When a Man Comes to Himself

Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 26K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.When a Man Comes to Himself by Woodrow WilsonAuthor: Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924,Language: English, Class: BJ: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Ethics, Social usages, Etiquette, Religion, Release Date: Feb 1, 2004

Editor's review

When a Man Comes to Himself is a short essay by Woodrow Wilson, belonging to the literature of ethics and personal cultivation. In it, Wilson discusses how a person arrives at self-knowledge and inner maturity, in a steady tone with a speech-like persuasiveness. It is brief and clearly structured, suitable for reading in one sitting during a quiet period. Its value lies not in offering concrete methods but in guiding readers, through concise argument, to reflect on self-positioning and a sense of responsibility. For readers familiar with the writing style of American political figures, this text can also serve as supplementary material for understanding one side of Wilson's thought. Note that it is an argumentative short piece rather than a systematic treatise; it should be read as a prompt for thought, not a complete guide to life.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy short essays and themes of personal cultivation
Readers interested in the intellectual writing of American political figures
Learners who need short English texts for close reading and translation practice
General readers who wish to use a short text to prompt self-reflection

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting systematic ethical theory or practical methods
Readers who prefer long narratives and storylines
Readers with weak English who find abstract argument difficult to follow

Reading tips

Read it in one sitting during a quiet period, then return to marked passages to make notes.
First read through to grasp the main idea, then analyze the argument structure paragraph by paragraph on a second pass.
After reading, write a short response to the text's views to test your understanding.
If using it for translation practice, select one paragraph and weigh the wording against the original.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is the main theme of this text?

The text centers on how a person arrives at self-knowledge and inner maturity, discussing issues such as self-positioning, a sense of responsibility, and personal growth. It is an argumentative short piece that aims to prompt reflection rather than offer concrete steps or systematic theory.

Is it long? How long does it take to read?

It is a short essay of modest length; a focused reading usually takes one sitting. If you do close reading, annotation, or translation practice, you may read it in sections and revisit it, which will take correspondingly more time.

Does the author's identity affect reading?

The author, Woodrow Wilson, was an American political figure, and his writing carries a speech-like persuasiveness and public concern. Readers may treat it as supplementary material for understanding one side of his thought, but need not presuppose a political stance; simply understand it on the text's own terms.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924 Author

Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924) was an American political figure and writer whose publicly documented biographical details are limited in the materials available here. This site holds nine of his works, spanning studies of political institutions, wartime speeches, and state of the union addresses. Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics is notable for its institutional analysis of how Congress operates; Why We Are at War and In Our First Year of the War collect his wartime messages to Congress, written in a solemn tone with clear argumentation; The New Freedom, The Road Away from Revolution, and On Being Human present his political ideas and humanistic reflections. Overall, his writing combines scholarly order with a speaker's persuasiveness and remains important for understanding early twentieth-century American political discourse.