The Road Ahead is the perfect graduation gift: a pocket-sized volume of advice and motivation that has stood the test of time. Classic writers and philosophers including Marcus Aurelius, Jane Austen and Booker T. Washington offer up guiding words of wisdom for anyone navigating the road ahead.

Dip into five uplifting sections of essays, bite-size quotes and short, meditative poems. The best parts of powerful speeches from Martin Luther King Jr. and Theodore Roosevelt are included here, as well as humorous words from F. Scott Fitzgerald and Mark Twain.

Pick the brains of the ancients: Seneca and Epictetus show us what we can and can’t control, while fables from Aesop remind us that slow and steady wins the race. Find inspiring poems on hope and choosing your own path by Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman and Robert Frost.

To remind new graduates that they can and will flourish, The Road Ahead has plenty of curated quotations for dealing with change, cultivating resilience and finding happiness, from Tolstoy, George Eliot, Shakespeare, Kahlil Gibran and many more.

Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, pocket-sized classics with ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect presents or a treat for any book lover.

Zachary Seager is a writer based in Paris. He is the editor of the anthologies and short story collections The Art of Solitude, Sleepily Ever After and Our Place in Nature, all published by Macmillan Collector’s Library. He is also the editor of the Classic Wisdom for Modern Minds series.