Comments on: Question for Readers: What did Churchill Mean by “Man is Spirit”? http://localhost:8080/man-is-spirit Senior Fellow, Hillsdale College Churchill Project, Writer and Historian Fri, 27 Jan 2023 20:10:10 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 By: Richard Howard http://localhost:8080/man-is-spirit#comment-63614 Fri, 27 Jan 2023 20:10:10 +0000 https://richardlangworth.com/?p=9504#comment-63614 We must be mindful of the context to understand the meaning. Here Sir Winston Churchill was giving pearls of very practical and applicable wisdom, not just theory or beliefs. To deal with men you must understand you’re dealing with the human spirit. As Napoleon wrote, “A man does not have himself killed for a few halfpence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul [the spirit in man] in order to electrify the man.”

]]> By: James W. Muller http://localhost:8080/man-is-spirit#comment-34950 Sun, 23 Feb 2020 17:21:29 +0000 https://richardlangworth.com/?p=9504#comment-34950 As I read your query this morning I am in the midst of reading Professor Paul A. Cantor’s Shakespeare’s Rome: Republic and Empire. In his introduction and first chapter he clearly describes the difference between men who are moved by spiritedness (in Greek, thumos) and men who are moved by their appetites (in Greek, eros). Shakespeare seems to have known of the discussion of the importance of thumos in the soul in Plato’s Republic. This would be a good place to begin in considering what Churchill meant by saying “man is spirit.”

]]> By: Richard M. Langworth http://localhost:8080/man-is-spirit#comment-34949 Sun, 23 Feb 2020 16:45:36 +0000 https://richardlangworth.com/?p=9504#comment-34949 In reply to Charles Crist.

Charles, that’s very thoughtful, and much appreciated. Of course as Andrew Roberts remarked, God in WSC’s belief system had a very special responsibility, which was looking out for Winston Churchill. Given WSC’s many narrow escapes from Cubans, Pathans, Dervishes, Boers, Germans, Fenians, New York motorists, and assorted nationalists who took a decidedly dim view of his public work, he might have been right.

]]> By: Charles Crist http://localhost:8080/man-is-spirit#comment-34948 Sun, 23 Feb 2020 16:25:04 +0000 https://richardlangworth.com/?p=9504#comment-34948 Richard,
Given WSC’s strong belief in “Destiny”, both his own and that of the English-speaking people’s, I have concluded that his frequent use of the term signified a belief in a power (even) greater than himself, which to humankind of any/all religions signifies a belief in God. Whether or not the Christian God is idle speculation and not truly important. Churchill had and felt a connection with the best of the human “spirit” which I have concluded was his God. As he got older he became more aware of that “Spirit”, as we all do.

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