Classic works in public-domain-era translations, crossing languages and cultures.
Cosmo presents a curated catalog of classic works. Use the links to locate public-domain editions; copyright can vary by country and by translation or edition.
My inner self turned into a black hole Which is growing bigger and bigger with time That can neither cry nor shout What it can do is breathe Within the tiny spaces of my breaths
Read story →There were numerous letters Which were sent empty and unscripted. There were many unexplainable pains Which he couldn’t write, And I couldn’t read.
Read story →Ah! now I’ve studied, to my sorrow, philosophy, and law, and medicine too, and alas! theology, n From end to end, with ardent labour; and here I stick, as wise, poor fool, as when my course began. n And lo! they call me Master, nay, Doctor, and I’ve been these ten years going up and […]
Read story →The Master said, Is it not pleasant to have friends coming from distant quarters? n Is it not a pleasure to learn with a constant perseverance and application? n Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him? n
Read story →All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. n If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage. n If a […]
Read story →Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night hath flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight: n And Lo! the Hunter of the East hath caught the Sultan’s Turret in a Noose of Light. n Dreaming when Dawn’s Left Hand was in the Sky I heard a Voice within the Tavern cry, n
Read story →My mind is bent to tell of bodies changed by forces of the gods, and to trace the forms assumed from the first origin of the world. n Since you, ye gods, are the authors of these changes, favour my attempt and guide my song from the beginning of creation. n
Read story →Arms, and the man I sing, who, forc’d by fate, and haughty Juno’s unrelenting hate, n Expell’d and exil’d, left the Trojan shore. Long labours, both by sea and land, he bore, n And in the doubtful war, before he won the Latian realm, and built the destin’d town. n
Read story →Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost sight of. n Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say what was this forest savage, rough, and stern, which in my very thought renews the fear. n So bitter is it, […]
Read story →The man, for wisdom’s various arts renown’d, long exercised in woes, O Muse! resound; n Who, when his arms had wrought the destined fall of sacred Troy, and razed her heaven-built wall, n Wandering through climes, where’er the Muse had led, the manners learn’d of men, and cities read. n
Read story →Achilles’ wrath, to Greece the direful spring of woes unnumber’d, heavenly goddess, sing! n That wrath which hurl’d to Pluto’s gloomy reign the souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain. n Whose limbs unburied on the naked shore devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore. n
Read story →Copyright note: Project Gutenberg states that most of its individual works are public domain in the United States, while its license warns that users outside the U.S. should check local law. Pakistan's Copyright Ordinance generally uses a life-plus-50-year term for published literary works. A translation can have its own copyright, so this page identifies the classic work and a historical translation edition rather than asserting that every modern edition is free to reproduce.