"I asked her pardon for the cruel lesson and, to her great surprise, gave her eighty rubles. She murmured her little "merci" several times and went out. I looked after her and thought: "How easy it is to crush the weak in this world!" ("A Nincompoop)"

Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) was a Russian playwright and master of the modern short story, known for his laconic precision in probing the hidden motives of his characters.

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000) was an influential 20th-century poet and the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1950. Her short story "Home," later incorporated into her novel Maud Martha, centers around a family's anxiety and eventual relief as they await the outcome of a bank loan application.

With the third week of kindergarten Charles was an institution in our family; the baby was being a Charles when she cried all afternoon; Laurie did a Charles when he filled his wagon full of mud and pulled it through the kitchen; even my husband, when he caught his elbow in the telephone cord and pulled the telephone and a bowl of flowers off the table, said, after the first minute, “Looks like Charles.” 

Laurie's parents were worried that Charles might be a bad influence on their little boy.

Shirley Jackson (1916–1965) was an American novelist and short story writer, most famous for her short story "The Lottery" (1948).  "Charles" is a favorite of many readers.

Once upon a time, in a far country, there lived a King whose daughter was the prettiest princess in the world. Her eyes were like the cornflower, her hair was sweeter than the hyacinth, and her throat made the swan look dusty. 

And so begins James Thurber's unusual fairy tale. The stories of the journalist-cartoonist are deceptively simple and charming in style yet unflinchingly clear-sighted in their appraisal of human foibles.

James Grover Thurber was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in The New Yorker and collected in his numerous books.

His face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic.

"The Sniper" is a powerful and concise short story by the Irish writer Liam O'Flaherty, first published in 1923. It's set in Dublin during the Irish Civil War (1922-1923), a conflict that pitted Irish citizens against each other over the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Liam O’Flaherty (1896–1984) was an Irish novelist and short story writer, considered to be a leading figure of the Irish Renaissance. His works combined naturalism, psychological analysis, poetry, and satire with respect for the courage of the Irish people.

A spirited discussion springs up between a young girl who insists that women have outgrown the jumping-on-a-chair-at-the-sight-of-a-mouse era and a colonel who says that they haven’t.

“A woman’s unfailing reaction in any crisis,” the colonel says, “is to scream. And while a man may feel like it, he has that ounce more of nerve control than a woman has. And that last ounce is what counts.”

There has always been a debate on man versus woman under a crisis. In "The Dinner Party" we can draw our own conclusions as to who shows greater control.

"The Dinner Party" by Mona Gardner was first published in The Saturday Review of Literature in 1941.

Leo Rosten (April 11, 1908- Feb. 19, 1997) was a Polish-born American author and social scientist best known for his popular books on Yiddish and for his comic novels featuring the immigrant night-school student Hyman Kaplan.

He wrote "The Path Through the Cemetery" under the pen name of Leonard Q, Ross.

In the story, the lieutenants' challenge sets into motion Iván's attempt to master his fear.

"Oh dear, no," said the old man. "It would be no good charging that sort of price for a love potion, for example. Young people who need a love potion very seldom have five thousand dollars. Otherwise they would not need a love potion."

John Collier (1901-1980) was a British-born author and screenwriter, primarily known for his darkly humorous and often macabre short stories. "The Chaser" remains a popular example of Collier's talent for crafting concise, impactful stories with a dark edge and a memorable twist.

Bertrand Russell was a British philosopher, logician, and social reformer, known as a founder of analytic philosophy and a Nobel Prize winner.

His early life was marked by tragedy, losing his parents, sister, and grandfather by age six, after which his grandmother cared for him and his brother.

In the essay "How to Grow Old," Russell gives the reader advice on growing old (but it's really more on "how not to grow old").

"No ... no .. ." Jacques said softly. "None of us knew. Only one knew--a friend of his named Joseph ... It was a secret, I think, just between those two."The author of "A Secret for Two," Quentin James Reynolds, was an American journalist and World War II war correspondent. As an associate editor at Collier's Weekly from 1933 to 1945, Reynolds averaged 20 articles a year. He also published 25 books.