In 1834, the philosopher John Stuart Mill discovered that, although he had signed a contract with his publisher to produce a general history of the French revolution, he was actually too busy…
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Hemingway’s lost suitcase
In December 1922, Ernest Hemingway was in Switzerland, on assignment as a correspondent for the Toronto Daily Star, covering the Lausanne Peace Conference. The journalist and editor Lincoln Steffens, whom Hemingway had met…
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Anne Frank’s Diary
Reading Anne Frank’s diary for the first time can be a ground-breaking moment in any reader’s life. Since it was first published, the book has inspired generations of people around the world –…
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How to 80/20 your life
Back in 1906 there was an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto. One day Pareto noticed that every year 20% of the pea pods in his garden produced approximately 80% of the peas.…
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A contaminated act
You are passing down a street when you come across an umbrella dropped unaware by a person walking ahead of you. You pick up the umbrella and hand it to the owner…
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The truth
A soldier was asked to rush back home from the battle front because his father was seriously ill. He was permitted to leave as he was all that his father had. When the…
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Respect the “NO”
Once, a bird was searching for a home to lay her eggs and shelter in the rainy season. In her search, she saw two trees, and she went to ask them for…
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Love
The enormous redwood tree, ancient and failing, trembled. With a crackling, tearing sound, the unimaginable began to happen. Near the base, one side of the giant trunk began to crumple, like the…
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Trust
“Ask the Creator for what you want,” they told her, “and the Creator will always answer you.” They had told her that since she was a baby. Now she was almost seven.…
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True importance
Jean was out walking with his grandfather in Paris. At one point, they saw a shoemaker being insulted by a customer who claimed that there was something wrong with his shoes. The…