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Who is the Historical Person You Most Admire - and Why?
Posted by filosofia • 12/09/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: historical, history
Who is the historical person you most admire - and why?
User Comments
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CS LEWIS.
.....because he's..C..S..LEWIS!
He inspired me to become a writer, and also broke down the Trinity perfectly in his book "Mere Christianity"-
Yes that is a very good book, I enjoyed it.
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not necessarily admiration but I'm very interested in Vlad III Dracula. Therefore my blog dracula-transylvania.blogspot.com/
Radu-
Yes I agree - admire is not quite the word to apply.
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Historical figure- mmm, possibly Joan of Arc.-
And maybe you could tell us why?
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Stood up for her beliefs - overcame adversity but obviously paid for it the end, nevertheless never has been forgotten and her ideology is still revered - girl power in an age where women rarely had a voice, which made her very brave.
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Thanks for that...
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Shaka Zulu..."Victory or Death"
It's amazing how he held out over colonialism and grew a mighty nation from scratch.
Also goes to show how african nations and art stands and falls from the faith in which it receives.
After the death of Shaka, the nation was never the same.-
I din't know anything about him before, so thanks for your contribution...
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@filosofia...Wow I wonder what are they teaching in public schools today.
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@filosofia...Well here are some links & video
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka
www.carpenoctem.tv/military/shaka.html
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRZ9Kkg5HZE -
We just seem to do World War Two most of the time. With a bit of World War One for variety.
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Just joking, it's not as bad as that in school...
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@filosofia....I know...not all schools and for the record, my school wasn't all that either.
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They did manage to kill essentially the entire 1st battalion/24th regiment (technically A,C,E,F, and H companies of the 1/24th and G company of the 2/24th - plus irregular cavalry and auxiliaries) at Isandlwana. At a terrible cost, of course,but still a stunning victory. -
To kdawg68: Yes but it's an interesting aspect of how history comes to us that it is Rorkes Drift that tends to be remembered more?
Anyway, I'd rather try to keep away from the idea that a person's worthiness to be admired comes from the degree of their effectiveness in killing people. I think the world has had quite enough of that, and maybe it's time to stop it?
Just a thought. -
Hey you asked and I told you and I don't care if you didn't like my answer,
don't ask if you don't want to hear it. We need another world war...too many people on the planet already due to excessive over population & not enough food for them to eat or water to drink. And I fully agree with Shaka "It is death or victory". -
Shaka was actually a colonialist in his own right. He grew his empire by invading neighbouring tribes, killing the men and raping the women, then raising their children as soldiers.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mfecane
He was also assassinated by his half-brother Dingane if I remember correctly. The Boers also regard Shaka as a hero because he held out so long against British rule. To this day, there is an alliance between the Zulu and the Boers.
We were taught about Shaka Zulu in history during school. Shaka had a great military tactic (which is now disputed among historians) and he certainly is a folk hero to South Africans.
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aside from jose rizal, it's Ninoy Aquino. he is everyone's hero in PI, though it's sad the younger generation seldom remembers him. =( -
Albert Ellis: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Ellis
He was a cognitive therapist who in less than 2 sentences summarized the mystery of the human condition for me. (not a direct quote, but as I recall)
'human beings will create or fantasize about kinds of things, (devils, gods), and then believe these creations to be the absolute truth, and then will stubbornly hold on to these beliefs and refuse to challenge them or let them go.'-
@Paul8bee
Thanks so much for posting that quote.
It's a good one.
Here are two of my core beliefs:
Ideas, theories and beliefs are not necessarily truths.
A belief is not an idea held by the mind; it is an idea that holds the mind. -
Yes the world would probably be a nicer place to live in if everyone had that Ellis quote pinned to their wall at home.
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It's just that, thinking a bit more about Albert Ellis, I'm sure he's a very admirable person from history, but are you really saying he's the person you MOST admire from history?
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Filosophia
Yes it is Albert Ellis that I admire the most. His straight forward logic hit me right between the eyes. After reading the first bit of his book Humanistic Psychotherapy, I had learned more about myself and the human race than all other sources combined.
I finally understood the source of my troubles, it was my wandering day dreaming mind. I thought that my thinking was logical and correct, but found out I was sleep walking. Ellis got right into my soul and showed me exactly, in no uncertain terms, what the trouble was, and he offered a simple program RET to fix it.
Sure I admire people who have had a impact on other people in general, but Ellis had a huge impact on "ME Personally, this is what makes him special to me. He is not a statistic that I read about in school, but his writings played an active part in my life. I am sure that countless thousands feel the same way.
Albert Ellis (September 27, 1913 – July 24, 2007. Although I never met the man personally, I read his books in 1994 and it has stuck with me ever since. So I guess now having passed on, as a person he is history but his writings will live on. I am sure of that. He would have been an interesting person to have a conversation with.
great thread here.. thank you
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Jesus was born in a barn but his ideas conquered an empire ... and more!
thundercatt99.blogspot.com/
thundercatt99.wordpress.com/-
Real people only please. -
To pointlessbanter: I must say I always thought that Jesus was a real historical person, but obviously I'll have to change my views if what you say is right. Can you provide us with a link to a page that proves he never existed?
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@filosofia....you don't prove that something is not the case...you prove that it is. There is no historical evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, he probably did exist, but there is no historical record or evidence of his existence except for the cult of Christ (ie. Christianity {Christianity is a cult religion before anyone gets arsey, look it up})
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Yeah OK well leaving aside the cult religion stuff and the claims that Jesus was or was not the son of God (which is at the very least, a highly debatable claim), I always thought most people accepted that there was a real historical person in there somewhere. If it's something most people accept, and you say it's untrue, then yes you do have to disprove it. However, it's not important to this thread, which is about admirable people and why they are admirable!
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I can only choose one person?
Franklin... whore monger, statesmen, inventor-
I take it you mean Benjamin Franklin whose picture appears on the $100 bill? Yes he's a very interesting character. I like the story of when he flew a kite in a thunderstorm. Is their any truth in the story that he was also a spy for the British government?
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I always say Abraham Lincoln so this time I'm gonna go with Teddy Roosevelt, such an interesting character!-
I don't know much about Roosevelt, wasn't he the president after the Great Depression? Please tell us more about him?
Abraham Lincoln is well-known to everyone over here, and all over the world, mainly because he set the slaves free, but also because he had a wonderful way with words.
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the first name that comes to my mind is "Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatama) Gandhi", simply for the kind of person that he was. he was an extremely shy person, was afraid to make public speeches, and had a lot of inferiority complex, but despite all that he overcame all odds and led a movement against the Britishers to give India its independence. not to mention that he used non-violence as a means to gain independence.
if given a choice to go back in the past to meet a historical figure, then i would definitely like to meet Mahatama Gandhi. -
Yes, Gandhi showed that it is possible to achieve political ends without resorting to the use of force.
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I've got lots of Filipinos on my list.
1. Andres Bonifacio
2. Jose Rizal
3. Some Filipino presidents, like Ramon Magsaysay, and I'm also very curious about Ferdinand Marcos. -
Alice Walker. Who lived by a standard of beauty and truth that I as a black woman follow. I'm proud to be a fellow Womanist. -
A few admirable people might be, say, Einstein, Shakespeare, Michelangelo. Buddha, Jesus, Confucius, Mandela...
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There are a lot I admire...including some current ones. One of them recently asked me permission in Facebook to be a friend. Who was it?
Tzipi Livni. Yup...the Israeli leader herself who has been fighting prejudice to hold a country together.
12 hours later she was gone! (Slichah, bevakashah, Tzipi?)
What was THAT all about?
ROFL!!! I guess I was too straaaaaaange for her! -
I'm going to go with Barack Obama. We're witnessing history in the making. At a time when the economy is in crisis and our foreign policy in shambles, we have someone who is assembling a team of the best and the brightest. Almost makes you proud to be an American.
My first election was in 1980, so all I've really known is Reaganomics. This is the end of Reagan's disaster policies and his war on the middle class. -
I've always wanted to meet one of the oddballs of history - the strange, bizarre, and unfathomable Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. I suspect he wouldn't be very pleasant to be around though.
Apart from that, I'd love to meet the "first human" - whether you believe that was actually someone named "Adam" or our first fully evolved member of the human species. How fascinating that would be. Really anyone from what we might consider a "pre-historic" era. Clovis indians...Kennewick man - you name it, I'd like to meet them. Heck, how about the celtic looking mummies from the Taklamakan desert? What stories might they have?
Hannibal Barca is another high on my list. As are Alexander, Little Turtle, and Gengis Khan.-
Funny you mentioned Gengis Khan...I was thinking the same thing.
I would be interested to know what makes people like Gengis Khan tick.
Where they got their point of view...people like Stalin, who decided to starve off most of Russia. How the hell do people like him sleep at night, I would love to know? -
the cool thing is - apparently half of Asia is descended from Genghis Khan, so I suppose in some ways he's never really left us.
For Stalin, I think it was the mustache. That definitely made the man.
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Tonight, I'm picking Betty Page. RIP.
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In music history, I can't decide between Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven. Can anyone help?
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I like Beethoven's music. As personalities, hmm... I think I would also vote for Beethoven.
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I love Beethoven, his music is like life itself. And of course he wrote the tune for the Anthem of the EU, which I also love.
And I love Bach, for the glorious complexity of his work; it sometimes seems as if his music is a reflection of the divine blueprint of the inner workings of the universe.
And how could anyone not love Mozart? Now that really does seem impossible.
So you see, it's very difficult to choose...
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Sherlock Holmes... he was such a character!-
Sherlock Holmes was actually a fictional character, of course. But he has figured so largely in the public imagination that many people talk of him as if he were real. Thousands make the pilgrimage to 221b Baker Street to view the place where the famous detective "actually lived" and that address regularly receives mail addressed to him.
To keep within the bounds of this discussion thread, and to choose a person who actually existed, I suppose you could say you admire Arthur Conan Doyle. This would be apt, since it has been said that the characters of Holmes and Watson represent the two sides of Doyle's own personality.
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Mozart and
Bertrand Russell -
Chingis Khan, cuz he has been the greatest conqueror so far. -
Boudicca, a Celtic queen (of sorts,) who led her army against the Romans, almost stopping their invasion of Britain. A smart, brave, honorable, self-sacrificing woman. -
I bet a few years ago, there would have been lots of people who said Leonardo Da Vinci was their favourite. But ever since that book came out, I think LDV has lost some ground in the polls...
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Mother Teresa for her humility and humanitarian efforts.-
An excellent choice!
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Jesus Christ. No one can compare his past, present and future influence on all generations. Interestingly enough - he is the only One whom the world sets time's reference too. -
The thing I like best about Jesus is when he said, "The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve."
Sorry if I got the quote wrong, but you get the idea. -
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk - A man stands against the biggest empires at wars and choosing the democracy while creating a new nation.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Kemal_Atatürk
Jean Paul Sartre - For his wide point of view, creating an idealogy and principles that even caused to reject receiving Nobel Prize.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sartre
Bertrand Russel - For his predictions and revolutionary contributions to Philosophy, Mathematics and Religion. He took the math from naive structure to the axiomatic structure with Russell paradox
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell
George Bernard Shaw - for his way of thinking and quotes
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw
Richard Phillips Feynman - for his contributions to the physics and his way of making everything understandable.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - for emotional contributions to the world music.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky
Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi - for his revolutionary contributions to Religion philosophy
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi -
Mine is Nikolai Tesla:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla
Because he wasn't afraid to go against the current.-
The fact that he actually dug Ditches is truly astounding to understand.
Imagine a person of Genius level intellect digging ditches for his sworn rival for a year. Now that takes some bravado. -
Yes! He's like someone from an Ayn Rand book.
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President John Quincy Adams(6th):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams
He wrote one of the most influential ideas in American political history and he let the sitting president take credit for it. After being president he went on to serve his state in the House and Representatives. He successfully won the freedom of the Africans aboard the Amistad and he never billed them for services rendered. -
If anyone here knows Ancient Indian History then i would like to say It's Kautilya(Chanakya)4thc BCE- One who shuddered the roots of Mauryan Empire. Himself son of an ordinary priest who was killed by king's people vowed to avenge his father's death and thus formed the Golden history of Mauryas.
you can check out links below, He was a remarkable politician and economist as well. Still today his work on economics-Arthshastra is considered as the major treatise on economics.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanakya
www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_1/arthashastra.h...
www.fordham.edu/halsall/India/kautilya1.html-
Wow! The Indian Machiavelli? That's so interesting, thank you.
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Sir Richard Francis Burton, linguist, writer, poet, soldier, explorer and so much more.
He is probably one of the most fascinating characters of the Victorian era, the first non muslim to enter Mecca (he dressed as an Arab trader), translator of the Kama sutra and all round rogue.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton -
Richard Feynman.
He knew his stuff but didn't profess to know everything; and he didn't care what other people thought. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman -
I'm going with satijournal on Barack Obama. People don't seem to 'get it' yet, how instrumental he is going to be.
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St. Peter and Charles the Hammer
St.Peter's simply amazing in his humility. He took well St. Paul's rebuke, he didn't allow his power to go to his head. One has to have a glimpse of the kind of power St. Peter had to appreciate the magnitude of his humility- he could heal the sick, raise the dead, cure lepers; he had dominion over unclean spirits; on his mere saying it, people could die; whatever he says, heaven confirms. YET, HE NEVER BECAME DRUNK WITH ALL THIS POWER. Amazing.
The authorship of Hebrews, to me the grandest of the epistles, remains unknown. I suspect it's Peter's, written through Luke.
Charles Hammer- in the way he defeated the Muslims in a battle there's NO WAY he could have won. Did you know how? He had a number of his men steal up at the back of the Muslim camp, and had them raid the camp of the plunder that comes with victory. The Muslims, seeing how the Franks were running away with their loot, broke ranks to go back to their camp. That allowed Charles the Hammer to rout them. -
Frederic the Great and you can read (and see a video about) why on:
www.blogbert.nl/2008/12/frederik-de-grote.html -
Saint Joan of Arc was described by Mark Twain as the "only entirely unselfish person in history." She was truly amazing.
www.maidofheaven.com/-
Yes she was amazing. Come to that Mark Twain was a fairly incredible guy himself. Apart from the Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn thing, I loved his book about how to be a steamboat captain on the Mississippi!
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