Thomas Carlyle has espoused the "heroic view" of history, famously saying in his essay on the Norse god Odin in his book "On heroes, hero-worship, & the heroic in history" that "No great man lives in vain. The History of the world is but the Biography of great men ... We do not now call our great men Gods, nor admire "without" limit; ah no, "with" limit enough! But if we have no great men, or do not admire at all,— that were a still worse case."