The Greatest Books of All Time on Morality

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
3 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925 American English
10 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy 1877 Russian Russian
12 War and Peace Leo Tolstoy 1869 Russian Russian
14 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov 1955 American English
18 The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky 1880 Russian Russian
22 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain 1884 American English
23 The Stranger Albert Camus 1942 French French
28 Middlemarch George Eliot 1871 British English
30 The Divine Comedy Dante Alighieri 1308 Italian Italian
40 Les Misérables Victor Hugo 1862 French French
65 Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift 1726 British English
75 Essays Michel de Montaigne 1580 French French
82 The Man Without Qualities Robert Musil 1930 Austrian German
94 Demons Fyodor Dostoevsky 1872 Russian Russian
96 Faust Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1808 German German
104 Dead Souls Nikolai Gogol 1842 Russian Russian
105 Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray 1847 British English
110 The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer 1400 British Middle english
117 Tess of the d'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy 1891 British English
122 Decameron Giovanni Boccaccio 1353 Italian Italian
134 Tom Jones Henry Fielding 1749 British English
135 Doctor Faustus Thomas Mann 1947 German German
149 All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren 1946 American English
153 A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess 1962 British English
169 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Muriel Spark 1961 British, Scottish English
184 Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe 1852 American English
195 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
198 Blood Meridian Cormac McCarthy 1985 American English
208 A Good Man Is Hard to Find Flannery O'Connor 1953 American English
210 Dangerous Liaison Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 1782 French French
212 Darkness at Noon Arthur Koestler 1940 British German
213 The Counterfeiters André Gide 1925 French French
214 Life and Fate Vasily Grossman 1980 Russian Russian
218 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 British English
219 Brighton Rock Graham Greene 1938 British English
220 The Republic Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
222 Thus Spake Zarathustra Friedrich Nietzsche 1883 German German
225 Fairy Tales and Stories Hans Christian Andersen 1835 Danish Danish
233 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold John le Carré 1963 British English
235 The Ambassadors Henry James 1903 American English
261 Wings of the Dove Henry James 1902 American English
274 The Stand Stephen King 1978 American English
275 The Confessions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1782 French French
279 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
286 The Once and Future King T. H. White 1958 British English
300 The Life of Samuel Johnson James Boswell 1791 British English
305 The Confusions of Young Törless Robert Musil 1906 Austrian German
322 Household Tales Brothers Grimm 1812 German German
323 Mahabharata Vyasa -400 Indian Sanskrit
332 Clarissa Samuel Richardson 1748 British English
334 Parallel Lives Plutarch 100 Greek Greek
336 Sister Carrie Theodore Dreiser 1900 American English
341 The Human Comedy Honoré de Balzac 1830 French French
350 The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor Flannery O'Connor 1971 American English
351 Moll Flanders Daniel Defoe 1722 British English
352 The Vicar of Wakefield Oliver Goldsmith 1766 British English
367 Journey to the West Wu Cheng'en 1592 Chinese Chinese
376 The Golden Bowl Henry James 1904 American English
386 La Regenta Clarín 1884 Spanish Spanish
412 Jacques the Fatalist and His Master Denis Diderot 1796 French French
424 A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen 1879 Norwegian Norwegian
450 Way of All Flesh Samuel Butler 1903 British English
461 Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand 1957 American English
470 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
489 Manon Lescaut Abbe Prevost 1731 French French
498 The Immoralist André Gide 1902 French French
503 Pamela Samuel Richardson 1740 British English
505 The Quran Unknown 610 Arabic Arabic
509 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
512 The Golden Ass Apuleius 158 Roman Latin
520 Mansfield Park Jane Austen 1814 British English
523 Fortunata and Jacinta Benito Pérez Galdós 1887 Spanish Spanish
528 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick 1968 American English
554 Satyricon Petronius 65 Roman Latin
562 Aesop's Fables Aesop -560 Greek Ancient greek
563 Panchatantra Unknown -300 Multiple Sanskrit
574 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 American English
581 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
586 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 British English
589 Bel Ami Guy de Maupassant 1885 French French
590 Northanger Abbey Jane Austen 1817 British English
591 Stories of Guy de Maupassant Guy de Maupassant 1880 French French
592 The Sleepwalkers Hermann Broch 1932 Austrian German
616 The Rebel Albert Camus 1951 French French
627 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus Christopher Marlowe 1604 British English
661 Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice 1976 American English
679 The Expedition of Humphry Clinker Tobias Smollett 1771 British English
681 Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut 1963 American English
684 The Adventures Of Pinocchio Carlo Collodi 1883 Italian Italian
692 The Hive Camilo José Cela 1951 Spanish Spanish
694 La Fontaine's Fables Jean de La Fontaine 1668 French French
703 The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope 1875 British English
706 The Skin Curzio Malaparte 1949 Italian Italian
724 Michael Kohlhaas Heinrich von Kleist 1810 German German
728 Erewhon Samuel Butler 1872 British English
737 The Custom of the Country Edith Wharton 1913 American English
760 Decline and Fall Evelyn Waugh 1928 British English
780 Maxims François duc de La Rochefoucauld 1665 French French
781 Simplicius Simplicissimus Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen 1668 German German
796 The Fall Albert Camus 1956 French French
797 The Manuscript Found in Saragossa Jan Potocki 1805 Polish French
808 Watchmen Alan Moore 1986 American, British English
822 I, Robot Isaac Asimov 1950 American English
845 Evelina Fanny Burney 1778 British English
864 Reynard the Fox Unknown 1479 Multiple Middle dutch
866 The Black Spider Jeremias Gotthelf 1842 Swiss German
883 Thaïs Anatole France 1890 French French
932 The Clouds Aristophanes -423 Greek Ancient greek
939 Rameau's Nephew Denis Diderot 1761 French French
939 Émile Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1762 French French
971 The Discovery of Heaven Harry Mulisch 1992 Dutch Dutch
977 Couples John Updike 1968 American English
984 Tartuffe Molière 1664 French French
992 Joseph Andrews Henry Fielding 1742 British English
994 Blindness José Saramago 1995 Portuguese Portuguese
997 Julie, or the New Heloise Jean-Jacques Rousseau 1761 French French
997 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
1008 Professor Unrat Heinrich Mann 1905 German German
1011 Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis 1952 British English
1028 Schindler's List Thomas Keneally 1982 Australian English