“The history of the world is but the biography of great men.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Divinity
“Great geniuses have the shortest biographies.”
Plato; or, The Philosopher
1850s, Representative Men (1850)
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Ralph Waldo Emerson727
American philosopher, essayist, and poet 1803–1882Related quotes
“Reading biographies of great men would shape the life of the youth.”
D. V. Gundappa (1887–1975) Indian writer
In page=22
D.V. Gundappa,Sahitya Akademi
James G. March (1928–2018) American sociologist
On leadership and the relation between madness, heresy, and genius.
Ideas as Art (2006)
“My books are water; those of the great geniuses is wine. Everybody drinks water.”
Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist
Source: Notebook
“The great moral teachers of humanity were, in a way, artistic geniuses in the art of living.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
1940s, Religion and Science: Irreconcilable? (1948)
“Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes the biography.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Source: The Critic as Artist (1891), Part I
W. H. Auden book Forewords and Afterwords
On Søren Kierkegaard, in "A Knight of Doleful Countenance", p. 192
Forewords and Afterwords (1973)
Context: He suffers from one great literary defect, which is often found in lonely geniuses: he never knows when to stop. Lonely people are apt to fall in love with the sound of their own voice, as Narcissus fell in love with his reflection, not out of conceit but out of despair of finding another who will listen and respond.