“this same Man-of-Letters Hero must be regarded as our most important modern person. He, such as he may be, is the soul of all.”

—  Thomas Carlyle

1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Man of Letters

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "this same Man-of-Letters Hero must be regarded as our most important modern person. He, such as he may be, is the soul …" by Thomas Carlyle?
Thomas Carlyle photo
Thomas Carlyle 481
Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian… 1795–1881

Related quotes

John Dryden photo

“To begin then with Shakespeare; he was the man who of all Modern, and perhaps Ancient Poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul.”

John Dryden (1631–1700) English poet and playwright of the XVIIth century

Essay of Dramatick Poesie (1668)
Context: To begin then with Shakespeare; he was the man who of all Modern, and perhaps Ancient Poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. All the Images of Nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily: when he describes any thing, you more than see it, you feel it too. Those who accuse him to have wanted learning, give him the greater commendation: he was naturally learn'd; he needed not the spectacles of Books to read Nature; he look'd inwards, and found her there. I cannot say he is every where alike; were he so, I should do him injury to compare him with the greatest of Mankind. He is many times flat, insipid; his Comick wit degenerating into clenches; his serious swelling into Bombast. But he is alwayes great, when some great occasion is presented to him: no man can say he ever had a fit subject for his wit, and did not then raise himself as high above the rest of the Poets

John Evelyn photo

“A most excellent person he is, and must be allowed a little for a little conceitedness; but he may well be so, being a man so much above others.”

John Evelyn (1620–1706) writer, gardener and diarist

Samuel Pepys Diary, November 5, 1665.
Criticism

William Foote Whyte photo

“The personnel man should regard personal resistance as entirely normal and simply as presenting problems that he has to contend with. At the same time, he must have a clear idea of his own role and functions. He must be prepared to explain them fully when asked. He must also be prepared to take a firm initiative in cases where others take such actions as may jeopardize his role.”

William Foote Whyte (1914–2000) American sociologist

Source: Making Mondragón, 1965, p. 170; As cited in: Ickis (2014)

Michio Kushi photo

“Pasteur originally conceived the idea of germs and of destroying them. Although this started as a personal thing, it has mushroomed into DDT, killing beetles and worms, resulting in food contamination, much sickness, and trouble. Although he is regarded as hero by modern medicine, Pasteur will be treated in much the same way as a warmonger when he is judged in the spiritual world.”

Michio Kushi (1926–2014) Japanese educator

Source: Spiritual Journey: Michio Kushi's Guide to Endless Self-Realization and Freedom (1994, with Edward Esko), p. 55

Joseph Campbell photo

“The modern hero-deed must be that of questing to bring to light again the lost Atlantis of the co-ordinated soul.”

Joseph Campbell book The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Epilogue
The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)

Wallace Stevens photo

“Perhaps,
The man-hero is not the exceptional monster,
But he that of repetition is most master.”

Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American poet

Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction (1942), It Must Give Pleasure

“In order to proceed with abstraction, the organism must be exposed to a sufficient number of events which contain the same factors. Only then is a person equipped to cope with the most frequent happenings that he may encounter.”

Gregory Bateson (1904–1980) English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist

Source: Communication: The Social Matrix of Psychiatry, 1951, p. 7

Richard Francis Burton photo

“He regards it, with many moderns, as a state of things, not a thing; a convenient word denoting the sense of personality, of individual identity.”

Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) British explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, lin…

The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdû El-Yezdî (1870), Note I : Hâjî Abdû, The Man
Context: With Hâjî Abdû the soul is not material, for that would be a contradiction of terms. He regards it, with many moderns, as a state of things, not a thing; a convenient word denoting the sense of personality, of individual identity.

Jacques Maritain photo

“To philosophize man must put his whole soul into play, in much the same manner that to run he must use his heart and lungs.”

Jacques Maritain (1882–1973) French philosopher

An Essay on Christian Philosophy (1955), p. 17.

Robin Hobb photo

“When considering a man's motives, remember you must not measure his wheat with your bushel. He may not be using the same standard at all.”

Robin Hobb book Assassin's Apprentice

Source: Assassin's Apprentice

Related topics