Baroque philosopher Balthasar Gracian's The Art of Worldly Wisdom consists of three hundred maxims spanning a wide range of topics relating to all aspects of life and human behavior. Gracian was a Spanish Jesuit Priest whose sermons and writings were disapproved of by his superiors. Admired by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche for the depth and subtlety of his observations, Gracian's collection of pithy insights deserves place alongside similar classic manuals of self-improvement from antiquity like the Enchiridion of Epictetus and Seneca's Letters.

This complete edition of the Corpus Hermeticum, which introduces in eighteen chapters the religious and philosophical principles of Hermetics, was translated by G. R. S. Mead. Hermetics is a religious, philosophical, and esoteric practice based around the beliefs and writings of the pagan priest Hermes Trismegistus. Influential for its distinct beliefs and characteristics, Hermeticism carried a profound influence over the Renaissance in Europe. Many Christian believers paid it heed, with much art depicting the Hermetic belief system appearing between the 14th and 17th centuries in particular. Notably, Hermetics claims to be a descended version of the prisca theologia - a principle which affirms there is but one, true theology in the world. This essence of the divine is present in all religions, and was according to legend given to mankind in distant antiquity. This belief, discussed by Hermes Trismegistus, has led many scholars of philosophy and religion to examine Hermetics in detail.