Thomas Carlyle
Scottish essayist and historian (1795 to 1881); author of On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History.
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What they believe
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The history of what humans have accomplished is at bottom the history of great men
For, as I take it, Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here.
gutenberg.orgSaid c. 1840–1841This on korrents
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Beliefs
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The history of what humans have accomplished is at bottom the history of great men
For, as I take it, Universal History, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Society and its ranks are founded on the worship of heroes
Society is founded on Hero-worship. All dignities of rank, on which human association rests, are what we may call a Heroarchy (Government of Heroes),—or a Hierarchy, for it is "sacred" enough withal!
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Disbelief in great men is a sign of a person's own littleness
No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men. There is no sadder symptom of a generation than such general blindness to the spiritual lightning, with faith only in the heap of barren dead fuel.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
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People of every professed creed reach almost every degree of worth or worthlessness
We see men of all kinds of professed creeds attain to almost all degrees of worth or worthlessness under each or any of them.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Quackery is never what starts a religion, only the disease that precedes its death
Quackery and dupery do abound; in religions, above all in the more advanced decaying stages of religions, they have fearfully abounded: but quackery was never the originating influence in such things; it was not the health and life of such things, but their disease, the sure precursor of their being about to die!
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
The view of Muhammad as a scheming impostor has become untenable
Our current hypothesis about Mahomet, that he was a scheming Impostor, a Falsehood incarnate, that his religion is a mere mass of quackery and fatuity, begins really to be now untenable to any one.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
A false man could no more found a religion than build a sound brick house
A false man found a religion? Why, a false man cannot build a brick house!
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Deep, genuine sincerity is the first characteristic of anyone heroic
I should say sincerity, a deep, great, genuine sincerity, is the first characteristic of all men in any way heroic.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
A truly great man could have been great in any sphere
I confess, I have no notion of a truly great man that could not be all sorts of men.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
It is sincerity and depth of vision that make a person a poet
At bottom, it turns still on power of intellect; it is a man's sincerity and depth of vision that makes him a Poet.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
The Indian Empire will be lost some day, but England cannot give up Shakespeare
Indian Empire will go, at any rate, some day; but this Shakspeare does not go, he lasts forever with us; we cannot give up our Shakspeare!
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Without true sovereigns, temporal and spiritual, nothing is possible but anarchy
Without sovereigns, true sovereigns, temporal and spiritual, I see nothing possible but an anarchy; the hatefulest of things.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Anarchy comes from error and half-belief, not from honest inquiry
It is not honest inquiry that makes anarchy; but it is error, insincerity, half-belief and untruth that make it.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
The true university of the present day is a collection of books
The true University of these days is a Collection of Books.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Once writing is invented, democracy is inevitable
Printing, which comes necessarily out of Writing, I say often, is equivalent to Democracy: invent Writing, Democracy is inevitable.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Eighteenth-century scepticism is not an end but a beginning
We will understand that destruction of old forms is not destruction of everlasting substances; that Scepticism, as sorrowful and hateful as we see it, is not an end but a beginning.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Raising a country's ablest man to the supreme place and revering him gives it a perfect government
Find in any country the Ablest Man that exists there; raise him to the supreme place, and loyally reverence him: you have a perfect government for that country; no ballot-box, parliamentary eloquence, voting, constitution-building, or other machinery whatsoever can improve it a whit.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Cromwell cannot be seen as a fraud, and the more one studies him the less it fits
No, we cannot figure Cromwell as a Falsity and Fatuity; the longer I study him and his career, I believe this the less.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Napoleon had only a far inferior sincerity compared with Cromwell
I find in him no such sincerity as in Cromwell; only a far inferior sort.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
Injustice is repaid with frightful compound interest
The heavier this Napoleon trampled on the world, holding it tyrannously down, the fiercer would the world's recoil against him be, one day. Injustice pays itself with frightful compound-interest.
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (1840-1841) Said c. 1840–1841
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