Character and Conduct – 19 January –Influence of Great Men

THE thirst for memoirs and lives and letters is not all to be put down to the hero-worship which is natural to every heart. It means, perhaps, a higher thing than that.   It means, in the first place, that great living is being appreciated for its own sake;  and, in the second, that great living is being imitated.   If it is true that any of us are beginning to appreciate greatness for its own sake greatness, that is to say, in the sense of great and true living – it is one of the most hopeful symptoms of our history.   And, further, if we are going on from the mere admiration of great men to try and live like them, we are obeying one of the happiest impulses of our being.   There is indeed no finer influence abroad than the influence of great men in great books, and all that literature can do in supplying the deformed world with worthy and shapely models is entitled to gratitude and respect.

The Ideal Life, HENRY DRUMMOND

GLIMPSES into the inner regions of a great soul do one good. Contact of this kind strengthens, restores, refreshes.   Courage returns as we gaze;  when we see what has been, we doubt no more that it can be again.   At the sight of a MAN we too say to ourselves, Let us also be men.”

Amiel’s Journal

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These quotes are from ‘Character and Conduct’ A selection of helpful thoughts from various authors arranged for daily reading.

Collected by Constance M Whishaw and first published in 1905 as a follow up to her volume of Daily Readings for members of the Being and Doing Guild who asked for an additional volume

In her preface Whishaw writes:

‘This collection of noble thoughts expressed by men and women of past and present ages who have endeavoured to leave the world a little better than they found it.’

It is my hope in publishing the her readers may be inspired to imitate the example of the authors.