Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.
By Vasily Vereshchagin, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
It was the opinion of Leo Tolstoy that even Napoleon was never master of his own destiny.
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© Anthony O’Neil, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Adam Smith warns that politicians are the last people who should lecture the public about how to run their affairs.
Via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Admiral Lord Howe battered a French fleet far out in the Atlantic, and helped prevent the spread of bloody revolution.
© Fir0002/Flagstaffotos, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: GFDL v1.2.
James Cook describes his first sight of a beloved Australian icon.
© Hansvandervliet, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
Heracles must get the better of a three-bodied giant and steal his cattle.
© Dave Croker, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.
The brilliant but dangerously obsessive Dr Griffin decides that the end justifies the means.