Man
‹ 8 · Outline
9.Varieties of men: age, sex, race and condition
9a.Savage and civilized man
See also: Race and Nationality 6b · Custom and Convention 2a · Exploration 6b
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 119–120The giant is monstrous, unlike any man who lives by bread, like a lone peak.read · scan
Amerigo Vespucci, Amerigo Vespucci's Account of His First VoyageVol. 43
- p. 28Observes native people's physique and abilities, comparing them favorably to Christians and speculating they'd be as white as Europeans if clothed.read · scan
- p. 28Cannibalism of enemies is said to outdo the savagery of beasts, while natives marvel that Europeans do not eat enemies.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34
- p. 169–170Savage man's bodily strength, agility and self-reliance compared with civilized man, who is weakened by dependence on machines.read · scan
Friedrich von Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of ManVol. 32
- p. 275–276Portrays savage man before beauty: self-seeking, ignorant of his dignity, unfree, seeing others only as prey or enemy.read · scan
- p. 283–284Savage's initiation into humanity is marked by love of appearance, dress and games.read · scan
Sir Charles Lyell, Uniformity in the Series of Past Changes in the Animate and Inanimate WorldVol. 38
- p. 403–404Earliest known human remains occur in Post-Tertiary strata with the bones of some extinct quadrupeds.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, MannersVol. 5
- p. 199Compares savage and civilized man, who serves himself with materials, architecture and laws.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Origin of SpeciesVol. 11
- p. 31–32Mentions man domesticating animals and the savage's ignorance of their variability; man appears only as agent of breeding, not as subject.read · scan
- p. 32Notes barbarian man's remote antiquity via flint tools and early civilisation of lake dwellers; man's prehistory touched incidentally.read · scan
- p. 407–408Stranded mountain species are compared to savage races driven into mountain fastnesses as records of former inhabitants.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 78Argues Indians and Fuegians share one race, differing by degrees of civilization, cold and want.read · scan
- p. 209–210Darwin is struck by the gulf between savage and civilized man, greater than between wild and domestic animals because man can improve.read · scan
- p. 210–211Compares savage and civilized faculties and the power of mimicry.read · scan
- p. 211Individual characters of York Minster and Jemmy Button: passionate, affectionate, sympathetic, patriotic and vain.read · scan
- p. 211–213Darwin marvels that the well-mannered Jemmy came of the same race as the degraded savages first met.read · scan
- p. 213Compares savages' curiosity and vanity with the orangutan's, showing human nature at a primitive stage.read · scan
- p. 217Darwin finds the naked Fuegians so abject that one can scarcely believe them fellow-creatures, comparing their existence to that of lower animals.read · scan
- p. 218Extreme want reveals the savage state of humanity, with old women valued below dogs.read · scan
- p. 222–223Wild, naked natives yelling on a cliff strike Darwin as savage.read · scan
- p. 230Contrast of civilized and savage men; Jemmy's disillusion with his countrymen.read · scan
- p. 232–233Contrast of Jemmy's civilized and reverted state; natives admire trifles, not the ship's grand works.read · scan
- p. 234Compares degrees of improvement among savage races; Fuegians lowest, though mental capacity may not differ.read · scan
- p. 238Runaway sailors survived hardship in good health, aided by Patagonian hospitality.read · scan
- p. 244Calls the Fuegian savage the miserable lord of a miserable land, dependent on the food chain.read · scan
- p. 408Mildness and intelligence of the natives dispel the idea of the savage and show advancing civilization.read · scan
- p. 414Remarks that savage man, with reasoning powers only partly developed, is the child of the tropics.read · scan
- p. 416–417Tattooed, flower-crowned Tahitians in the groves suggest a picture of man in a primeval land.read · scan
- p. 424–425Compares New Zealander and Tahitian as one human family, judging one savage and the other civilized by expression and character.read · scan
- p. 437–438Aborigines are not utterly degraded, are skilled and acute, but stand slightly above Fuegians in the scale of civilization.read · scan
- p. 454Compares the savage state of the natives, seen at ease and in high spirits, with the natives of Tierra del Fuego.read · scan
- p. 506–507Savage versus civilized man is like wild versus tame animal; a savage shows man in his lowest state.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 985–986Contrasts civilized man, heir of all the ages, with the savage who lives like a beast with lower pleasures and pains.read · scan
Henry David Thoreau, WalkingVol. 28
- p. 409–410Prefers the tanned wild denizen of the woods to the pale, civilized man; wildness makes a man.read · scan
- p. 416–417Men seen in herds; a wild savage lies within each, shown when asleep, angry or inspired.read · scan
9b.National and racial character
See also: Custom and Convention 2c · National Character 3a · Race and Nationality 5a
Tacitus, GermanyVol. 33
- p. 94Physical traits: fierce blue eyes, huge bodies, strong at first onset but impatient of toil and heat.read · scan
- p. 101–102Notes the odd contradiction in their nature: love of sloth alongside hatred of repose.read · scan
- p. 104Hardy rearing and late marriage preserve the vigour and stature of the people.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discovery of GuianaVol. 33
- p. 340Raleigh praises them as the most goodly and manly people he has seen despite hardships.read · scan
Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and BeautifulVol. 24
- p. 78The human body's measures are examined and found to vary between beautiful persons.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 411–412A nation's thought reaches spiritual manhood, showing itself variously as money-getting industry, Hume's scepticism, or Burns's melody.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 336Theory of race and human varieties as unlike as wolf and lapdog yet shading into each other.read · scan
- p. 337Emerson praises the quality of individual Englishmen: free, forcible, able, enduring, whose character gives the bias to the age.read · scan
- p. 340–341British prosperity depends on the kind of man; as in a regatta, the man wins.read · scan
- p. 343–344Norse good sense coexists with a passion for homicide.read · scan
- p. 347Describes the English as robust, big, ruddy and handsome, with vigor and endurance.read · scan
- p. 348Racial character and union of masculine and feminine qualities in the English mind.read · scan
- p. 368Emerson softens disparaging phrases about thin, unable mortals impressed by the robust race.read · scan
- p. 371–372Englishman's national character is likened to a hard-enamelled shell, finished outside but often empty within.read · scan
- p. 380English character has great range and variety, described as both sour and sweet.read · scan
- p. 380–381The English stock is earthy, animal, steeped in temperament, strong in love and hate, obstinate in opinion.read · scan
- p. 381–382Surplus English constitutional force yields courage, poetry, invention, trade and wealth, but also rude health, choler and offensive manners.read · scan
- p. 382Emerson praises English race temperament, the golden mean, with great range, strong instincts yet apt for culture, hidden virtues under vices.read · scan
- p. 384–385Physical and mental constitution of the English as a type; abilities of their eminent men.read · scan
- p. 398–399Emerson attributes English wealth to the people's constitutional fertility, creative waste strength and plenteous nature.read · scan
- p. 468English nature displays variety of power and talent, a people of myriad personalities.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 40Undeveloped English are reduced as spiritual beings to a negative existence.read · scan
- p. 110–111Austin's German influences turned him to inward cultivation, disdaining English meanness of aims and low objects.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 49–50Observes the Gaucho character: handsome, proud, dissolute, courteous yet violent.read · scan
- p. 116Darwin describes the mixed-race soldiers as strange beings with detestable expressions, viewed as a picturesque scene.read · scan
- p. 156–157Estanciero's surprise at compassion reveals humane feeling as learned, not universal.read · scan
- p. 279–280Darwin sees close connexion among American tribes despite distinct languages, and notes racial mixing of Indian and Spanish blood.read · scan
- p. 303–304Describes the physique and grave expression of the Indians, resembling the great American family.read · scan
- p. 318Courtesy shown to a poor 'degraded race' reflects on human feeling and class.read · scan
- p. 433–434Darwin judges the natives lacking Tahitian simplicity and the English settlers the refuse of society; only Christian Waimate is bright.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 84Dana claims only the character of the people keeps Monterey from becoming a great town despite natural advantages.read · scan
- p. 143He finds the Islanders interesting, intelligent and kind-hearted, and feels strong attachment to them.read · scan
Henry David Thoreau, WalkingVol. 28
- p. 407–408Climate reacts on man; Thoreau hopes American intellect and heart will grow grander like its sky, plains and rivers.read · scan
Charles Kingsley, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1062Hard weather breeds hard English men, driving them to sea and conquest.read · scan
Edward Augustus Freeman, Race and LanguageVol. 28
- p. 235Ethnology studies physical varieties of the human body, notably skull shape.read · scan
- p. 240Theories of the origin of man do not require the primeval Aryans to be a natural family.read · scan
Ernest Renan, The Poetry of the Celtic RacesVol. 32
- p. 140Celtic character shows the failings and virtues of the solitary man: proud and timid, strong in feeling, feeble in action.read · scan
- p. 170–171Describes racial character: Celts' gentle manners, sensibility and love of the humble and innocent.read · scan
Hippolyte Taine, Introduction to the History of English LiteratureVol. 39
- p. 417The deepest level of man is a primitive racial disposition of thought and feeling.read · scan
- p. 422Race means innate hereditary dispositions; varieties of men differ like breeds of cattle, some brave, some timid.read · scan
9c.The natures of man and woman
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 200Athene generalizes about the heart of a woman.read · scan
Euripides, HippolytusVol. 8
- p. 331He questions why God made man's birth depend on woman and love, wishing children could be bought at temples.read · scan
- p. 331–334The chorus laments woman's lot as evil-starred and without shelter.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 266Camilla defies expected woman's role, preferring the field to the loom.read · scan
- p. 366A woman warrior surpasses men, challenging assumptions about the sexes' capacities.read · scan
Geoffrey Chaucer, The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales; The Nun's Priest's TaleVol. 40
- p. 43The Latin jest that woman is man's confusion or joy.read · scan
- p. 44He jests about women's counsel.read · scan
William Caxton, Prefaces and EpiloguesVol. 39
- p. 9–11Socrates's sayings depict women as deceptive, malicious, fair outside and venomous within, yet bearing some sweetness.read · scan
- p. 11–12Socrates flees women because they shun good and do evil; he rebukes a woman for offering herself unsought.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 155Don Quixote generalizes that women disdain those who love them and desire those who hate them.read · scan
- p. 244Cardenio remarks that no one can fathom the confused, mutable nature of women.read · scan
- p. 253Apparel misleads: the supposed peasant youth is revealed by her beauty to be a delicate woman.read · scan
- p. 316–317Woman is described as brittle, like glass, and weak against temptation.read · scan
- p. 322Anselmo asserts women are naturally inclined to fine attire.read · scan
- p. 496Goatherd generalizes that females can never be quiet, blaming her nature and her kind.read · scan
- p. 501Leandra's fault is blamed on the natural infirmity of her sex, called inconsiderate and slippery.read · scan
- p. 501–503The goatherd generalizes about women's lightness, inconstancy and double-dealing, so he despises even his goat for being female.read · scan
Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, A RenunciationVol. 40
- p. 289Women are called frail and inconstant, an unflattering view of the sex.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of MacbethVol. 46
- p. 332–334She asks to be unsexed, rejecting womanly compassion for cruelty.read · scan
- p. 358Manhood is tested by fear; she says he is unmann'd in folly.read · scan
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies A-BleedingVol. 47
- p. 710–713Philaster denounces womankind as poison, chaos and false shadow, wrongly generalising from Arethusa's supposed betrayal; men who trust a woman's face are lost.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 786Women's hearts are called weak bulrush barks that sink men's honour.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 321–323Man is the whole world and breath of God; woman the crooked rib.read · scan
Pierre Corneille, PolyeucteVol. 26
- p. 80–81Pauline and Stratonice contrast man's will with woman's power, calling women queens who become slaves.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 155–165Eve's first awakening in wonder, the origin of woman from man, and the relation of the sexes.read · scan
- p. 304Adam complains woman is a defect of nature and source of mischief to mankind.read · scan
- p. 331Adam sees man's woe as beginning from woman; Michael says man should hold his place by wisdom.read · scan
John Milton, Samson AgonistesVol. 4
- p. 415Dalila argues weakness is common to both sexes and asks Samson to forgive weakness with weakness.read · scan
- p. 415Chorus generalizes about women's nature, inward gifts unfinished, love of self and inconstancy, as ruin of wise men.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 264–266Women, though blamed for the Fall, are sharers with men in the grace of life; the sexes compared.read · scan
John Dryden, Dedication of the AeneisVol. 13
- p. 32–34Satire on womankind in 'varium et mutabile semper femina'.read · scan
Jonathan Swift, On the Death of Esther Johnson [Stella]Vol. 27
- p. 128Portrait of her character, manners and conversation, admired by bishops and clergy.read · scan
- p. 129Reflects on the female sex's understanding and dignity and her choice of male companions.read · scan
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Minna von Barnhelm, or The Soldier's FortuneVol. 26
- p. 368–370Tellheim argues nature makes man the support of woman; the weaker sex is not dishonoured by what suits the stronger.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, EgmontVol. 19
- p. 283–284Egmont generalizes about women expecting all to submit to their gentle yoke, and about temperament.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and DorotheaVol. 19
- p. 363The mother remarks that men are hasty and run to extremes, while women are clever in finding means.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 327–329Woman is fickle by nature, claims the speaker.read · scan
- p. 445–446The address speaks of women's rights, protection, and the improved manners of civilized men.read · scan
- p. 474–476Man is told to despise the silly creature and be manly.read · scan
William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 651–652The perfect woman is portrayed as human yet angelic, a traveller between life and death with reason, will and endurance.read · scan
James Hogg, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 757–758Women nurse the immortal mind, and the spirits will show what a woman may be.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, MannersVol. 5
- p. 214–215Woman's instinct for behavior detects trifling in men; American women praised for inspiring, generous natures.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, BeautyVol. 5
- p. 304–305All men are lovers of human beauty; a beautiful woman tames her mate and plants tenderness and hope.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 369–370England produces the finest women, who inspire and refine the men.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 116Praises her profound knowledge of human nature and balanced moral character; women's social disabilities barred her from action.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 983–985Woman called the lesser man, with shallower brain, a bitter view of the sexes.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 136–137Debates the relation of womanly to manly nature, their capacities of intellect and virtue, mission and rights.read · scan
- p. 137–138Contrasts flawed male characters with faultless women as types of humanity.read · scan
- p. 145Describes distinct natures of man and woman, each completing the other, rejecting talk of superiority.read · scan
- p. 158–159Men are by nature prone to fight and feeble in sympathy; women feel pain's depths.read · scan
Walter Bagehot, John MiltonVol. 28
- p. 182–183The austere idealist poet fares poorly with women, who prefer trivial daily happiness.read · scan
- p. 191–192Eve as the simplest embodiment of women's inner nature.read · scan
9d.Childhood, youth and age
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 29Telemachus declares himself a man grown whose spirit waxes.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 178Contrast of youth's pliant limbs and age's stiffness, with strength waning.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 229Fitting conduct differs by age: confusion tolerable in youth, composure required in age.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 8–9Infant nature: self-centred wishes, indignation and tears when unobeyed, known by observing other infants.read · scan
- p. 21Even a boy is wonderful: he exists, lives, feels, has memory, speech and friendship, all gifts of God.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 104Compares temperaments of youth and age: youth inventive and rash, age cautious and experienced; each corrects the other's defects.read · scan
- p. 104–106Age profits in understanding rather than in virtues of will and affections; some ripen too early and fade.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King LearVol. 46
- p. 301–303Lear confesses to being a foolish fond old man, fourscore and upward.read · scan
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37
- p. 140Childhood's natural temper: love of novelty and change, difficulty fixing thoughts.read · scan
Ambrose Philips, To Charlotte PulteneyVol. 40
- p. 440–441Childhood innocence, artless and unashamed, is contrasted with the later cares of life.read · scan
Thomas Gray, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 447–449Carefree schoolboys are unaware of the ills awaiting them; 'tell them they are men' subject to misfortune and suffering.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 198–200Contrasts innocent childhood with the follies and crimes of adult humanityread · scan
William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 597Earth as foster-mother makes man forget the glories he knew; the child imitates all the persons of life up to age.read · scan
- p. 600–602The Child is father of the Man.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 358Teachers should respect human nature in the child and bring out his best powers.read · scan
John Keats, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 895–897Four seasons of the mind of man: spring fancy, summer dreaming, autumn contentment, winter as mortal nature.read · scan
John Henry Newman, The Idea of a UniversityVol. 28
- p. 54Youthful high spirits in even sober men attributed to something in human nature.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-RelianceVol. 5
- p. 61Children and boys show healthy human nature in independence and undivided mind, unlike the self-conscious committed adult.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, HeroismVol. 5
- p. 128Gifted youths shrink to common size when the ideal meets the tough actual world.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, CirclesVol. 5
- p. 157–158Old age of mind is the one disease; the young aspire while the old assume to know all.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 401Youth considers means of meeting expense rather than aims of a manly life.read · scan
Charles Tennyson Turner, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 921Childlike innocence with a world-wide bliss.read · scan
William Makepeace Thackeray, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1058–1059Men suffer and strive as boys do; griefs and hopes are the same at forty-five as at twelve.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 292A weak, puny Boston schoolboy has grown strong through the hardships of the voyage.read · scan
Henry David Thoreau, WalkingVol. 28
- p. 397–398Temperament and age shape habits; older men sit still and follow indoor occupations.read · scan
9e.Great men and ordinary men
Plato, PhaedoVol. 2
- p. 57–58Ordinary virtue is a bargain of pleasures and fears; only wisdom is true coin; few are true philosophers among many.read · scan
Plutarch, AlcibiadesVol. 12
- p. 128Alcibiades's charm in daily intercourse wins even enemies like the cruel Tisaphernes, who names his park after him.read · scan
Plutarch, CaesarVol. 12
- p. 295Soldiers insist they are mortal men subject to the same pains and sufferings as others.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 119The individual should aspire to distinction rather than sameness with the mass.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 129–131Hamlet remarks that to be honest, as the world goes, is to be one man picked out of ten thousand.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of MacbethVol. 46
- p. 350–352Macbeth argues men are ranked like dogs by the gifts nature gave, challenging the murderers to prove their manhood.read · scan
René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the SciencesVol. 34
- p. 14Most men are either hasty or modest; only those endowed with more genius may attempt radical doubt.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 45The great are ordinary men; their heads are higher but their feet as low as ours.read · scan
- p. 66Great and humble share the same misfortunes, griefs and passions, differing only in position on fortune's wheel.read · scan
- p. 303Saints like Athanasius and Theresa were ordinary men subject to passions, accused and condemned in their time.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 387Admiration of a great man's genius, humbled before God.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 98True greatness lies in genius used to enlighten minds, as in Newton, not in conquerors, who are illustrious wicked men.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Profession of Faith of a Savoyard VicarVol. 34
- p. 300Asks whether so sublime a person and book could be merely human.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 14The poet is man's mighty spirit revealed.read · scan
Friedrich von Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of ManVol. 32
- p. 237–238Strength of character is the spring of all greatness in man; the pure idea of humanity must be found.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 863–864The godlike mind versus swarms, and the frail, solitary poet as a hunted deer, portray the poet's place among men.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Inaugural Address at EdinburghVol. 25
- p. 383–384Commonplace man is becoming son of Chaos: disobedient, discontented, reckless.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 393Observes a universal human tendency, from China to Peru, to gaze at the distinguished.read · scan
- p. 394Veneration of great men is perennial in human nature; a higher soul must be obeyed and worshipped.read · scan
- p. 404–405Scott judged not truly great: worldly, material, no spiritual purpose or wrestling with the mystery of existence.read · scan
- p. 405–406Greatness is unconscious; great men are children of the idea, driven by a behest of the heart.read · scan
- p. 406–407Scott a genuine, brave, composed, healthy man; the healthy nature is coherent and just toward all things.read · scan
- p. 444–445Scott's rapidity is a proof of the solid health of the man, bodily and spiritual.read · scan
- p. 450–451Carlyle eulogizes Scott as a sound piece of British manhood, worn with care and sorrow.read · scan
George Long, M. Aurelius AntoninusVol. 2
- p. 318True greatness lies in honest purpose, just self-estimate, self-examination and obedience to right, not wealth, station or intellect.read · scan
Victor Hugo, Preface to CromwellVol. 39
- p. 356–357Even great men have a touch of the beast that mocks their intelligence, making them akin to mankind.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American ScholarVol. 5
- p. 15Scholar exercises the highest functions of human nature, being the world's eye and heart.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-RelianceVol. 5
- p. 74–75Our age yields no great persons; most natures are insolvent, with ambition beyond practical force.read · scan
- p. 81Great genius returns to essential man; moral standard as constant as height.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, HeroismVol. 5
- p. 127The great man illustrates his place; the noblest minds make a country fair and show how meanly we live.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Over-SoulVol. 5
- p. 143Character teaches unconsciously; a man's tone reveals whether he has found his centre.read · scan
- p. 144Genius is religious and more like other men; humanity shines in great poets.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, CharacterVol. 5
- p. 183Character is a reserved force acting by presence; the great man shares the life of things and expresses the laws of nature.read · scan
- p. 186Strong minds exert an occult power over weaker ones; higher natures benumb lower ones.read · scan
- p. 193Great men appear at intervals as divine persons, unique and unpredictable, not to be judged by prejudice.read · scan
- p. 193We are born believers in great men; majestic persons convince the senses, and their form cannot lie.read · scan
- p. 195–196We have never yet seen a true man; the divine form is only dream and prophecy.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, PoliticsVol. 5
- p. 242Persons are organs of moral or supernatural force, beyond calculation.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, BeautyVol. 5
- p. 306–307Men are loyal in all times to a finer brain and method than their own.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 315Celebrated writers are prisoners of their own thought and poor companions; a strong head gets past this to a sense of reality.read · scan
- p. 321Carlyle thinks man the most plastic little fellow in the planet, admiring one who manifests truth.read · scan
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, MontaigneVol. 32
- p. 107Describes Montaigne's simple, natural, affable disposition and his moderation, caution and order amid a violent age of strife.read · scan
- p. 110–111The perfect, wholly great man is rare in every age, including Montaigne's and ours.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 141Persons of high intellect are lowered in tone by unintellectual company and should choose equals or superiors.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25
- p. 271–272Eminence in self-regarding qualities brings one nearer the ideal perfection of human nature; folly earns contempt.read · scan
Giuseppe Mazzini, Byron and GoetheVol. 32
- p. 393Byron's generosity, compassion and fidelity to affections despite slander and misfortune.read · scan
Richard Monckton Milnes, Lord Houghton, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1057The few exalted minds bear greater sadness and cares, yet man lives not by joy alone but by God's power.read · scan
William Makepeace Thackeray, Jonathan SwiftVol. 28
- p. 18Great men live apart, like kings without company.read · scan
- p. 27Swift portrayed as an immense genius, lonely and gloomy, whose downfall resembles an empire falling.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 84–85Portrait of the thoroughbred English sailor, his strength, reading and hearty character.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, Abraham LincolnVol. 28
- p. 437–439Lincoln, made from the earth like Adam, shows the truth, magnanimity and statecraft in simple manhood that believes in the justice of God and the worth of man.read · scan
- p. 447Lincoln saw nothing higher to start from than manhood; the sweet humanity of his nature.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, DemocracyVol. 28
- p. 466–468Men have a rooted instinct to admire what is better and more beautiful than themselves.read · scan
Matthew Arnold, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1130–1132Contrasts aimless mass of men with purposeful few.read · scan
Robert Louis Stevenson, Samuel PepysVol. 28
- p. 285Pepys is a unique ordinary man whose conscious honesty about himself sheds light on the lives of mankind.read · scan
‹ 8 · Outline