WendyMcElroy.com
Baltasar Gracian's Aphorism #203: Know the Great Men of your Age[To access past Gracian aphorism's and my subjective interpretation of them, click here.]
Baltasar Gracian's Aphorism #203: Know the Great Men of your Age.
They are not many. There is one Phœnix in the whole world, one great general, one perfect orator, one true philosopher in a century, a really illustrious king in several. Mediocrities are as numerous as they are worth-less: eminent greatness is rare in every respect, since it needs complete perfection, and the higher the species the more difficult is the highest rank in it. Many have claimed the title "Great," like Cæsar and Alexander, but in vain, for without great deeds the title is a mere breath of air. There have been few Senecas, and fame records but one Apelles. [Apelles of Kos was a renowned painter in ancient Greece.]
My interpretation: This is a difficult aphorism to fulfill not only because there are so few great men but also because they might not want to meet you. Supply and demand functions in the intellectual world as well. Fortunately, you can meet a wide array of great men and women in an indirect manner through biographies, memoirs and their work.
Nothing compares, however to meeting and befriending a great person directly. I had this rare pleasure through my friendship with Murray Rothbard. He had some characteristics I would not imitate but he was without doubt the finest mind I have ever encountered...and one of the funniest people. If you are not able to associate personally with the great minds of our time then you can move in that direction by attending their lectures, watching their videos, listening to their tapes and interviews. The one disadvantage of meeting figures from the past through books, however, is that you lose the visceral impact of their voice, their gestures, their body language. Much of Murray's deep impact upon me came from those factors. He was a force of nature.
Baltasar Gracian's Aphorism #203: Know the Great Men of your Age.
They are not many. There is one Phœnix in the whole world, one great general, one perfect orator, one true philosopher in a century, a really illustrious king in several. Mediocrities are as numerous as they are worth-less: eminent greatness is rare in every respect, since it needs complete perfection, and the higher the species the more difficult is the highest rank in it. Many have claimed the title "Great," like Cæsar and Alexander, but in vain, for without great deeds the title is a mere breath of air. There have been few Senecas, and fame records but one Apelles. [Apelles of Kos was a renowned painter in ancient Greece.]
My interpretation: This is a difficult aphorism to fulfill not only because there are so few great men but also because they might not want to meet you. Supply and demand functions in the intellectual world as well. Fortunately, you can meet a wide array of great men and women in an indirect manner through biographies, memoirs and their work.
Nothing compares, however to meeting and befriending a great person directly. I had this rare pleasure through my friendship with Murray Rothbard. He had some characteristics I would not imitate but he was without doubt the finest mind I have ever encountered...and one of the funniest people. If you are not able to associate personally with the great minds of our time then you can move in that direction by attending their lectures, watching their videos, listening to their tapes and interviews. The one disadvantage of meeting figures from the past through books, however, is that you lose the visceral impact of their voice, their gestures, their body language. Much of Murray's deep impact upon me came from those factors. He was a force of nature.
| Donate with Paypal |
 | Donate Bitcoins! |
New Bitcoin address - 30 Nov 2020
1Ee7g7zAUReViPRWtLPBEgnPDRP62qxq3J
1Ee7g7zAUReViPRWtLPBEgnPDRP62qxq3J
Our news can be syndicated by using these rss feeds.
