Thomas Carlyle
Overview
Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

 writer, essayist, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 and teacher during the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

.
He called economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

 "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia
Edinburgh Encyclopedia
The Edinburgh Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia in 18 volumes, printed and published by William Blackwood and edited by David Brewster between 1808 and 1830...

, and became a controversial social commentator.

Coming from a strict Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

 family, Carlyle was expected to become a preacher by his parents, but while at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

, he lost his Christian faith. Calvinist values, however, remained with him throughout his life.
Quotations

Not all his men may sever this, It yields to friends', not monarchs', calls;My whinstone house my castle is— I have my own four walls.

“My Own Four Walls” (c. 1825)

Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead: therefore we must learn both arts.

Notebooks (1830)

It is now almost my sole rule of life to clear myself of cants and formulas, as of poisonous Nessus shirts.

Letter to His Wife (1835)

The Public is an old woman. Let her maunder and mumble.

Journal (1835)

A witty statesman said, you might prove anything by figures.

Chartism (1839), Ch. 2, Statistics

Democracy is, by the nature of it, a self-canceling business; and it gives in the long run a net result of zero.

Chartism, Ch. 6, Laissez-Faire

He that works and does some Poem, not he that merely says one, is worthy of the name of Poet.

Introduction to Cromwell's Letters and Speeches (1845)

A Parliament speaking through reporters to Buncombe and the twenty-seven millions, mostly fools.

Latter Day Pamphlets, No. 6

 
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