The Social Contract

A long letter Wilde wrote in prison to the lover who put him there. Less self-pity than you'd expect, more on what suffering teaches.

Oscar Wilde

Socrates and friends design a perfect city to figure out what justice actually means. Includes the cave, the philosopher-king, and most of Western philosophy.

Plato

Eighty-one short poems on how to live. The fewer rules a society needs, the better it works.

Lao Tzu

A boy bargains with the god of death for the secret of the soul. Hindu philosophy in dialogue form.

Unknown

Athenian friends get drunk and take turns explaining what love is. Aristophanes' speech alone is worth the read.

Plato