“What the age needs is not a genius — it has had geniuses enough, but a martyr, who in order to teach men to obey would himself be obedient unto death. What the age needs is awakening.”

— Sören Kierkegaard

(20 November 1847)
1840s, The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, 1840s
Context: What the age needs is not a genius — it has had geniuses enough, but a martyr, who in order to teach men to obey would himself be obedient unto death. What the age needs is awakening. And therefore someday, not only my writings but my whole life, all the intriguing mystery of the machine will be studied and studied. I never forget how God helps me and it is therefore my last wish that everything may be to his honour.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 14, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "What the age needs is not a genius — it has had geniuses enough, but a martyr, who in order to teach men to obey would …" by Sören Kierkegaard?

Sören Kierkegaard309

Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism 1813–1855

Related quotes

“Every age needs men who will redeem the time by living with a vision of the things that are to be.”

Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965) mid-20th-century Governor of Illinois and Ambassador to the UN

What I Think (1956), p. 142

“We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don’t spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.”

Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005) American business consultant

“What would Deftmenes be if we went around obeying orders all the time?'
'They might be ruling the Carpet,' said Pismire.
'Ha!' said Brocando, 'but the trouble about obeying orders is, it becomes a habit. And then everything depends on who's giving the orders.”

Terry Pratchett book The Carpet People

The Carpet People (1971; 1992)

“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.”

Oscar Levant (1906–1972) American comedian, composer, pianist and actor

As quoted in On the 8th Day — God Laughed (1995) by Gene Perret, p. 95.

“In a distant age and climate, the tragic scene of the death of Husein will awaken the sympathy of the coldest reader.”

Husayn ibn Ali (626–680) The grandson of Muhammad and the son of Ali ibn Abi Talib

Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 2, p. 218 http://books.google.com/books?id=VvXSAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA218&dq=Edward+Gibbon+Hosein&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4eogT_7ZEZToiALbpIGBCA&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=hosein&f=false <br class="br">Quotes by non-Muslims