The Conduct of Life (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

This 1860 collection, based on Emerson's lectures, contains classic essays on broad topics such as "Fate," "Power," "Wealth," "Culture," and "Worship," among others. Printed in the year Lincoln became President, it probes questions of the necessary conditions for human life and freedom. Emerson's friend, the great English historian Thomas Carlyle, wrote of this book, "I never read from you such lightning-gleams of meaning as are to be found here."