Greatest People in History
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Allen
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Greatest People in History
I wasn't sure whether or not this would make a good thread, but I think it's a good topic. I hope you all agree. I would like to know who you all think were some of the greatest figures in history.Whether it's because of their achievements, their notoriety, or whatever it is that you personally believe makes a person "great". I'd be interested to find out who you all believe to be "The Greatest People in History."
"He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the head of dispute." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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FairhavenGuy
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theebmonique
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This is going to take some thinking time. SO many names flood into my head.
http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican
Tracy...
http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican
Tracy...
I'm defying gravity and you can't pull me down.
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doug65oh
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Good Lord… Well, the list I have in mind would take too long to write out – it could number as many as 100 in the next hour. Rather than rattle off a mere list (at the moment anyway) I’ll first qualify my “yardstick of greatness” and define it at least partly by these lines. I did not write them, but wish I had, for they go so far in defining “greatness” as to be great themselves:
I think continually of those who were truly great.
Who, from the womb, remembered the soul's history
Through corridors of light where the hours are suns
Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition
Was that their lips, still touched with fire,
Should tell of the Spirit clothed from head to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the Spring branches
The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.
...............
Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields
See how these names are feted by the waving grass
And by the streamers of white cloud
And whispers of wind in the listening sky.
The names of those who in their lives fought for life
Who wore at their hearts the fire's center.
Born of the sun they traveled a short while towards the sun,
And left the vivid air signed with their honor.
-Stephen Spender
Among the names suggested to me in these lines are Washington, Adams, Jefferson and more – politicians all and statesmen some.
Two that come to mind in the legal field are Marshall, and old Webster – him who said in defense of Dartmouth College before the Supreme Court:
“Sir, you may destroy this little institution, it is weak, it is in your hands! I know it is one of the lesser lights in the literary horizon of our country. You may put it out! But if you do so, you must carry through your work! You must extinguish, one after another, all those great lights of science which for more than a century have thrown their radiance over our land! It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it!”
The accounts tell us that at this point Webster lost his composure momentarily – that his “lips quivered; his firm cheeks trembled with emotion; his eyes were filled with tears; his voice choked; and he seemed struggling to the utmost, simply to gain that mastery over himself which might save him from an unmanly burst of feeling.”
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~govdocs/case/peroration.htm
Whether this actually happened might in our own day be questioned, but for my own part I should expect no more impassioned scene or plea…from one of Dartmouth’s own.
Of Webster we know more, both of greatness and of flaws (and he had both in very large measure) but for sake of time, boredom, and other such things as that, I’ll leave him be.
Moving forward, ever forward the name of Lincoln comes to mind, and with him many another – the likes of Longstreet, Hill, Sam Grant, Uncle Billy Sherman, Chamberlain of the 20th Maine, all of these and more geometrically perfect, aligned as spokes around the hub of a wheel; and at that hub, majestic astride his faithful mount, none other than Robert E. Lee, who saw and faithfully did his duties in two armies over the course of thirty-five years - he who said that duty was "the sublimest word in our language" ... that we can never justly be expected to do more, nor rightly should we expect to do anything less.
There are literary “greats” too, though they are far too many to name, as the list begins with Chaucer, Malory and Shakespeare, and runs all the way thru to our own present. However, if I were to choose but one “great” modern, it would be Charles Schultz, who gave joy and lessons to the millions of us (myself included) in relating the experiences of several small children, one very small bird, and one of the most talented (and at times tormented) dogs the world has ever seen.
Frost, Nash…okay so that’s three.
Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Churchill, Truman, the three Kennedy brothers, Dr. King – all of these and yet more might justly be called “great figures.” (Even that old [expletive deleted] George Patton was great.)
Religion is far too full of “greats” to even begin naming them off. (At one for each of the past …say 2025 years, well, I don’t have enough space on the hard drive for that.)
Long? Well yes, I suppose this is a wee bit long, but in this too there is a lesson: Be careful what you ask for - you just might get it!
I think continually of those who were truly great.
Who, from the womb, remembered the soul's history
Through corridors of light where the hours are suns
Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition
Was that their lips, still touched with fire,
Should tell of the Spirit clothed from head to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the Spring branches
The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.
...............
Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields
See how these names are feted by the waving grass
And by the streamers of white cloud
And whispers of wind in the listening sky.
The names of those who in their lives fought for life
Who wore at their hearts the fire's center.
Born of the sun they traveled a short while towards the sun,
And left the vivid air signed with their honor.
-Stephen Spender
Among the names suggested to me in these lines are Washington, Adams, Jefferson and more – politicians all and statesmen some.
Two that come to mind in the legal field are Marshall, and old Webster – him who said in defense of Dartmouth College before the Supreme Court:
“Sir, you may destroy this little institution, it is weak, it is in your hands! I know it is one of the lesser lights in the literary horizon of our country. You may put it out! But if you do so, you must carry through your work! You must extinguish, one after another, all those great lights of science which for more than a century have thrown their radiance over our land! It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it!”
The accounts tell us that at this point Webster lost his composure momentarily – that his “lips quivered; his firm cheeks trembled with emotion; his eyes were filled with tears; his voice choked; and he seemed struggling to the utmost, simply to gain that mastery over himself which might save him from an unmanly burst of feeling.”
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~govdocs/case/peroration.htm
Whether this actually happened might in our own day be questioned, but for my own part I should expect no more impassioned scene or plea…from one of Dartmouth’s own.
Of Webster we know more, both of greatness and of flaws (and he had both in very large measure) but for sake of time, boredom, and other such things as that, I’ll leave him be.
Moving forward, ever forward the name of Lincoln comes to mind, and with him many another – the likes of Longstreet, Hill, Sam Grant, Uncle Billy Sherman, Chamberlain of the 20th Maine, all of these and more geometrically perfect, aligned as spokes around the hub of a wheel; and at that hub, majestic astride his faithful mount, none other than Robert E. Lee, who saw and faithfully did his duties in two armies over the course of thirty-five years - he who said that duty was "the sublimest word in our language" ... that we can never justly be expected to do more, nor rightly should we expect to do anything less.
There are literary “greats” too, though they are far too many to name, as the list begins with Chaucer, Malory and Shakespeare, and runs all the way thru to our own present. However, if I were to choose but one “great” modern, it would be Charles Schultz, who gave joy and lessons to the millions of us (myself included) in relating the experiences of several small children, one very small bird, and one of the most talented (and at times tormented) dogs the world has ever seen.
Frost, Nash…okay so that’s three.
Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Churchill, Truman, the three Kennedy brothers, Dr. King – all of these and yet more might justly be called “great figures.” (Even that old [expletive deleted] George Patton was great.)
Religion is far too full of “greats” to even begin naming them off. (At one for each of the past …say 2025 years, well, I don’t have enough space on the hard drive for that.)
Long? Well yes, I suppose this is a wee bit long, but in this too there is a lesson: Be careful what you ask for - you just might get it!
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Allen
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That was a really great post! I enjoyed reading it. I don't think it's a bit long, when it comes to naming the greatest people in history, there is a lot of history to coverdoug65oh @ Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:51 pm wrote:
Long? Well yes, I suppose this is a wee bit long, but in this too there is a lesson: Be careful what you ask for - you just might get it!
.I would like to name some of the people I think were really great. I think Helen Keller was a phenomenal figure in history. She couldn't speak, see, hear, or communicate in any way. She was basically living her whole life like she was shut up in some dungeon. But the lengths to which her teacher went to teach her about the world around her, and how to interact with it, well I think her teacher must've been a truly great person as well. Helen learned to do so many things that no one ever believed possible! Her life is really a testament to the fact that the human spirit can triumph over any adversity.
The next person I choose is William Shakespeare. Some of his works, in my opinion, are the greatest works ever written. In the next semester I am taking the class which will cover his comedies. "Hamlet" is my favorite work by William Shakespeare. "O, that this too too solid flesh would melt...." (As an interesting aside, when Mel Gibson played Hamlet it helped that he was so easy on the eyes.)
Susan B. (Brownell) Anthony was another great figure in history. She campaigned for the better part of her life so that women might have the right to vote. She was a tireless and fearless advocate for women's rights.
Thomas Jefferson was truly a great person, and not just because he was a president of the United States. He was a talented speaker, writer, statesman, and architect. He designed and built the home he and his wife lived in named Monticello. He also designed the University of Virginia and many other buildings. He was only 33 when he drafted The Declaration of Independence. He was the Secretary of State under George Washington.
He was Vice President under John Adams. During his two terms as president he reduced our national debt by one third, among his other accomplishments. He wrote several books, and loved to read as well. Monticello has an extensive library of books.
I'll just quickly name some of the other "great" people on my list. Amelia Earhart, Elliot Ness, Clarence Darrow, Dr. Robert Ballard, and all of the fire fighters and police who risked, or lost, their lives on September 11th. My husband worked for a company at that time that installed equipment for telephone companies which allow the telephone systems to work, it was called Lucent Technologies. He installed a lot of equipment for Verizon.He volunteered for a job for Verizon and was sent to New York to help repair the phone system which had been knocked out when a part of one tower fell on the building that housed it. He was there for over a month. He worked right next to ground zero during that time. He had to go through police and military barricades just to get to the building he was working in. He had to walk through the debris area, and they were supposed to wear gas masks while the worked. The stories he told me when he got back, and the descriptions he gave, only reinforced my feeling that these men were truly brave and selfless individuals who deserve to be honored with a firm place in history.
"He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the head of dispute." - Friedrich Nietzsche
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doug65oh
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It's hard (for me, anyway) to think of Shakespeare or "greatness" without remembering these old and storied lines:
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Henry V Act IV, Scene iii.
(I forgot to mention that each of those you named I too would call great heroes or heroines, though to the female side I might add Joan of Arc as well.)
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Henry V Act IV, Scene iii.
(I forgot to mention that each of those you named I too would call great heroes or heroines, though to the female side I might add Joan of Arc as well.)
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Audrey
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Personally, I think some of the greatest people in history are...
Single mothers who sent their children to college by working their butts off....
Father's not afraid to kiss their sons....
People who pray for strangers and who put their change into the jar at the 7-11 for the guy who needs the kidney transplant who they don't even know.
Mostly the people who work miracles everyday and never ask for attention-- Like people who make anonymous contributions to charities.... People who smile at you.... run after you with something you dropped leaving the market...
I do not have much respect (or interest) in politics and politicians... I can not think of one in the history of the universe who was selfless....
Mon Dieu.. I do go on tangents..
One of the people I admire the most is a woman named Deborah. I met her while volunteering at a homeless shelter in Boston. She was living with her 3 kids and husband in a 70's something station wagon. It ran-- when they had gas money for it. She sent her kids to school and saw to it they did their homework and were clean. Sometimes they came to the shelter when she couldn't find money for meals-- by scavanging for recyclable cans or panhandling. She was a bright, sensible and kind woman. I used to wonder if I could have done as well as she did in the same circumstances. I don't think I could have. Sometimes the people with the most advantages are the most disadvantaged of all. I would love to know where she is today and that she is OK. Her kids would be college aged by now.. I bet they went.
Single mothers who sent their children to college by working their butts off....
Father's not afraid to kiss their sons....
People who pray for strangers and who put their change into the jar at the 7-11 for the guy who needs the kidney transplant who they don't even know.
Mostly the people who work miracles everyday and never ask for attention-- Like people who make anonymous contributions to charities.... People who smile at you.... run after you with something you dropped leaving the market...
I do not have much respect (or interest) in politics and politicians... I can not think of one in the history of the universe who was selfless....
Mon Dieu.. I do go on tangents..
One of the people I admire the most is a woman named Deborah. I met her while volunteering at a homeless shelter in Boston. She was living with her 3 kids and husband in a 70's something station wagon. It ran-- when they had gas money for it. She sent her kids to school and saw to it they did their homework and were clean. Sometimes they came to the shelter when she couldn't find money for meals-- by scavanging for recyclable cans or panhandling. She was a bright, sensible and kind woman. I used to wonder if I could have done as well as she did in the same circumstances. I don't think I could have. Sometimes the people with the most advantages are the most disadvantaged of all. I would love to know where she is today and that she is OK. Her kids would be college aged by now.. I bet they went.
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Nona
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My top guys
1. Thomas Jefferson
2. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th of Maine of the North for union of the Cival War.
3. Thomas "Stonewall Jackson" of the confederate Army in the Cival war.
4.Major Dick Winters Airborn of the 101st to fight the war in france and Germany. Amazing man. He's still alive and I have his address if anyone wants to write him.He's saved countless mens lives
5.The guy who discovered everyone has a unique DNA-------to catch the bad guys with, or parternity tests. WOW!!!!
I simply adore Thomas Jefferson....I actually have this mad crush on him except of course that he's dead. I have been to Montichello a few times and it is soooooooooooo beautiful and he is just an amazing man. He was everything to a fine politician though to awsome architecture, to wonderous horticulturist, a fine historian and a man of ideas to fill up books and books. He was intrested in freedom and education for all. And he is my hero he is the reason we have many things we do today. AND of course he was quite a scandalous man to........who had an affair with his mullatto slave girl who bore him children......i love a man with some bad in him:) Thomas Jefferson is way the best on my list.
I also am amazed with the honor and dedication for love and country that chamberlain and stonewall portayed in the cival war....they were two very fine men even if they were on opposite sides of the battlefield.......they both have a place of admiration for me.
Major.......he was promoted a few times after that.......Dick Winters..........an amazing leader during troubled times with Hitler's days. He served his men and his country well with courage and a beautiful amount of love for his men.....great guy.
I don't know the guys name credited for the DNA FIND BUT WHOAAAAAAAAA.........that guy has my vote.!
1. Thomas Jefferson
2. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of the 20th of Maine of the North for union of the Cival War.
3. Thomas "Stonewall Jackson" of the confederate Army in the Cival war.
4.Major Dick Winters Airborn of the 101st to fight the war in france and Germany. Amazing man. He's still alive and I have his address if anyone wants to write him.He's saved countless mens lives
5.The guy who discovered everyone has a unique DNA-------to catch the bad guys with, or parternity tests. WOW!!!!
I simply adore Thomas Jefferson....I actually have this mad crush on him except of course that he's dead. I have been to Montichello a few times and it is soooooooooooo beautiful and he is just an amazing man. He was everything to a fine politician though to awsome architecture, to wonderous horticulturist, a fine historian and a man of ideas to fill up books and books. He was intrested in freedom and education for all. And he is my hero he is the reason we have many things we do today. AND of course he was quite a scandalous man to........who had an affair with his mullatto slave girl who bore him children......i love a man with some bad in him:) Thomas Jefferson is way the best on my list.
I also am amazed with the honor and dedication for love and country that chamberlain and stonewall portayed in the cival war....they were two very fine men even if they were on opposite sides of the battlefield.......they both have a place of admiration for me.
Major.......he was promoted a few times after that.......Dick Winters..........an amazing leader during troubled times with Hitler's days. He served his men and his country well with courage and a beautiful amount of love for his men.....great guy.
I don't know the guys name credited for the DNA FIND BUT WHOAAAAAAAAA.........that guy has my vote.!
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theebmonique
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It was James Watson and Francis Crick who were credited with the discovery of the structure of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid). BUT...actually, it was one of their FEMALE associates who came up with the 'idea'. Rosalind Franklin worked with Watson and Crick (and Maurice Wilkins) on the DNA project, but has never been given the credit she deserves. She died from cancer before the Nobel prize for the discovery of the structure of DNA was awarded.
http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/B ... nklin.html
http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/franklin.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/photo51/
Tracy...
http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/B ... nklin.html
http://www.sdsc.edu/ScienceWomen/franklin.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/photo51/
Tracy...
I'm defying gravity and you can't pull me down.
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Nona
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Haulover
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i'd like to keep this thread alive, but i'm still thinking about it. it's overwhelming. the concept is so diffused in my mind, i'll have to break it down to categories. to keep it to americans, for example, here is a short list off the top of my head:
a lincoln
us grant
re lee
edgar allan poe
janis joplin
(for those astrologically inclined, my bottom three all share the same birthday of january 19th.)
??
a lincoln
us grant
re lee
edgar allan poe
janis joplin
(for those astrologically inclined, my bottom three all share the same birthday of january 19th.)
??