On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History is a book by the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, published by James Fraser, London, in 1841. It is a collection of six lectures given in May 1840 about prominent historical figures. It lays out Carlyle's belief in the importance of heroic leadership. Background The book was based on a course of lectures Carlyle had given. The French Revolution: A History had brought Carlyle recognition, but little money, so friends organized courses of public lectures, drumming up an audience and selling one guinea tickets. Though Carlyle disliked lecturing, he discovered a facility for it; more importantly, it brought in much-needed income. Between 1837 and 1840, Carlyle delivered four such courses of lectures, the final of which was on "Heroes". His lecture notes were transformed into the book, with the effects of the spoken discourse still discernible in the prose."The Hero as Man of Letters" (1840): "In books lies the soul of the whole Past Time; the articulate audible voice of the Past, when the body and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream." "A man lives by believing something; not by debating and arguing about many things." "All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books." "What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books." "The suffering man ought really to consume his own smoke; there is no good in emitting smoke till you have made it into fire." "Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity." (Often shortened to "can't stand prosperity" as an unknown quote.) "Not what I have, but what I do, is my kingdom." Lectures 1. (5 May) The Hero as Divinity. Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology 2. (8 May) The Hero as Prophet. Mahomet: Islam 3. (12 May) The Hero as Poet. Dante; Shakspeare 4. (15 May) The Hero as Priest. Luther; Reformation: Knox; Puritanism 5. (19 May) The Hero as Man of Letters. Johnson, Rousseau, Burns 6. (22 May) The Hero as King. Cromwell. Napoleon: Modern Revolutionism Summary Carlyle was one of the few philosophers who lived through the British industrial revolution but maintained a non-materialistic view