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Don’t ever make the mistake with people like me thinking we are looking for heroes. There aren’t any and if there were, they would be killed immediately. I’m never surprised by bad behaviour. I expect it. Gore Vidal, cited The Times online 30 September 2009
Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds. Socrates
I’m a hero with coward’s legs. Spike Milligan
When I was a kid my heroes were sheriffs, gunman, outlaws, train robbers and Indian fighters. Tony Robinson’s Wild West I, Discovery 2015
I am constructing my religion from Parcival. Without any submissive posture only when one takes on the mantle of hero is it possible to serve God. Adolf Hitler
Is this how heroes are treated by the gods? Simon Armitage, Gods and Monsters: Homer’s Odyssey, BBC 2010
The hero of my tale – whom I love with all the power of my soul, whom I have tried to portray in all his beauty, who has been, is, and will be beautiful – is Truth. Leo Tolstoy, Sevastopol in May 1855
We live in a heroic age. We live in a moment that will never come again. Richard Feynman
When it comes to the pinch human beings are heroic. George Orwell
Fred Dibnah’s real heroes were the ordinary workers and labourers of the people like him who got their hands dirty. From the labourers and stone masons who built great medieval castles and cathedrals to twentieth century coal miners, mill workers and steel workers. He will always be remembered for the respect he had for all those people who made their living from making things. Wherever Fred went it was always the workers he related to. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steal and Stone: A Good Day’s Work, BBC 2007
Isambard Kingdom Brunel – my hero. Fred Dibnah’s World of Steam, Steel and Stone: Men of Iron, Channel 4 2006
I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom. Bob Dylan
The ancient rain forests of Borneo ... I’m travelling in the footsteps of one of the great forgotten heroes of natural philosophy – Alfred Russel Wallace. Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero I, BBC 2013
This geeky Victorian collector changed our understanding of life on Earth. Along with Charles Darwin he came up with one of the greatest scientific ideas of all time – the theory of evolution by natural selection. ibid.
He is an unlikely hero. ibid.
Freelance collecting was how Wallace funded his far-flung expeditions. ibid.
Wallace discovered about five thousand new species. ibid.
His adventure would last eight long years. ibid.
In January 1856 he left Borneo and sailed more than three thousand kilometres via Singapore, Bali and Lombok to the island of Sulawesi. Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero II: Wallace in the Spice Islands
This dramatic boundary would become known as the Wallace Line. ibid.
When he wasn’t eating potential specimens Wallace was sending them home to sell to museums and private enthusiasts. ibid.
Isolated animals became new and distinct species. Islands are natural laboratories for evolution. ibid.
Seeing these birds of paradise – these entirely new birds of paradise – must have been an extraordinary culmination of his quest. ibid.
Vicious bouts of malarial fever kept him confined to his hut for weeks. ibid.
In this struggle for existence tiny variations matter. ibid.
Wallace knew immediately he had cracked it ... He just popped it in the post ... When Darwin read him it sent him into meltdown. ibid.
The Darwin/Wallace Theory of Natural Selection was announced to the world in London in July 1858. Wallace was still away searching for birds of paradise. ibid.
Wallace was robbed. ibid.
Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me. Fred Rogers
In the Old Testament the slaves identified very much strongly with Moses. Moses is like the quintessential hero. Dr Francois Clemmons
The ubiquitous motif of the hero. Excavating the Empty Tomb
One murder made a villain,
Millions a hero. Beilby Porteus, Death, 1759
People don’t believe in heroes any more. Mad Max 1979 starring Mel Gibson & Joanne Samuel & Roger Ward & Steve Bisley & Tim Burns & Hugh Keays-Byrne & Geoff Parry & Lisa Aldenhoven et al, director George Miller, Macaffee
You don’t have to be a hero, not for me. High Noon 1952 starring Grace Kelly & Gary Cooper & Lee Van Cleef & Thomas Mitchell & Lloyd Bridges & Katy Jurado & Otto Kruger & Lon Chaney & Ian McDonald & Sheb Wooley & Robert Wilke et al, director Fred Zinnemann, Amy to Will
Terrorists don’t get to be heroes. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s3e9: Defiant, Kira to alternative Riker
I am programmed to be heroic when the need arises. Star Trek: Voyager s2e21: Deadlock, Doctor
If we ever get home I expect I’ll become quite the hero. Star Trek: Voyager s4e15: Hunters, Doctor to Seven of Nine
You couldn’t see anything. And someone said, ‘Anybody in here?’ And we said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘All right, this way.’ And that’s what you did. You followed. That’s the difference between people like me and heroes who stop and say, ‘Is there anybody I can help get out?’ You know heroism is maybe someone who is so afraid, who is so frightened, who gets fed up and says, ‘Dammit, I’m not going to let this happen not only to me but to somebody else.’ Louis Lesce, 86th floor of North Tower, cited Inside 9/11: Zero Hour
Heroes always have their scars. Some you can see, some you read about later on. George Foreman
Men who are sincere in defending their freedom, will always feel concern at every circumstance which seems to make against them; it is the natural and honest consequence of all affectionate attachments, and the want of it is a vice. But the dejection lasts only for a moment; they soon rise out of it with additional vigor; the glow of hope, courage and fortitude, will, in a little time, supply the place of every inferior passion, and kindle the whole heart into heroism. Thomas Paine, American Crisis
Images of heroes are found all over Greek art. Empires Special: The Greeks: Crucible of Civilisation: Revolution, PBS 2000
The Iliad and the Odyssey composed by the legendary poet Homer – these works tell of mighty battles and epic struggles. And at their heart lie the heroes. ibid.
Achilles was the archetypal Greek heroes. ibid.