Kitabı oxu: «A Biographical Dictionary of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Freethinkers»

Abbe, Professor Ernst (1840–1905)

He was not only a distinguished German physicist and one of the most famous inventors on the staff at the Zeiss optical works at Jena but a notable social reformer, By a generous scheme of profit-sharing he virtually handed over the great Zeiss enterprise to the workers. Abbe was an intimate friend of Haeckel and shared his atheism (or Monism). Leonard Abbot says in his life of Ferrer that Abbe had "just the same ideas and aims as Ferrer."

And-Er-Rahman III (891–961)

The greatest of the Moslem Arab Caliphs, who raised Spain from a state of profound demoralization to one of unprecedented prosperity, culture and brilliance while Christian Europe lay in the darkest phase of the Dark Age. It was from the splendor of his empire that civilization was rekindled in France, then in Europe generally. See S.P. Scott's Moorish Empire in Europe (3 vols. 1904) Scott piously deplores his "infidelity" and sensuality and then describes his magnificent work in lyrical language. Stanley Lane Poole (The Moors in Spain, 1897) also says that he created a civilization "such as the wildest imagination can hardly conjure up." He defied the Koran all his life and was clearly an atheist.

Abelard, Peter (1080–1142)

The most learned and far away the most brilliant master in Christian Europe in the twelfth century. He was "the idol of Paris," and troubadour as well as a philosopher, until a canon of the cathedral had him castrated for an affair with his niece Heloise. This soured his disposition, so that it is absurd to call his letters to Heloise "love-letters," but his teaching was still so free that he was twice (1121 and 1141) solemnly condemned by the Church. His first principle was that "Reason precedes Faith." Compare the date with the preceding paragraph. The cultural splendor of Spain had just roused France from the Dark Age.

Ackermann, Louise Victorine (1813–1890)

A French woman writer of great distinction whose salon was one of the most brilliant intellectual centers of Paris. She is very resolutely Agnostic, without using that word in her Pensees d'une solitare (written later in life) and she wrote a poem for her tombstone which begins: "I do not know." In the strict sense she was an atheist.

Adams, John (1735–1826), Second President of the United States.

He signed the Treaty of Tripoli, which began (article 11), "The Government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion," he continued, "The doctrine of the divinity of Jesus has made a convenient cover for absurdity." The treaty was ratified by the Senate in 1797 without a single exception. His rejection of Christianity, which he professed to admire morally, runs all through his letters to Jefferson, of which there is a good selection edited by Welstach (1925), through it is better to read them in the original edition (1856). The correspondence of the two men, the most accomplished who ever rose to high political office in America- they freely quote Greek, Latin, Italian and French to each other- it is very free and most interesting. The attempts of his grandson and a few others to represent Adams as a Unitarian is not honest. He was not even a very firm Deist. One letter he wrote to Jefferson (May 12, 1820), who says that its "crowd of skepticism" kept him awake at night, has been suppressed by the pious Unitarian grandson, but in another (January 17, 1820) he defines God as "an essence that we know nothing of" and says that the attempts of philosophers to get beyond this are "games of push pin." He calls the Incarnation an "awful blasphemy," and says of the First Cause "whether we call it Fate or Chance or God." He believed in personal immortality but admitted that he knew no proof of it. He was, he says in a letter of May 15, 1817, often "tempted to think that this would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it." His family fell away to respectable Unitarianism but his grandson Charles Francis Adams (1835–1915) the distinguished historian, was an Agnostic of the Leslie Stephen school, as is shown in the Life and Letters.

Adamson, Professor Robert (1852–1902)

Described in the Cambridge History of Modern Literature (XIV,48) as "the most learned of contemporary philosophers." He was an outspoken \Agnostic and a Utilitarian in ethics. In the symposium Ethical Democracy (1900) he says that even the most pretentious proofs of the existence of God are "intellectually unrepresentable" and that "the world conquered Christianity" instead of the other way about.

Addams, Jane (1863–1935)

Famous American reformer, founder of Hull House at Chicago, Nobel Prize Winner, and for 7 years President of the Womens' International League for Peace and Freedom.

In view of her position Miss Adams, who was the aunt of the late Marcet Haldeman-Julius, had to be reticent about religion, but her biographer F.W. Linn says that she never departed from the Rationalism which her father had taught her and "just joined the Congregational Church as she might join a labor-union." Her German biographer, F. Rotten says the same. All Chicago respected her high character and followed her funeral, which by her direction was unsectarian. Addison: "Atheism is old fashioned word, I am a freethinker." (Webster's dictionary)

Aikenhead, Thomas (1678–1697)

A Scottish undergraduate of Edinburgh University who merits inclusion here as a martyr of freethought. Brooding over his Bible he came to the conclusion that it was "a rhapsody of ill contrived nonsense" and said so. After a travesty of a trial he was condemned and hanged.

Airy, Sir George Biddell, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S. etc. (1801–1892)

British Astronomer Royal, President of the Royal Society and loaded with European honors for his immense services to astronomy and other sciences. In the midst of his honors (1876) he published Notes of the Earlier Hebrew Scriptures in which he rejects revelation and miracles. He was a Theist but assured the public that he regarded "the ostensible familiarity of the biblical historian with the counsels of the Omnipotent as merely oriental allegories.

Akbar, the Great (1542–1602)

"greatest and wisest of the Mogui Emperors" (Enc. Brit.). He ruled the empire of India, which he conquered, with a wisdom and beneficence which few monarchs surpassed, and all historians admit that he rejected the Moslem religion and cultivated and tried to establish a pure theism with tolerance of all sects. His Grand Vizier had the same views.

Alembert, Jean Le Rond D' (1717–1783)

the second greatest of the French Encyclopaedists, a foundling who became one of the most learned men of France, a member of the French and Berlin Academies and highly honored by Frederic the Great and Catherine the Great. He was the finest mathematician of his time and a man of simple ways and lofty character.. Alembert preferred to call himself a skeptic rather than an atheist, thinking that the latter implied an express denial of the existence of God.

Aleieri, Count Francesco (1712–1761),

Italian writer (science, history and philosophy) whose great learning won high favor with Frederic the Great, Augustus of Saxony, and even (at first) Pope, Clement XIV who pronounced him one of those rare men whom one would fain love even beyond the grave" Friend of Voltaire and a Deist. Frederic erected a monument to him.

Alice, Princess. See Victoria

Allbrutt, Sir Thomas Clifford, K.C.B., M.A., M.D., Sc. D. F.R.S. (1826–1925).,

one of the most distinguished British physicians of his time. His works on medicine and the Middle Ages are valuable. He was an agnostic, writing that "the issues of being … is not solved but proved insoluble."

Allen, Colonel Ethan (1737–1789),

leader of the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont in the War of Independence, later in the State Legislature. He published what seems to have been the first anti-Christian (Deistic) work in America, Reason the Only Oracle of Man (1781). There is a statue of him in Montpelier.

Allenby, Viscount Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman (1861–1936)

one of the leading British Commanders in the First European War. He was a member of the British Rationalist Press Association, and in the course of an eloquent appeal for peace (Allenby's Last Message) at his inauguration as Rector of Edinburgh University shortly before his death he ruled out religion as a help.

Allingham, William (1824–1889)

Irish poet and close friend of Froude, Tennyson, Rossetti and other famous writers whose conversations with him on religion are recorded in his Diary (1907). They were all skeptics, he shows. He professed to be an atheist but said that "we can not in the least comprehend or even think Deity."

Alma-Tadema, Sir Laurence, Litt. D.D.C.L., R.A., F.S.A., O.M. (1836–1912)

Famous British painter. He painted superb pictures of life in ancient Greece and Rome, and my friend the Hon. John Collier, an intimate friend of his, confirmed my inference that he had no religious beliefs whatever.

Amicis, Edmonde De (1846–1908)

Leading Italian of the last century. He served in the army against the Pope's troops and then became, said the Athenaeum, "one of the most extensively read Italian authors of the last three-quarters of a Century." He professes Agnosticism in his Memorie and says that he is "fascinated and tormented by the vast mystery of life."

Anaxagoras (B.C. 500–428), a Greek philosopher of peculiar interest. He found-not unnaturally at that time-that the materialistic philosophy of the Ionic School was not satisfying and he introduced Reason or Mind (Nous) into the Universe. This was the beginning of the "Design Argument" for the existence of God, which Socrates and Plato developed and modern theists have used so extensively, but Anaxagoras did not mean a personal God. The irony of his life is that in spite of this service to mysticism he was under the protection of Pericles, for impiety; and the particular impiety was to say that the stars were white-hot bodies not the abodes of spirits.

Andrews, Stephen Pearl (1812–1886) social reformer. He opened a brilliant career at the American bar and sacrificed it by his zealous work for the abolition of slavery. It is said that he knew 32 languages, and he invented a universal language and a universal (non-theistic religion). Besides several works on religion he contributed frequently to the Truthseeker.

"Angel Norman" See Lane. R.N.A.

Annunzio, Prince Gabriele D' (1863–1938). greatest of modern Italian poets, who received his title for his distinction in letters (novels, poetry, and tragedy). The Church, for which he always expressed a profound contempt, put all his work on the Index, the Pope expressly warned Catholics not to read them. In one of his works he describes himself (in the guise of one of his characters) as "a princely artist of magnificent sensuality." He led the Neo-Pagan movement in Italy and was an atheist.

Anthony, Susan Brownell (1820–1906) reformer, leader of the American agitation for the rights of women. Of Quaker origin and in earlier years very puritanical-in mid-life she wore for a time the kind of pants that were then called "bloomers" from her friend Amelia Bloomer- she threw herself into the Abolitionist, Temperance and Feminist movements and led a life of struggle and sacrifice. Like most of her American colleagues in the arduous years of the movement she was an Agnostic, and she freely criticizes religion in the large and standard work on the struggle which she and Mrs. Gage wrote. She never married and, though she grew more liberal, was greatly respected for her high type of character.

Arago, Dominique Francois Jean (1786–1853), "one of the most illustrious savants of the nineteenth century," says the French Grande Encyclopedie. His early work in mathematics and astronomy was so brilliant that the French Academy, against its own rules, admitted him at the age of 23. He was equally distinguished in physics, in manuals of which his name still occurs, and was honored by all the learned academies of Europe. But he was an outspoken atheist and republican even under Napoleon (who greatly esteemed him) and Louis Napoleon, and he fought at the barricades, at the age of 62, in the revolution of 1848. In his published correspondence with Baron von Humboldt, another scientific freethinker, he often attacks religion. His brother Etienne, a distinguished dramatist, was not less honorably out-spoken. His son sustained the tradition but in his later years entered the higher regions of politics.

Aranda, Count Pedro Pablo Abaraca Y Bolea D' (1718–1798) the greatest of Spanish statesmen. He became in time President of the Council of Castile and First Minister of Spain, and he carried a whole series of measures of social reforms on the lines of the French philosophers. He corresponded with Voltaire and shared his Deism. The clergy and monks conspired against him, drove him from office, and dragged Spain back to its medieval condition. The Inquisition threatened him but did not venture to take action.

Argenson, Count Marc Pierre De Voyer De Paulmy D' (1696–1764), French statesman, at one time Governor of Paris and Minister of War. He was a friend of Voltaire and the Encyclopaedists, and it was largely owing to his powerful protection that they got out their work in Paris in an age of despotic bigotry. He shared their Deistic views.

Aristippus (B.C. 435–356), founder of the Cyrenaic School of Greek philosophy. He was a pupil of Socrates who turned to the Skeptics and held that no knowledge beyond common human experience possible-in modern language Agnosticism. His native city Cyrene was in that part of Africa which is now called Libya but was at that time a lovely and populous region, the Florida of the Greek world. So what is called the philosophy of the Cyrenaic school was simply that man ought to make life as pleasant as possible. It is, however, false that he advocated surrender to sensual pleasure. He often andtained for a long period to show that he was master of himself and his pleasures.

Aristotle (B.C. 384–322), the greatest thinker of the ancient world and the encyclopaedic organizer (like Herbert Spencer in the 19th century) of all knowledge. The common idea, that he and Plato are the two typical thinkers of ancient Greece, is very far astray. As the highest authority on Greek philosophy , Zeller, says, nine-tenths of the Greek thinkers were materialists, while all admit that Plato's spiritualism had extraordinarily few followers. Aristotle himself rejected the idea of spirit but invented the idea of the immaterial, saying that man's mind, for instance, is not material yet could exist only in an intimate union with matter. For this he got a few more followers than Plato, and although he made some personal contributions to science he did great harm by despising the evolutionary materialistic science of the Ionic School and introducing the metaphysical method. No one today follows his semi-mystic ideas anymore than the mystic ideas of Plato. Another popular fallacy is to imagine him as one of those thinkers without red blood in his veins. He was very fond of his pretty mistress Herpyllis.

Arnold, Sir Edwin, K.C.I.E., M.A. (1832–1904) British poet.

During years of service in India he conceived an immense admiration of Buddhism which he thought superior to Christianity, and wrote an epic poem, The Light of Asia, on the life of Buddha, which did much to broaden the public mind. He received the highest honors of India, Persia, and Turkey. His view about God is obscure, but in a small work Death and Afterwards, he rejects the belief in personal immorality.

Arnold, Matthew (1822–1888) famous British critic and poet.

He had immense influence on the educated public of his time and made no concealment of his Rationalist views in his widely-read works. He disbelieved in a future life and Christianity and believed in God only as an impersonal "Power not ourselves, which makes for righteousness." Religion he defined as "morality tinged with emotion."

Arnoldson, Klas Pontus (1844–1916) Swedish reformer, Nobel Prize Winner.

The prize was awarded for his heroic work in the cause of peace, to which he devoted the money, though he was a poor man, but he worked just as energetically for freethought in Sweden.

Arrhenius, Professor Svante August (1859–1927), famous Swedish chemist and Nobel Prize Winner.

He was Director of the Nobel Physioco-Chemical Institute. He was openly associated with Haeckel in his Monistic (atheist) Association and a man of high ideals. Several of his works are available in English.

Arriaga Manoel Jose D' (1839–1917), President of the Portuguese Republic. Disinherited by his father, who claimed to be of royal blood, for becoming a freethinker and republican at the university, he turned to law and politics and had so brilliant a success that after the Revolution of 1911 he was appointed President. He was an atheist and both humanitarian and anti-clerical in the legislation he passed.

Asoka (B.C. 200–232), most famous of Hindu monarchs.

H.G. Wells says that in the world-list of Kings "the name of Osaka shines, and shines almost alone, a star". He became a zealous Buddhist in mid life and did wonders for the vast empire he had inherited. His moral code was severe and dogmatic but did not interfere with the ingenuous sexual freedom that then ruled in India. Vincent Smith, the leading authority on Hindu history, says that "he ignored, without denying, the existence of a Supreme Deity." (Akosa, p 31). In other words he embraced Buddhism in its pure atheistic form (see Buddha) and gave the world a wonderful example of "the fruits of atheism."

Aspasia (5th century B.C.), the most famous woman of the ancient world.

She lived as wife with Pericles (See) but he could not marry her under Athenian law as she was a foreigner, or a Greek from Asia Minor (Ionia). She was one of the most beautiful and the most accomplished of the women who came to Athens and were known as Hetairai (which means "pals" or companions, not courtesans as is often said. Aspasia was one of the most respected figures in the brilliant circle round Pericles in the Golden Age. She was put on trial for irreligion and, though Pericles defended her and got her acquitted, she shared the skepticism of the group.

Ataturk, President Mustafa Kamal (1881–1938), President of the Republic of Turkey.

He was in early years one of the young Turks of the Committee of Union and Progress, fought with great distinction in the European War, and led the revolution at the close. They made him first President of the Republic with dictatorial powers, and he humanized and modernized Turkey with great vigor. In his biography (Grau Wolf) Armstrong shows that he had a profound contempt for all religion and tried to extinguish it but was forced to compromise. They gave him the name Ataturk (the Great Turk) for his wonderful work. Like so many atheistic rulers he showed that personal asceticism is no more required of a state than belief in the spiritual.

Avebury, Baron The Right Hon. John Lubbock, P.C., P.C.L., L.L.D., F.B.S., (1834–1913).

A British banker who studied and wrote with authority on so many branches of science (particularly anthropology) that in its obituary (Nature) called him "President General of his Age". One of his works, The Pleasures of Life sold half a million copies, and was translated into 40 languages, and he was loaded with civic and academic honors. He was a vague Deist, admitting a "Divine Power" but impatient of "contradictory assertions under the name of mystery."

Averroes (1126–1198) or (properly) Ibn Roshd.

One of the two greatest Arab Scholars of the Middle Ages. The Arand had the quaint custom of choosing the most learned men for high political positions and he was Governor of Seville for 20 years, when the Moorish fanatics got him imprisoned. The pious Spaniards later burned all his works but Michael Scotus had translated some of them into Latin for Frederic 11, and they had a good deal of influence in Italy. Practically they taught Thomas Aquinas his philosophy, and Dante (Canto iv) speaks of his "great commentary" on Aristotle. But he preferred to believe in a vague Pantheistic "World Soul" instead of Aristotle's (impersonal) God, and even that may have been a cover for atheism, which in his day, the decline of the Arab civilization, it would be dangerous to admit.

Avicenna (960–1017) or (properly) Ibn Sind.

The second of the two greatest scholars of the Arab-Persian civilization. He belonged to the Persian half and was the son of a peasant, yet he became, apparently, more learned than Averroes or any other medieval scholar; and it is piquant that, while Averroes is said to have studied far into every night except his wedding night, Avicenna was boisterously sensual and a frequenter of taverns. Yet his work on medicines were the standard works for ages, and he wrote also on theology, philosophy, philology, mathematics, astronomy, geology, physics, and music. Few have any idea of the cultural brilliance at that time of the Arab-Persian civilization. To baffle the fanatics Averroes professed a sort of Pantheism, but tradition ascribed to him the saying that "the world is divided into men who have wit and no religion and men who have religion and no wit."

Azana, Manoel (1800–1940).

President of the Spanish Republic. Son of a Catholic mayor he discarded the faith in his university years and graduated in law. He took a prominent part in politics as a strongly anti-clerical republican, and after the Revolution of 1931, became Premier and later President. To him chiefly were due the anti-Church laws which the Cortes passes and the nation approved.

Bacon,Francis, Lord Verulam & Viscount St. Alband (1581–1626), the famous writer on science.

A note on Bacon's opinions may be useful, as his essay Of Atheism is quoted by all religious writers as if he were most zealously orthodox. They never mention that the next essay in the classical collection of "Bacon's Essays" has the title Of Superstition, and if it were not for the preceding essay you might be tempted to think that Bacon was an Atheist. "It were better" he says, "to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him. … And, as the contumely is greater towards God, so the danger (of superstition) is greater towards man ____. Atheism did never perturb s---es, and we see that the times inclined to Atheism (as the time of Augustus Caesar) were civil times." Doubtless Bacon was a Theist, though probably not more, but it is useful to remember that in Elizabethan England in spite of the skepticism of the Queen herself (See), atheism was a dangerous creed to admit.

Bakunin, Mikhail (1814–1876), political reformer.

The famous Anarchist was a Russian of nobel family, considerable accomplishments-he was educated in philosophy-and very extensive travel. In his chief work God and the State he gives full expression to his atheism and materialism.

Baldwin, Professor Mark, M.A., Ph. D. Sc. D., L.l.d. (1861–1934), psychologist.

Baldwin might almost be classed as an atheist. In his Fragment of Philosophy and Science (1903) he not only rejects all creeds but reduces God to the "ideal self" or "a construction of the imagination". He escapes atheism by claiming a vague objective basis for the idea.

Ballance, The Hon. John (1839–1893) Premier of New Zealand.

He was an Irish youth who emigrated to New Zealand and entered journalism and politics. He was Premier (1891–1893) at the time when its most progressive social legislation was passed, and a number of its leaders like Ballance and Stout (See) openly professed and worked for atheism or agnosticism.

Balmaceda, Jose Manoel (1838–1891), President of the Republic of Chili. He was educated in the Jesuit College at Santiago but became an atheist and joined the anti-clerical Liberals in the fight against the Church. He was President 1886 to 1890 but his policy was harsh and autocratic, and when he was driven out he ended his life.

Balzac, Honore De (1799–1859), French novelist.

"The Christ of Modern Art" according to some French critics. His skepticism pervades the whole 47 volumes of his famous Human Comedy and 24 other novels. He wrote also a caustic history of the Jesuits.

Bancroft, Hubert Howe (1832–1918), historian. The distinguished authority on Western America-he wrote 39 volumes on its history and had a library of 60,000 volumes-expresses an uncompromising Deism and scorn of the Churches in his last work Retrospect (1913), "There is but little religion in the Churches, and that little graft is strangling," he says (p.278).

Barlow, Joel (1754–1812), poet.

He was a Congregationalist minister and chaplain in the War of Independence and compiled a hymn-book for that body but shed his beliefs and took to law and letters. For years he was famous for his epic The Vision of Columbus and he was American-ambassador to France. His epic was vigorously denounced by the clergy as anti-Christian (Deistic) and he contributed to the spread of freethought in America by translating Volney's Ruins.

Barnard, Henry (1811–1900), the reformer who in conjunction with Horace Mann (See) created the American school-system.

As his wife was a strict Catholic he andtained from discussing religion but his views were well known. He was challenged to make a declaration of Christian faith and refused. (Dict. of Amer. Biog.)

Barre, Chevalier de La, (1747 - 1766) Freethinking martyr.

Chevalier was accused of not bowing to a religious procession, singing an "ungodly" song, and possessing book contrary to religion, including the Dictionary of Philosophy by Voltaire. He was tortured, then beheaded at age 19 by request of the Catholic Church. A monument to him was erected in Abbeville France on July 7, 1907 and is inscribed: "In commemoration of Martyr Chevalier de la Barre murdered in Abbyville the first of July, 1766 at the age of 19 years, for failure to salute a (religious) procession." Fifteen thousand supporters of church/state separation gathered for the unveiling. Every year since 1907, the annual La Barre Demnonstration brings together freethinkers and friends of public schools, and all who oppose church/state entanglement.

Barton, Clara (1822–1912), the American Florence Nightingale.

She was a farmer's daughter, a shy sensitive, slight little woman (5 feet in height) who worked so heroically amongst the wounded in the Civil War that she was called "the Angel of the Battlefield." General Miles said that she was "the greatest humanitarian the world had ever known." The rest of her life was devoted to work for the Red Cross, which she introduced into America, and other reforms. The Dictionary of American Biography admits that "she was brought in the Universalist Church but was never a Church member."

Baudelaire, Charles Pierre (1821–1867), leading French poet.

He came of a Catholic aristocratic family but became an atheist and revolutionary and fought at the barricades in 1848. He is best known for his Fleurs du Mal (Flowers of Evil), a collection of 151 poems of great beauty and such freedom that he was prosecuted.

Bayle, Pierre (1647–1706), a French writer whose famous Dictionaire Historique et Critique spread over Europe-there is an English translation and contributed powerfully to the progress of freethought. There are no articles on God and immortality but he seems to have been an atheist. Writing in an age of despotic bigotry he conveys his immense anti-Christian erudition with a delightful irony and diplomacy.

Bebel, Ferdinand August (1840–1913), German Socialist leader and one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party.

He was, like all the Socialist leaders of the time, an atheist and freely expressed it in his work on Woman and Christianity .

Becearia-Bonesana, Marquis Cesare (1735–1794) the great Italian law reformer.

He adopted the views of the French Encyclopaedists and specialized on the reform of the treatment of crime. His Treatise on Crime and Punishment was a classic all over Europe for half a century. Whether he was an atheist or Theist is not clear. Italy was not a safe place for heretics-he had to publish his famous Treatise abroad and anonymously-and he, as he said, "heard the noise of the chains rattled by superstition and fanaticism."

Beethoven, Ludwig Von (1770–1827).

The great musician was reared a Catholic but quit the Church and adopted Goethe's Pantheism. Although he composed a Catholic mass (Missa solemnis) which an authority described as "perhaps the grandest piece of musical expression which art possesses" he remained a Pantheist to the end. It is piquant that the musical expert who thus appreciates his mass, Sir G. Macfarren, describes him as a 'freethinker' (in the Imper. Dict. of Univ. Biog.) Beethoven's most authoritative biographers are clear about his views on religion. When he was dying he yielded to the pressure of Catholic friends and let a priest administer his sacraments, but it is admitted that when the priest left the room he said, in the Latin words of the ancient Roman theater "Applaud, my friends, the comedy is over." One biographer very implausibly argues that he meant the comedy of his life. During the years of his full inspiration he had little religious feeling. When Felix Moscheles once scribbled on a manuscript "With God's help," Beethoven wrote "Man help thyself."