"World history, the history of what a person did in this world, is, in my view, essentially the story of great people who worked here on earth. These great people were the leaders of humanity, educators, models, and— in the broad sense— the creators of everything that the great mass of people strived to accomplish, what it wanted to achieve; everything done in this world is, in essence, the outward material result, the practical realization and embodiment of thoughts belonging to the great people sent into our world. The history of the latter truly constitutes the soul of world history."