The Greatest Books of All Time on Wisdom

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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
19 The Bible Unknown -1400 Jewish Hebrew, aramaic, greek
44 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1943 French French
46 One Thousand and One Nights Unknown 800 Multiple Arabic
123 Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar 1951 French French
145 Gargantua and Pantagruel Francois Rabelais 1532 French French
163 Siddhartha Hermann Hesse 1922 German German
264 The Epic Of Gilgamesh Unknown -2100 Multiple Akkadian
313 Meditations Marcus Aurelius 161 Roman Greek
402 The Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle -334 Greek Ancient greek
522 The Phantom Tollbooth Norton Juster 1961 American English
562 Aesop's Fables Aesop -560 Greek Ancient greek
563 Panchatantra Unknown -300 Multiple Sanskrit
621 Analects Confucius -479 Chinese Classical chinese
654 The Praise of Folly Erasmus 1511 Dutch Latin
694 La Fontaine's Fables Jean de La Fontaine 1668 French French
736 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Edward FitzGerald 1859 British English
816 The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia Samuel Johnson, Abraham Raimbach, Robert Smirke 1759 British English
1049 Works and Days Hesiod -700 Greek Ancient greek
1053 The Kalevala Elias Lönnrot 1835 Finnish Finnish
1054 Letters from a Stoic Seneca 64 Roman Latin
1102 I Ching China -1000 Chinese Chinese
1123 The Symposium Plato -385 Greek Ancient greek
1156 Apology Plato -389 Greek Ancient greek
1162 Essays Francis Bacon 1597 British English
1178 Nathan the Wise Gotthold Ephraim Lessing 1779 German German
1256 Prometheus Bound Aeschylus -455 Greek Ancient greek
1326 The Compleat Angler Izaak Walton 1653 British English
1364 Fragments Heraclitus -500 Greek Ancient greek
1380 The Sword in the Stone T. H. White 1938 British English
1429 Aphorisms Georg Christoph Lichtenberg 1902 German German
1439 Masnavi Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi 1258 Persian Persian
1528 The Consolation of Philosophy Boethius 524 Roman Latin
1544 The Poetic Edda Unknown 1270 Multiple Old norse
1611 The Song of Hiawatha Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1855 American English
1647 Phaedo Plato -379 Greek Ancient greek
1657 Essays and Aphorisms Arthur Schopenhauer 1851 German German
1681 The Teachings Of Don Juan Carlos Castaneda 1968 American English
1835 Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder 1991 Norwegian Norwegian
2117 The Treasure Chest Johann Peter Hebel 1811 German German
2117 Stories of Mr. Keuner Bertolt Brecht 1926 German German
2151 The Conference Of The Birds Attar Neyshabouri 1177 Persian Persian
2450 Bostan Saadi 1257 Persian Persian
2475 On Obligations Marcus Tullius Cicero -44 Roman Latin
2752 Gods And Heroes Gustav Schwab 1838 German German
2770 Unkempt Thoughts Stanislaw Jerzy Lec 1950 Polish Polish
2867 Gimpel the Fool Isaac Bashevis Singer 1953 Polish Yiddish
2913 The Odyssey Nikos Kazantzakis 1938 Greek Greek
2922 Discourses Of Epictetus Epictetus -108 Greek Greek
2974 Tuesdays With Morrie Mitch Albom 1997 American English
3088 The Marriage Of Cadmus And Harmony Roberto Calasso 1988 Italian Italian
3196 The Crock Of Gold James Stephens 1912 Irish English
3375 Juan De Mairena Antonio Machado 1936 Spanish Spanish
3379 Zadig Voltaire 1747 French French
3617 The Farthest Shore Ursula K. Le Guin 1972 American English
3638 The Tootinameh; Or, Tales of a Parrot India, Iran 1300 Indian Persian
3638 On Sunday Morning She Gathered Herbs Olha Kobylianska 1909 Ukrainian Ukrainian
3638 Till Eulenspiegel Hermann Bote 1510 German German
3638 The Ship Of Fools Sebastian Brant 1494 German English
3860 Tales of Amadou Koumba Birago Diop 1947 Togolese French
3860 Forest of A Thousand Daemons Daniel O. Fagunwa 1938 Nigerian Yoruba
3933 Tales from the Kathasaritsagara Somadeva 1070 Indian Sanskrit
4217 Epistles Horace 20 Latin Latin
4409 The Essential Rumi Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi 1995 Persian Persian
4746 Indaba, My Children Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa 1964 South African English
4879 Massâlik Al Jinân Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba 1895 Senegalese Arabic
4879 The Little Black Fish Samad Behrangi 1968 Iranian Persian
4900 The Teachings Of Ptahhotep Ptahhotep -2400 Unknown Ancient egyptian
5378 Bridge of Birds Barry Hughart 1984 American English
5393 Poems Of Juana Inés De La Cruz Juana Inés de la Cruz 1689 Mexican Spanish
5448 Così Parlò Bellavista Luciano De Crescenzo 1977 Italian Italian
5651 The Last Enchantment Mary Stewart 1979 British English
5823 Hymns And Epigrams Callimachus -239 Greek Ancient greek
5859 Selections Francesco Petrarca 1340 Italian Italian
6005 Notebooks Joseph Joubert 1883 French French
6873 Povedal Mi Veštec Tiziano Terzani 2002 Italian Italian
7067 Stories From A Shona Childhood Charles Mungoshi 1989 Zimbabwean English
7179 A Book of Luminous Things Czesław Miłosz 1996 Polish English
7216 Edmund Dulac's Fairy-Book Edmund Dulac 1916 British English
7216 Poems Of Fray Luis De León Fray Luis de León 1582 Spanish Spanish
7216 The Mighty Magician Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1637 Spanish Spanish
7216 Poems Of Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift 1701 Irish English
7216 Venetian Epigrams Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1790 German German
7216 West Eastern Divan Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1819 German German
7216 The Poems Of Walter Savage Landor Walter Savage Landor 1846 British English
7216 Poems Of Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold 1853 British English
7216 Odes Coventry Patmore 1868 British English
7216 Representative Men Ralph Waldo Emerson 1850 American English
8342 Platform Sutra Huineng 713 Chinese Chinese
8535 Tehanu Ursula K. Le Guin 1990 American English
8648 Treatises On Friendship And Old Age Marcus Tullius Cicero -44 Latin Latin
8727 In Praise Of Older Women Stephen Vizinczey 1965 Canadian English
8923 In My Father's Court Isaac Bashevis Singer 1966 Polish Yiddish
9003 Circe's Mountain Marie Luise Kaschnitz 1959 German Unknown
9131 Mutant Message Down Under Marlo Morgan 1991 American English
10308 What Is Called Thinking? Martin Heidegger 1954 German German
10982 The Maid Of The North Ethel Johnston Phelps 1980 American English
11024 Follow Your Heart Susanna Tamaro 1994 Italian Italian
11093 Disciplina Clericalis Petrus Alphonsi 1919 Multiple Latin
11257 Sister Age M. F. K. Fisher 1983 American English
11526 Memorabilia Xenophon -371 Greek Ancient greek
11607 The Wisdom Of Crowds James Surowiecki 2004 American English
12070 Mr. Ibrahim And The Flowers Of The Koran Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt 2001 French French
12084 The Big Mama Stories Shay Youngblood 1989 American English
12084 The Day I Began My Studies In Philosophy Margareta Ekström 1989 Swedish Unknown
12515 Grandmothers Of The Light Paula Gunn Allen 1991 American English
13269 Two Old Women Velma Wallis 1993 American English
13362 An Essay On Criticism Alexander Pope 1711 British English
13362 The Autocrat Of The Breakfast Table Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. 1858 American English
13362 Gulistan Saadi 1258 Gulistan Persian
13703 Poor Charlie's Almanack Charlie Munger 2005 American English
14212 The Opinions Of Jerome Coignard Anatole France 1893 French French
14384 The Chess Master Ah Cheng 1984 Chinese Chinese
14410 The Life Of Reason George Santayana 1905 American English
14730 Musonius Rufus Musonius Rufus, Cynthia King -30 Mixed Greek
14750 Musashi Eiji Yoshikawa 1935 Japanese Japanese
14770 The Symposium Xenophon 361 Greek Ancient greek
14855 If Rudyard Kipling 1910 British English
14896 The Collected Works Kahlil Gibran 1920 Lebanese Arabic
14885 Poems of Rumi Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi 1207 Persian Persian
14927 Libro De Buen Amor Juan Ruiz 1330 Spanish Spanish