Read The Republic

Aristotle on virtue as a habit and happiness as an activity; the golden mean.

The Parthenon and its temples on the rock above Athens — the birthplace of democracy, best climbed at opening time.

A bookish narrator and a Cretan who dances; Kazantzakis on how to live.

Machiavelli's advice to a ruler: better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.

Edward Said on how the West invented the East to rule it.

Sun Tzu's thirteen chapters on winning without fighting, quoted in every boardroom.

Marcus Aurelius' private notes to himself on campaign; the Stoic handbook for emperors and CEOs.

Seneca writes to Lucilius on time, death and the cost of living well.