Who is the most revered person in your country's history?

[garbon]

Oh I guess I have heard/seen these as dreck that I roll my eyes at.

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

[Syt]

I'm disappointed that no American has offered Paul Revere as the most revered person yet.

[Valmy]

I'm disappointed that no American has offered Paul Revere as the most revered person yet.

Revere suffers from the fact that he became a cliche myth that most people know is not true. What they do not know is that in reality the real Revere was far cooler than the discredited myth.

Well that and he is a pretty distant figure in time, heck even the myth is over 150 years old.

But yes I get the pun

[Valmy]

Oh I guess I have heard/seen these as dreck that I roll my eyes at.

The most common one I see is 'I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work.'

But seriously google 'Edison Quotes' a ton will show up in that vein. 'Don't give up! Edison didn't and look at how much nerds hate him!'

[celedhring]

Ben Franklin? Mark Twain? They hold an humongous share in "quote of the day" Spanish calendars. 

Plus both of them rock.

[Valmy]

Ben Franklin? Mark Twain? They hold an humongous share in "quote of the day" Spanish calendars. 

Plus both of them rock.

Oh fuck how could I forget Franklin

He is actually my favorite American

Twain is obviously the great American writer.

I was thinking mainly of the 20th century there. Whoops.

[FunkMonk]

Sam Houston

[Valmy]

Sam Houston

A great man. A friend (-ish) to the native peoples and a sworn enemy to the lettowists. Pity about the shitty city they named after him.

[garbon]

Ben Franklin? Mark Twain? They hold an humongous share in "quote of the day" Spanish calendars. 

Plus both of them rock.

Oh fuck how could I forget Franklin

He is actually my favorite American

Twain is obviously the great American writer.

I was thinking mainly of the 20th century there. Whoops.

I thought of Franklin but wasn't sure if he'd make top 10.

[lustindarkness]

Syt, Paul Revere is missing a d.

[FunkMonk]

Sam Houston

A great man. A friend (-ish) to the native peoples and a sworn enemy to the lettowists. Pity about the shitty city they named after him.

Yup, my favorite part of 7th grade Texas History class.

[Valmy]

There are few people in any country's history who are a great business leader, a great civic leader, a great cultural icon, a groundbreaking scientist, and a great political leader all at the same time.

[Barrister]

So, CBC did a Greatest Canadian show like so many other countries did.

Top Ten:

10. Wayne Gretzky (meh, fair enough)
9. Alexander Graham Bell (well deserved)
8. Sir John A MacDonald (father of the country, dragged down by drinking and some scandals)
7. Don Cherry (I'm a fan, but come on)
6. Lester Pearson (not a fan, but I can see why he'd rank)
5. David Suzuki (by now it becomes obvious that was a poll of CBC viewers)
4. Sir Frederick Banting
3. Pierre Trudeau
2. Terry Fox
1. Tommy Douglas

[Zanza]

I'm honestly struggling to name "the one German" who's most revered. Luther, and Goethe would certainly make the shortlist, though.

If you consider Einstein a German, it must be him. He's revered worldwide, not just in Germany and is a pop culture icon on top of his gigantic achievements.

[Admiral Yi]

I would have thought Luther's Jew hating would create issues.

For the US I'd go Lincoln, Washington, MLK.