Best Authors of All Time, Ranked

According toGroblé

From the Beginning of Time Until 1900

  1. 1William ShakespeareShakespeare1564–1616 · England · English · 39 worksTop: A Midsummer Night’s Dream #11
  2. 2Fyodor DostoevskyThe Age of the Novel1821–1881 · Russia · Russian · 5 worksTop: The Brothers Karamazov #4
  3. 3Dante AlighieriMedieval1265–1321 · Italy · Italian · 1 workTop: The Divine Comedy #1
  4. 4SophoclesAncient Greece~496–406 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 7 worksTop: Oedipus Rex #10
  5. 5PlatoAncient Greece~428–~348 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 5 worksTop: Phaedo #16
  6. 6Herman MelvilleThe Age of the Novel1819–1891 · United States · English · 1 workTop: Moby-Dick or, The Whale #2
  7. 7Victor HugoThe Age of the Novel1802–1885 · France · French · 2 worksTop: Les Misérables #3
  8. 8Leo TolstoyThe Age of the Novel1828–1910 · Russia · Russian · 3 worksTop: Anna Karenina #7
  9. 9Alexandre DumasRomanticism1802–1870 · France · French · 2 worksTop: The Count of Monte Cristo #5
  10. 10Charles DickensThe Age of the Novel1812–1870 · England · English · 3 worksTop: David Copperfield #9
  11. 11AeschylusAncient Greece~525–456 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 5 worksTop: The Oresteia #53
  12. 12VirgilAncient Rome70–19 BCE · Ancient Rome · Latin · 3 worksTop: The Aeneid #15
  13. 13John MiltonRenaissance1608–1674 · England · English · 1 workTop: Paradise Lost #6
  14. 14Jane AustenRomanticism1775–1817 · England · English · 3 worksTop: Pride and Prejudice #32
  15. 15AristotleAncient Greece384–322 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 2 worksTop: Poetics #33
  16. 16StendhalRomanticism1783–1842 · France · French · 2 worksTop: The Red and the Black #21
  17. 17Henry FieldingEnlightenment1707–1754 · England · English · 1 workTop: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling #12
  18. 18François RabelaisRenaissance~1494–1553 · France · French · 1 workTop: Gargantua and Pantagruel #14
  19. 19Jules VerneThe Age of the Novel1828–1905 · France · French · 3 worksTop: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea #107
  20. 20EuripidesAncient Greece~480–406 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 3 worksTop: Medea #100
  21. 21HomerAncient Greece~800–~701 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 2 worksTop: The Iliad #61
  22. 22AristophanesAncient Greece~446–~386 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 7 worksTop: The Clouds #22
  23. 23VyasaAncient EastUnknown · India · Sanskrit · 2 worksTop: The Bhagavad Gita #18
  24. 24Thomas HardyThe Age of the Novel1840–1928 · England · English · 1 workTop: Tess of the D’Urbervilles #19
  25. 25Mark TwainThe Age of the Novel1835–1910 · United States · English · 2 worksTop: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer #66
  26. 27Henry JamesThe Age of the Novel1843–1916 · USA · English · 2 worksTop: The Portrait of a Lady #64
  27. 28Charlotte BrontëThe Age of the Novel1816–1855 · England · English · 1 workTop: Jane Eyre #25
  28. 29Augustine of HippoAncient Rome354–430 · Ancient Rome · Latin · 1 workTop: Confessions #41
  29. 30AesopAncient Greece~620–~564 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 1 workTop: Aesop’s Fables #31
  30. 31Ivan TurgenevThe Age of the Novel1818–1883 · Russia · Russian · 1 workTop: Fathers and Sons #27
  31. 32Gustave FlaubertThe Age of the Novel1821–1880 · France · French · 2 worksTop: Madame Bovary #89
  32. 33Johann Wolfgang von GoetheRomanticism1749–1832 · Germany · German · 2 worksTop: Faust, First Part #93
  33. 34Joseph ConradThe Age of the Novel1857–1924 · England · English · 2 worksTop: Heart of Darkness #118
  34. 35Nathaniel HawthorneThe Age of the Novel1804–1864 · United States · English · 1 workTop: The Scarlet Letter #34
  35. 36Ralph Waldo EmersonRomanticism1803–1882 · United States · English · 1 workTop: Self-Reliance and Nature #38
  36. 37Louisa May AlcottThe Age of the Novel1832–1888 · United States · English · 1 workTop: Little Women #39
  37. 38Friedrich NietzscheThe Age of the Novel1844–1900 · Germany · German · 1 workTop: Thus Spoke Zarathustra #45
  38. 39Jean-Jacques RousseauEnlightenment1712–1778 · France · French · 1 workTop: Confessions #48
  39. 40VoltaireEnlightenment1694–1778 · France · French · 1 workTop: Candide #49
  40. 41Charles DarwinThe Age of the Novel1809–1882 · England · English · 1 workTop: The Origin of Species #50
  41. 42Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyRomanticism1797–1851 · England · English · 1 workTop: Frankenstein #51
  42. 43SenecaAncient Rome~4 BCE–65 CE · Ancient Rome · Latin · 1 workTop: Letters from a Stoic #55
  43. 44Niccolò MachiavelliRenaissance1469–1527 · Italy · Italian · 1 workTop: The Prince #56
  44. 45George EliotThe Age of the Novel1819–1880 · England · English · 1 workTop: Middlemarch #57
  45. 46LucretiusAncient Rome~99–~55 BCE · Ancient Rome · Latin · 1 workTop: On the Nature of Things #62
  46. 47Daniel DefoeEnlightenment~1660–1731 · England · English · 1 workTop: Robinson Crusoe #65
  47. 48ApuleiusAncient Rome~124–~170 · Ancient Rome · Latin · 1 workTop: The Golden Ass #67
  48. 49Thomas HobbesEnlightenment1588–1679 · England · English · 1 workTop: Leviathan #68
  49. 50ConfuciusAncient East551–479 BCE · China · Classical Chinese · 1 workTop: The Analects #70
  50. 51Bram StokerThe Age of the Novel1847–1912 · Ireland · English · 1 workTop: Dracula #75
  51. 52Marcus Tullius CiceroAncient Rome106–43 BCE · Ancient Rome · Latin · 1 workTop: The Works of Cicero #79
  52. 53Geoffrey ChaucerMedieval~1343–1400 · England · Middle English · 1 workTop: The Canterbury Tales #82
  53. 54Benjamin FranklinEnlightenment1706–1790 · United States · English · 1 workTop: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin #103
  54. 55PetroniusAncient Rome~27–66 · Ancient Rome · Latin · 1 workTop: The Satyricon #87
  55. 56Thomas PaineEnlightenment1737–1809 · England · English · 1 workTop: Common Sense #90
  56. 57John BunyanEnlightenment1628–1688 · England · English · 1 workTop: The Pilgrim's Progress #91
  57. 58Fernando de RojasRenaissance~1465–1541 · Spain · Spanish · 1 workTop: Celestina #95
  58. 59紫式部 (Lady Murasaki)Medieval~973–~1014 · Japan · Japanese · 1 workTop: The Tale of Genji #96
  59. 60William Makepeace ThackerayThe Age of the Novel1811–1863 · England · English · 1 workTop: Vanity Fair #98
  60. 61SapphoAncient Greece~630–~570 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 1 workTop: Sappho's Poems #99
  61. 62ErasmusRenaissance1466–1536 · Netherlands · Latin · 1 workTop: Praise of Folly #101
  62. 63Arthur Conan DoyleModern1859–1930 · England · English · 1 workTop: The Hound of the Baskervilles #102
  63. 64OvidAncient Rome43 BCE–~17 CE · Ancient Rome · Latin · 1 workTop: Metamorphoses #104
  64. 65Blaise PascalEnlightenment1623–1662 · France · French · 1 workTop: Pensées #105
  65. 66René DescartesEnlightenment1596–1650 · France · Latin · 1 workTop: Meditations on First Philosophy #106
  66. 67David HumeEnlightenment1711–1776 · Scotland · English · 1 workTop: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding #108
  67. 68Miguel de Cervantes SaavedraRenaissance1547–1616 · Spain · Spanish · 1 workTop: Don Quixote #109
  68. 69Frederick DouglassRomanticism~1818–1895 · United States · English · 1 workTop: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass #111
  69. 70Giovanni BoccaccioMedieval1313–1375 · Italy · Italian · 1 workTop: The Decameron #113
  70. 71Michel de MontaigneRenaissance1533–1592 · France · French · 1 workTop: The Complete Essays #115
  71. 72Upton SinclairModern1878–1968 · USA · English · 1 workTop: The Jungle #116
  72. 73Ford Madox FordModern1873–1939 · England · English · 1 workTop: The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion #172
  73. 74Sun TzuAncient East~544–~496 BCE · China · Classical Chinese · 1 workTop: The Art of War #119
  74. 75Christopher MarloweRenaissance1564–1593 · England · English · 1 workTop: Dr. Faustus #122
  75. 76Lewis CarrollThe Age of the Novel1832–1898 · England · English · 1 workTop: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass #123
  76. 77Alexander PushkinRomanticism1799–1837 · Russia · Russian · 1 workTop: Eugene Onegin #124
  77. 78BoethiusAncient Rome~480–524 · Ancient Rome · Latin · 1 workTop: The Consolation of Philosophy #125
  78. 79HoratiusAncient Rome65–8 BCE · Ancient Rome · Latin · 1 workTop: The Odes of Horace #127
  79. 80HesiodAncient Greece~750–~650 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 1 workTop: Theogony/Works and Days #128
  80. 81Nikolai GogolRomanticism1809–1852 · Russia · Russian · 1 workTop: Dead Souls #132
  81. 82Marcus AureliusAncient Rome121–180 · Ancient Rome · Ancient Greek · 1 workTop: Meditations #133
  82. 83Oscar WildeThe Age of the Novel1854–1900 · Ireland · English · 1 workTop: The Picture of Dorian Gray #135
  83. 84Emily BrontëThe Age of the Novel1818–1848 · England · English · 1 workTop: Wuthering Heights #139
  84. 85Lao TzuAncient East~601–~531 BCE · China · Classical Chinese · 1 workTop: Tao Te Ching #140
  85. 86PlutarchAncient Greece~46–~120 · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 1 workTop: Plutarch's Lives #141
  86. 87Sigmund FreudModern1856–1939 · Austria · German · 1 workTop: The Interpretation of Dreams #145
  87. 88Francesco PetrarcaMedieval1304–1374 · Italy · Italian · 1 workTop: Canzoniere #146
  88. 89Luís de CamõesRenaissance~1524–1580 · Portugal · Portuguese · 1 workTop: The Lusiads #148
  89. 90Harriet Beecher StoweThe Age of the Novel1811–1896 · USA · English · 1 workTop: Uncle Tom’s Cabin #158
  90. 91Henry David ThoreauThe Age of the Novel1817–1862 · United States · English · 1 workTop: Walden or, Life in the Woods #159
  91. 92Ulysses S. GrantThe Age of the Novel1822–1885 · United States · English · 1 workTop: Personal Memoirs #164
  92. 93Laurence SterneEnlightenment1713–1768 · England · English · 1 workTop: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman #165
  93. 94Thomas MaloryRenaissance~1415–~1471 · England · English · 1 workTop: Le Morte d'Arthur #167
  94. 95Jonathan SwiftEnlightenment1667–1745 · Ireland · English · 1 workTop: Gulliver’s Travels #168
  95. 96Miyamoto MusashiAncient East~1584–1645 · Japan · Japanese · 1 workTop: The Book of Five Rings #175
  96. 97Karl MarxRomanticism1818–1883 · Germany · German · 1 workTop: The Communist Manifesto #182
  97. 98HerodotusAncient Greece~484–~425 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 1 workTop: The Histories #183
  98. 99Baruch SpinozaEnlightenment1632–1677 · Netherlands · Latin · 1 workTop: Ethics #184
  99. 100Publius Cornelius TacitusAncient Rome~56–~120 · Ancient Rome · Latin · 1 workTop: The Annals of Imperial Rome #185
  100. 101ThucydidesAncient Greece~460–~400 BCE · Ancient Greece · Ancient Greek · 1 workTop: History of the Peloponnesian War #186
  101. 102Wilkie CollinsThe Age of the Novel1824–1889 · England · English · 1 workTop: The Woman in White #193
  102. 103George Herbert1593–1633 · England · 1 work
  103. 104Alexander Pope1688–1744 · England · 1 work
  104. 105William Wordsworth1770–1850 · England · 1 work
  105. 106John Donne1572–1631 · England · 1 work
  106. 107Andrew Marvell1621–1678 · England · 1 work
  107. 108John Dryden1631–1700 · England · 1 work
  108. 109William Blake1757–1827 · England · 1 work
  109. 110Ben Jonson1572–1637 · England · 1 work
  110. 111Samuel Taylor Coleridge1772–1834 · England · 1 work

The Western canon, by its writers — ranked

This is a ranked list of the greatest authors of all time: every writer Groblé has read in full, from Homer through 1900, placed in order. It isn't aggregated from other lists or crowd-voted — it's one reader's call about who's irreplaceable, argued for and willing to be wrong.

Authors are ranked by the strength of their best work, with the rest of the catalog as supporting weight. Shakespeare lands at #1 not for one play but for thirty-eight; Dante at #3 for one poem that holds up. Each row links through to a page on the author, their full catalog, and their place in the influence map.

Looking for books, not writers? The full ranked-books table is at the homepage. The two pages are complementary: read by author for a writer's whole arc, by book for the single-work view.