Thomas Carlyle
1795-1881 | Ecclefechan, Scotland
The thunderer against mechanism and materialism. Thomas Carlyle watched the Industrial Revolution transform Britain and declared war on its spiritual costs. His volcanic prose style - part sermon, part prophecy - denounced "the dismal science" of economics and called for heroes to lead society. His histories brought the past alive with terrifying vividness. Friend to Emerson, enemy to complacency, he made Victorians uncomfortable with a prosperity built on exploitation and spiritual emptiness.
Carlyle's Works
History, philosophy, and social criticism"The history of the world is but the biography of great men."
- On Heroes and Hero-Worship
"A man without a goal is like a ship without a rudder."
- Attributed to Carlyle
"No pressure, no diamonds."
- Attributed to Carlyle
"The block of granite which was an obstacle in the pathway of the weak becomes a stepping-stone in the pathway of the strong."
- Attributed to Carlyle
"Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand."
- Sartor Resartus