History Quotes / HistoricalHeroUpgrade

->'' Charles George Gordon functioned as example and as symbol. He seemed for many years and for a large section of the British public to have been the best of his race, embodying those traits most dearly admired by Victorian England: bravery, religious humility, honesty, resourcefulness, an innate sense of justice, and a real but manly feeling for the unfortunate. This was how the English nation liked to think of itself...The public needs a constantly fresh supply of heroic figures, and it is only when a national figure is catapulted beyond his time that he survives in the national Valhalla. We could point to people such as Nelson, or perhaps [[UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill Churchill]], for contrast. Nelson lasts in the national mythology because he has been made to embody national qualities of courage and daring connected with the sea which are still admired in the English consciousness. Similarly with Churchill: he is thought to stand for a kind of bulldog determination never to give in, although fighting against overwhelming odds...Gordon shares many of the qualities necessary to the heroic figure, qualities which may be said to be universally admired. He might have succeeded had he not been tainted [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire by the smell of imperialism]], a doctrine which [[SocietyMarchesOn is in very bad odor in the twentieth century]]. It is hard to admire wholeheartedly the man who stood for [[WhiteMansBurden the imposition of white civilization]] on non-white peoples; he needs constant apologies and explanations.''

My horse it wasn't called Black Bess, although that's what you've read\\
Was no romantic hero, shot not one, but two men dead\\
The legend that surrounds me misses out the crucial part.\\
I was a ruthless killer with a ruthless killer's heart"''

->''My horse it wasn't called Black Bess, although that's what you've read\\

->''The Founding Fathers weren't benevolent demigods, they were humans who made compromises and mistakes, and building a compromise with slavery into the structure of our government was one of them''

-->-- '''Creator/SamuelFuller''', whose film ''I Shot Jesse James'' was an attempt at revisionism.

->''-> ''"Shouldn't we applaud the Founders' restored popularity? Isn't patriotism a good thing, especially amid our current difficulties? Yes—but like anything else, it can be taken too far. And when it causes us to overvalue those who have preceded us, it does harm...I do point out that the Founders' work was very much unfinished at the time the torch was passed to the next generation, and that tidying up the loose ends took eighty years [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar and one of the most destructive wars in the history of the world before 1914]]...Americans aren't alone in looking to a golden age, but in our case this inhibits action on important public issues. We marvel that our predecessors, living at a time when the free population of the country didn't exceed the population of greater UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} today, could have gained independence from Britain and fashioned a republic that has lasted more than two centuries; and we bewail our inability, in a population eighty times as large, to find anyone like them...The Founders got the country off to a good start, but they would have been the first to admit that it was no more than a start...They would have dismissed as ludicrous the notion that theirs was a blessed generation, to which others might never compare...In making giants of the Founders, we make pygmies of ourselves; in making saints of them, we make sinners of ourselves...The point of their revolution was to craft a government based on the will of the people; they would have judged themselves failures if they thought their mechanism required saints to run it."''

-->--'''[[WebVideo/StuartAshen Dr. Stuart Ashen]]''' reviewing a ''{{Literature/Horrible Histories}}''-themed blind bag.[[note]]And as [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade the main page]] points out, even Boudica couldn't really be called 'heroic', having murdered tens of thousands of people, including defenceless civilians.[[/note]]

-->--'''[[WebVideo/StuartAshen Dr. Stuart Ashen]]''' reviewing a ''{{Literature/Horrible Histories}}''-themed blind bag.[[note]]And as [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade the main page]] points out in its RealLife section, not even Boudica was 'heroic', having murdered tens of thousands of people, including defenceless civilians.[[/note]]

-->-- '''John Adams''', ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix''[[note]]And not too far from what he wrote in reality, either. The horse is artistic license.[[/note]]

By all accounts, Film/{{Rudy}} is kind of a prick. Oh, and speaking of pricks, every one of the Film/ThreeHundred dudes was both boned by an older man as a child, and boned a child before leaving for battle.\\

->''In [[RealLife Reality]], [[Film/{{Braveheart}} William Wallace]] was actually a well funded militant separatist with extreme political views who attacked a larger, more organised society using guerilla tactics and no regard for civilian casualties. His biggest attack? Pulled on'' September 11th! ''Never forget. Even in the past.\\

The Literature/ColdMountain guy was real, but there's no record of him deserting his post for love. There's just a record of him abandoning his post. Twice. And now he's Creator/JudeLaw.\\

->''In [[RealLife Reality]], [[Film/{{Braveheart}} William Wallace]] was actually a well funded militant separatist with extreme political views who attacked a larger, more organised society using guerilla tactics and no regard for civilian casualties. His biggest attack? Pulled on'' September 11th! ''Never forget. Even in the past.

->''In [[RealLife Reality]], [[Film/{{Braveheart}} William Wallace]] was actually a well funded militant separatist with extreme political views who attacked a larger, more organised society using guerilla tactics and no regard for civilian casualties. His biggest attack? Pulled on'' September 11th! ''Never forget. Even in the past.\\
The Film/GoldMountain guy was real, but there's no record of him deserting his post for love. There's just a record of him abandoning his post. Twice. And now he's Creator/JudeLaw.\\
By all accounts, Film/{{Rudy}} is kind of a prick. Oh, and speaking of pricks, every one of the Film/ThreeHundred dudes was both boned by an older man as a child, and boned a child before leaving for battle.//

->''" Film/ThreeHundred Film/{{Rudy}}"''
-->--

-->-- '''George Washington''', ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABhyKEK-CDg Founding Fathers]]

It's hard to control a people when the founder's a thug\\
So they'll say I was all prayers, pupies and hugs!''

->My beloved people, I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and the wingspan of an albatross and the left hook of a heavyweight Champ!
-->-- '''Queen Elizabeth''', ''HarkAVagrant''

->It doesn't matter. I won't be in the history books anyway, only you. Franklin did this and Franklin did that and Franklin did some other damn thing. Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George Washington, fully grown and on his horse. Franklin then electrified him with his miraculous lightning rod and the three of them - Franklin, Washington, and the horse - conducted the entire revolution by themselves.

-->-- '''John Adams''', ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix''[[hottip:*:And not too far from what he wrote in reality, either. The horse is artistic license.]]

-->-- '''John Adams''', ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix''[[hottip:*:And not to far from what he wrote in reality, either. The horse is artistic license.]]

-->-- '''John Adams''', ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix''[[hottip:*:And not to far from what he wrote in reality, either]]

-->-- '''John Adams''', ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix''

--> '''Queen Elizabeth''': My beloved people, I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and the wingspan of an albatross and the left hook of a heavyweight Champ!
--> HarkAVagrant