Bardot, Byron, Hitler, Hemingway, Monroe, Sade: we do not require our heroes to be subtle, just to be big. Then read more

Bardot, Byron, Hitler, Hemingway, Monroe, Sade: we do not require our heroes to be subtle, just to be big. Then we can depend on someone to make them subtle.

It's true that heroes are inspiring, but mustn't they also do some rescuing if they are to be worthy of read more

It's true that heroes are inspiring, but mustn't they also do some rescuing if they are to be worthy of their name? Would Wonder Woman matter if she only sent commiserating telegrams to the distressed?

Be your own hero, it's cheaper than a movie ticket.

Be your own hero, it's cheaper than a movie ticket.

Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy -- common clay, if you like read more

Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy -- common clay, if you like -- eating, breeding, working, counting their pennies; people who just live; ordinary people; people you can't imagine dead. And then there are the others -- the noble ones, the heroes. The ones you can quite well imagine lying shot, pale and tragic; one minute triumphant with a guard of honor, and the next being marched away between two gendarmes.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.

As you get older, it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary

As you get older, it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary

We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.

We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.

Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.

Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.

What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in.

What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in.