Mere Heroes
In The Seekers, Daniel J. Boorstin quotes this bit from Voltaire's Age of Louis XIV:
Of those who have commanded battalions and squadrons, only the names remain. The human race has nothing to show for a hundred battles that have been waged. But the great men I speak to you about have prepared pure and lasting pleasures for men yet to be born. A canal lock uniting two seas, a painting by Poussin, a beautiful tragedy, a newly discovered truth–these are things a thousand times more precious than all the annals of the court or all the accounts of military campaigns. You know that, with me, great men come first and heroes last.
I call great men all those who have excelled in creating what is useful or agreeable. The plunderers of the provinces are merely heroes.
I think this is a useful point to reflect on during this time when we have an administration bent on making its historic reputation through provoking wars, and religious fanatics who seek power in order that they might restrict liberty and creativity of expression.
In: All, Common-Place Book, The Art of Conversation