I admire Michel de Montaigne for his artistic daring, his command of the written word, and the substantial insight he had into his own mind.
Julius Ceasar, I admire for his energy, universal effectiveness, and daring.
Emperor Marcus Aurelius, I admire for his courage, his devotion to virtue, and his succinct writing style.
I admire Abraham Lincoln for his fortitude, persistence, the diligence of his intellect, force of his reasoning, and ability to express his ideas.
The great TR for his energy, the capacity and ambition of his mind, his courage, his love of virtue, and how he was always a man of action.
I admire how Winston Churchill used his command of the English Language to help him lead a life of action and consequence.
I admire Walt Whitman’s moral courage, artistic ambition, wisdom, kindness, and his love for America.
Samuel Johnson, I admire for the productivity of his mind, and his ability with language, both as a reader and writer. He, along with Ben Franklin, got the most out of their mental tools, I think.
Goethe too, parlayed his pen and creativity into a life of high achievement.
I consider Kind David, along with Lincoln and Julius Caesar as being the models for the self-made man. I also admire how, due to his boldness, energy, and love of God, David succeeded in the artistic, spiritual, and active parts of life.
I admire the oratory of Billy Graham and the way he preached the Gospel. I imagine the Apostles Peter and Paul might have sounded something like him; direct, confident, and powerful.
I admire the way Frederick Douglass overcame adversity to succeed in life on his own terms, and in a time and place most hostile to him.
I admire Da Vinci’s drive and desire to get to the meaning of things for himself through observation and experimentation.
I’d Like to write like Ernest Hemingway, think like Abraham Lincoln, work like Theodore Roosevelt, see like Vincent Van Gogh, create like Pablo Picasso, fight like Jack Demspey, speak like Billy Graham, lead men like Julius Caesar, and like Elvis Presley, own the stage.
