While we tend to think of the great thinkers as hailing from Ancient Greece, the 19th century has had more than its fair share of sharp minds.

500 Quotations from the Great Philosophers of the 19th Century is a collection of reflections, insights, and observations from some of the best brains of that era.

A superb book for dipping in and out of, this makes a great gift for anyone with an interest in history or philosophy.

Søren Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855) was born in Copenhagen. He is considered to be one of the founders of existential philosophy and wrote many books on religion, ethics, morality, and philosophy. Born in Poland, Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860) was one of the first philosophers to combine elements of Indian philosophy and Western philosophy in his pursuit of transcendental idealism.

Another transcendentalist, Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) also predicted the importance of environmentalism in the future. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) is regarded as one of the 19th-century German philosophers to have had a lasting effect on contemporary philosophy. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882) was an American philosopher and poet who led the American transcendentalist movement during the 1800s.