Abigail Adams

Former U.S. first lady (1744-1818)

Al Pacino

Oscar- and Tony-winning actor (1940-present)

Alan Fletcher

Alan Watts

British philosopher, writer, and speaker (1915-1973)

Albert Camus

French philosopher and author (1913-1960)

Albert Einstein

Nobel Prize-winning physicist (1879-1955)

Alice Walker

Amelia Earhart

Aviation pioneer (1897-disappeared 1937)

Amit Ray

Indian spiritual teacher (1960-present)

Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Children's author and memoirist (1965-2017)

Ann Patchett

Author (1963-present)

Anne Lamott

Novelist and political activist (1954-present)

Aristotle

Ancient Greek philosopher (384-322 BCE)

Audre Lorde

Writer, poet, and civil rights activist (1934-1992)

August Wilson

Auguste Rodin

Ba Jin

Barbara Kingsolver

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer (1955-present)

Benjamin Franklin

U.S. founding father (1706-1790)

Betty White

Actress and comedian (1922-2021)

Beyoncé Knowles

Bill Watterson

Cartoonist and “Calvin and Hobbes” creator (1958-present)

Black Francis

Musician (1965-present)

Bo Burnham

Comedian, actor, and filmmaker (1990-present)

Brené Brown

Researcher and storyteller (1965-present)

Bruce Lee

Martial artist and film actor (1940-1973)

Buckminster Fuller

C.S. Lewis

British writer (1898-1963)

Carl Jung

Swiss psychologist (1875-1961)

Carl Rogers

Psychologist (1902-1987)

Carl Sagan

Astronomer and science communicator (1934-1996)

Carol Burnett

Cesar Chavez

Labor leader and civil rights activist (1927-1993)

Charlie Chaplin

Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker (1889-1977)

Chief Joseph

Leader of the Nez Perce (1840-1904)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Nigerian author (1977-present)

Christopher Morley

Clarice Lispector

Brazilian writer (1920-1977)

Conan O'Brien

Cormac McCarthy

Daniel Defoe

English novelist and journalist (1660-1731)

David Foster Wallace

Author (1962-2008)

David Lynch

Filmmaker (1946-2025)

Diane von Fürstenberg

E.E. Cummings

Earl Nightingale

Motivational speaker and author (1921-1989)

Eckhart Tolle

Spiritual teacher and self-help author (1948-present)

Edith Wharton

Pulitzer Prize-winning author (1862-1937)

Elbert Hubbard

Writer and publisher (1856-1915)

Emily Dickinson

Poet (1830-1886)

Emma Watson

Ernest Hemingway

Nobel Prize-winning writer (1899-1961)

Francis Picabia

Frank Capra

Director, producer, and screenwriter (1897-1991)

Frank Langella

Fred Rogers

Television host (1928-2003)

Frederick Douglass

Abolitionist and orator (1818-1895)

Frida Kahlo

Mexican painter and self-portraitist (1907-1954)

Friedrich Nietzsche

German philosopher and cultural critic (1844–1900)

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Russian novelist (1821-1881)

G.K. Chesterton

George Eliot

English writer (1819-1880)

George Santayana

Spanish American philosopher and writer (1863-1952)

George Saunders

Writer (1958-present)

Gertrude Stein

Gilda Radner

Actress and comedian (1946-1989)

Gloria Anzaldúa

Gloria Steinem

Journalist, feminist, and activist (1934-present)

Gore Vidal

Greta Gerwig

Gretel Ehrlich

Hal Borland

Henry David Thoreau

Writer, philosopher, and naturalist (1817-1862)

Henry Rollins

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poet and educator (1807-1882)

Henry Ward Beecher

Iain S. Thomas

Author (1980-present)

Ida B. Wells

Isaac Newton

Isadora Duncan

J.R.R. Tolkien

English writer and scholar (1892-1973)

Jacinda Ardern

40th prime minister of New Zealand (1980-present)

James Baldwin

Writer and civil rights activist (1924-1987)

James Thurber

Writer and cartoonist (1894-1961)

Jane Wagner

Writer, director, and producer (1935-present)

Javier Bardem

Joan Didion

Writer and journalist (1934-2021)

Joan Rivers

Actress, comedian, and writer (1933-2014)

John Baldessari

Conceptual artist (1931-2020)

John F. Kennedy

35th U.S. president (1917-1963)

John Keats

English poet (1795-1821)

Jonathan Swift

Irish writer and satirist (1667-1745)

Joseph Campbell

Author and professor (1904-1987)

Josiah Gilbert Holland

Novelist, essayist, and poet (1819-1881)

Julia Alvarez

Novelist and poet (1950-present)

Julianne Moore

Laozi

Leo Tolstoy

Russian author (1828-1910)

Leonora Carrington

Louisa May Alcott

Author and poet (1832-1888)

Madeleine L'Engle

Author (1918-2007)

Mahershala Ali

Oscar-winning actor (1974-present)

Malala Yousafzai

Pakistani activist and Nobel Prize winner (1997-present)

Marcus Aurelius

Roman emperor (121-180 CE)

Marcus Garvey

Political activist and Black nationalist leader (1887-1940)

Marie Curie

Nobel Prize-winning Polish scientist (1867-1934)

Marilyn Monroe

Marilynne Robinson

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer (1943-present)

Marlene Dietrich

Martin Buber

Austrian-Israeli philosopher (1878-1965)

Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil rights leader (1929-1968)

Mary Oliver

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (1935-2019)

Masami Saionji

Maya Angelou

Poet, author, and civil rights activist (1928-2014)

Meryl Streep

Oscar-winning actress (1949-present)

Miles Davis

Jazz musician, bandleader, and composer (1926-1991)

Miyamoto Musashi

Japanese samurai (1584-1645)

Nadine Gordimer

Nikola Tesla

Serbian American inventor, engineer, and futurist (1856-1943)

Octavia Butler

Science fiction author (1947-2006)

Octavio Paz

Oliver Sacks

British neurologist, naturalist, and writer (1933-2015)

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

Physician and poet (1809-1894)

Oscar Wilde

Irish poet and playwright (1854-1900)

P.D. James

Patti Smith

Singer, songwriter, and poet (1946-present)

Phil Stutz

Phoebe Bridgers

Plutarch

Greek philosopher (c. 40-120)

Pope John Paul II

Rabindranath Tagore

Indian poet (1861-1941)

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

Rania Al-Abdullah

Raven Leilani

Richard Paul Evans

Rick Warren

Rita Mae Brown

Robert Frost

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet (1874-1963)

RuPaul

Samuel Johnson

English writer and lexicographer (1709-1784)

Sean Watkins

Guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter (1977-present)

Sheryl Sandberg

Simone de Beauvoir

French philosopher and writer (1908-1986)

Stefan Sagmeister

Stefano Pilati

Stephen Covey

Motivational author and educator (1932-2012)

Stephen Sondheim

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and lyricist (1930-2021)

Susan B. Anthony

Susan Sontag

Writer and cultural critic (1933-2004)

Sylvia Plath

Poet and novelist (1932-1963)

T.H. Huxley

Tennessee Williams

Tenzin Palmo

Buddhist nun and teacher (1943-present)

Teresa of Ávila

Spanish nun and mystic (1515-1582)

Terry Pratchett

Fantasy author (1948-2015)

Thelonious Monk

Jazz pianist and composer (1917-1982)

Timothy Leary

Todd Henry

Toni Cade Bambara

Trevor Paglen

Tryon Edwards

Tyra Banks

Virginia Woolf

English writer (1882-1941)

W.B. Yeats

Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet and writer (1865-1939)

W.E.B. Du Bois

W.S. Merwin

Poet (1927-2019)

Warren Buffett

Will Durant

William A. Ward

Motivational writer (1921-1994)

William Arthur Ward

Motivational writer (1921-1994)

William Faulkner

Nobel Prize-winning writer (1897-1962)

William Makepeace Thackeray

William Saroyan

William Shakespeare

English playwright and poet (c. 1564-1616)

Yohannes Gebregeorgis

Zadie Smith

Zhu Xi