Philosopher's Notes Heroes of History
Heroes of History
A Brief History of Civilization from Ancient Times to the Dawn of the Modern Age
About the Book
352 pages
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Brian's take
I can’t quite believe I made it this far without reading Will Durant. I knew the famous line about excellence being a habit was his poetic paraphrase, not Aristotle’s, but I had never actually sat with his work until that 101 books in 101 days stretch. Heroes of History made me fall in love with the man. Written in his mid-nineties after more than sixty years mastering his craft, this book is Durant the philosopher writing history, inviting us into what he calls a “Country of the Mind” where the great souls of civilization still live and teach. We meet Confucius and his call to reform the world by cultivating the self, Pericles and the Golden Age of Athens with both its brilliance and its shadows, Jesus as the greatest spiritual revolutionist, and Michelangelo as a testament to disciplined creative labor. Big Ideas we explore include Meet Your Heroic Guide, Confucius, Pericles, Jesus, and Michelangelo, each reminding us that history is philosophy teaching by example, and that leadership begins with the mastery of your own character.
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“But the noblest distinction of man is his passion for knowledge.”
Shocked by the wars and crimes of mankind, disheartened by the selfishness of ability and the perpetuity of poverty, saddened by the superstitions and credulities with which the nations and generations gild the brevity and indignities of life, we feel our race in some part redeemed when we see that it can hold a soaring dream in its mind and heart for three thousand years, from the legend of Daedalus and Icarus, through the baffled groping of Leonardo, and a thousand others, to the glorious and tragic victory of our time.
Will Durant
“[Pericles] thought of art as subordinate to life, and of living as the greatest art of all; he had a healthy utilitarian bias against any beauty that could not be used; the useful, the beautiful, and the good were almost as closely bound together in his thought as in Plato’s philosophy.”
Will Durant
“The noblest love of all is that which most widens the ego and offers open heart and arms to all living, peaceful things.”
Happy is the soul that so enlarges its love.
Will Durant
“Energy is only half of genius; the other half is harness.”
Will Durant
“We honor Michelangelo because through a long and tortured life he continued to create, and produced in each main field, a masterpiece.”
We see these works torn, so to speak, out of his flesh and blood, out of his mind and heart, leaving him for a time weakened with birth. We see them taking form in a hundred thousand strokes of hammer and chisel, pencil and brush; one after another, like an immortal population, they take their place among the lasting shapes of beauty and significance.
Will Durant
