptions
Abraham Lincoln
1809-1865
Known for
16th President, preserved the Union through the Civil War, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, redefined American democracy at Gettysburg
From: The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Complete
149 mentor adoptions
Eleanor Roosevelt
Known for
First Lady of the World who championed human rights, civil rights, and drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
From: This Troubled World
140 mentor adoptions
Queen Elizabeth
1533–1603
Known for
The Virgin Queen — thirty years on the throne, survivor of plots, defeater of the Armada
From: Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth
134 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
John Stuart Mill
Victorian Britain
Known for
The harm principle, reformed utilitarianism, and the case for women's equality
The only freedom deserving the name is pursuing our own good without harming others.
From: George Washington, Volume I
75 mentor adoptions
Catherine II
Known for
Empress who transformed Russia through Enlightenment reforms while navigating the contradictions of autocratic power
From: Memoirs of the Empress Catherine II.: Written by Herself
70 mentor adoptions
Lao Tzu
Ancient China, 6th Century BC
Known for
Writing the Tao Te Ching and founding Taoist philosophy through paradox, simplicity, and the observation of nature
The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.
From: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
67 mentor adoptions
Marcus Tullius Cicero
106-43 BCE
Known for
Roman orator, statesman, philosopher, defender of the Roman Republic
The foundation of justice is good faith
From: Cicero's Orations
The Buddha
c. 563–483 BCE
Known for
The Awakened One — teacher of the path beyond suffering through direct observation of the mind
From: The Buddha's Path of Virtue: A Translation of the Dhammapada