FIRST ACT OF FREE WILL

William James in 1858, age 16
From William James Page
On April 29, 1870 William James, after reading an essay by French philosopher Charles Renouvier, decided that "My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will." This brought an end to a personal crisis of depression and marked the beginning of James's own brand of psychology. Some Problems of Philosophy, is his start on a systematic treatise for metaphysics which offered his own unique philosophical perspectives.
Horace M. Kallen, a student of James and another young philosopher, Ralph Barton Perry edited this last work of James.

Henry James, age 20-21,
app. 1863
From William James Page

James begins, "The progress of society is due to the fact that individuals vary from the human average in all sorts of directions, and that the originality is often so attractive or useful that they are recognized by their tribes as leaders, and become objects of envy or admiration, and setters of new ideals.
Philosophy is dogmatic, and pretends to settle things by pure reason, whereas the only fruitful mode of getting at truth is to appeal to concrete experience. Science collects, classes, and analyzes facts, and thereby far outstrips philosophy.
The problem convenient to take up next in order will be that of the difference between thoughts and things. 'Things' are known to us by our senses, and are called 'presentations' by some authors, to distinguish them from the ideas or 'representations' which we may have when our senses are closed. We have grown accustomed to the words, 'percept' and 'concept' in treating of the contrast, but concepts flow out of percepts and into them again, they are so interlaced, and our life rests on them so interchangeably and undiscriminatingly, that it is often difficult to impart quickly to beginners a clear notion of the difference meant. Sensation and thought in man are mingled, but they vary independently. In our quadrupedal relatives thought proper is at a minimum, but we have no reason to suppose that their immediate life of feeling is either less or more copious than ours.

William James, mid-1890s
From William James Page

The great difference between percepts and concepts is that percepts are continuous and concepts are discrete. Not discrete in their being, for conception as an act is part of the flux of feeling, but discrete from each other in their several meanings.
So many disputes in philosophy hinge upon ill-defined words and ideas, each side claiming its own word or idea to be true, that any accepted method of making meanings clear must be of great utility. No method can be handier of application than our pragmatic rule. If you claim that any idea is true, assign at the same time some difference that its being true will make in some possible person's history, and we shall know not only just what you are really claiming but also how important an issue it is, and how to go to work to verify the claim. In obeying this rule we neglect the substantive content of the concept, and follow its function only. This neglect might seem at first sight to need excuse, for the content often has a value of its own which might conceivably add luster to reality, if it existed, apart from any modification wrought by it in the other parts of reality.
We harness perceptual reality in our concepts in order to drive it better to our ends. ...the better we understand anything the more we are able to tell about it. Judged by this test, concepts do make us understand our percepts better...
...An ancient philosophical opinion, inherited from Aristotle, is that we do not understand a thing until we know it by its causes.
We thus see clearly what is gained and what is lost when percepts are translated into concepts. Perception is solely of the here and now; conception is of the like and unlike, of the future, of the past, and of the far away. Who can decide offhand which is absolutely better to live or to understand life? We must do both alternately, and a man can no more limit himself to either than a pair of scissors can cut with single one of its blades."

William James,
photograph taken by Mrs. Montgomery Sears,
circa 1894-95
From William James Page

James quoted Malebranche, Nicholas (1638-1715), Cartesian Philosopher, Platonic Idealist, "Your sensational modalities, writes one of these, are but darkness, remember that. Mount higher, up to reason, and you will see light. Impose silence on your senses, your imagination, and your passions, and you will then hear the pure voice of interior truth, the clear and evident replies of our common mistress [reason]. Never confound that evidence which results from the comparison of ideas with the vivacity of those feelings which move and touch you.... We must follow reason despite the caresses, the threats and the insults of the body to which we are conjoined, despite the action of the objects that surround us.... I exhort you to recognize the difference there is between knowing and feeling, between our clear ideas, and our sensations always obscure and confused."
James goes on to say, "No real thing can be in two relations at once; the same moon, for example, cannot be seen both by you and by me. For the concept 'seen by you' is not the concept 'seen by me'; and if, taking the moon as a grammatical subject and, predicating one of these concepts of it, you then predicate the other also, you become guilty of the logical sin of saying that a thing can both be A and not-A at once. Learned trifling again; for clear though the conceptual contradictions be, nobody sincerely disbelieves that two men see the same thing.
Black in the coat and black in the shoe are the same in so far forth as both shoe and coat are called black — the fact that on this view the name can never twice be the 'same' being quite overlooked. What now does the concept 'same' signify? Applying, as usual, the pragmatic rule, we find that when we call two objects the same we mean either (a) that no difference can be found between them when compared, or (b) that we can substitute the one for the other in certain operations without changing the result. If we are to discuss sameness profitably we must bear these pragmatic meanings in mind.
Do then the snow and the paper show no difference in color? And can we use them indifferently in operations? They may certainly replace each other for reflecting light, or be used indifferently as backgrounds to set off anything dark, or serve as equally good samples of what the word 'white' signifies. But the snow may be dirty, and the paper pinkish or yellowish without ceasing to be called 'white'; or both snow and paper in one light may differ from their own selves in another and still be 'white,' — so the no-difference criterion seems to be at fault. This physical difficulty (which all house painters know) of matching two tints so exactly as to show no difference seems to be the sort of fact that nominalists have in mind when they say that our ideal meanings are never twice the same. Must we therefore admit that such a concept as 'white' can never keep exactly the same meaning?
According to James, 'evidently it is got in our own personal activity-situations. In all of these what we feel is that a previous field of 'consciousness' containing (in the midst of its complexity) the idea of a result, develops gradually into another field in which that result either appears as accomplished, or else is prevented by obstacles against which we still feel ourselves to press.
To some such vague vision are we brought by taking our perceptual experience of action at its face-value, and following the analogies which it suggests.
Even if our desires be an unconditional causal factor in the only part of the universe where we are intimately acquainted with the way creative work is done, desire is anything but a close factor, even there. The part of the world to which our desires lie closest is, by the consent of physiologists, the cortex of the brain. If they act causally, their first effect is there, and only through innumerable neural, muscular, and instrumental intermediaries is that last effect which they consciously aimed at brought to birth. Our trust in the face-value of perception was apparently misleading."
(Some Problems of Philosophy, 1911, with review by Doug Renselle at Quantonics, Inc.)

James letter to Carl, from Cambridge
From William James Page

William James in 1907
Photo taken for Harvard University
m '69 denotes that he received his medical degree in 1869
From William James Page

CREATION OF TALES

Official US Presidential Portrait of Barack Obama
taken shortly before he assumed office
Source: change.gov, Date January 13, 2009
Author Pete Souza, The Obama-Biden Transition Project

Senator Barack Husein Obama, 47, of Illinois was elected president of the United States and the nation’s first black commander in chief, his triumph ushering in an era of profound political and social realignment in America.
A 47-year-old first-term senator from Illinois, he shattered more than 200 years of history Tuesday night, November 5, 2008 by winning election as the first African-American president of the United States.
And across the world, people were celebrating the presidential inauguration and Barack Obama was sworn in as America's 44th, and first black, president.

Barack Obama inauguration
The world celebrates the president's swearing in
Picture: GETTY
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009

Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th US president
by Chief Justice of the United States
John G. Roberts, Jr. in Washington, D.C.
Source: defenseimagery.mil
Date January 20, 2009
Author Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo, U.S. Air Force
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Obama’s decisive victory over Republican John McCain was a landmark in the country’s 232-year history, especially for the millions of African-Americans around the country energized and inspired by his improbable candidacy. It gives Democrats control of Congress and the White House for the first time in 16 years and it led to impromptu celebrations around the country.

Barack Obama delivering his electoral victory speech
Election Night ´08, in Grant Park, Chicago
Date November 4th, 2008
Author Gabbec
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Making good on his promise to draw his own electoral map, Obama captured Virginia, which last voted for a Democrat in 1964, and he beat McCain in key battlegrounds, including Florida, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, while holding on to Democratic-leaning states. He won in part on the support of new voters, African-Americans, and Hispanics, and as of November 5, 2008 he had 338 electoral votes, far more than the 270 needed to win the presidency, while McCain had 142.
Obama’s win, which comes as Democrats also picked up seats in the House and Senate, sets the stage for significant shifts in the country’s domestic and foreign policy in the years ahead. It was a fitting final bend of the arc of a presidential race Obama has run largely on his own terms since winning the Iowa caucuses on January 3,2008.

The Road To Presidency
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

He set the fund-raising pace, bringing in a record $639 million. He set out early to play offense by competing in ‘‘red states’’ such as Colorado, North Carolina, and Virginia, a strategy helped by independent demographic trends that favored the Democrats. The general election battle was fought almost exclusively over change, terrain that Obama seized early and never relinquished. Obama became the first presidential candidate to reject public financing, choosing instead to rely on his millions of donors — many of them giving $5 or $10 online.
In his victory speech, Obama issued a call for bipartisanship, speaking to the millions of voters who did not support him. "I may not have won your vote tonight," he said. "But I hear your voices. I need your help. I will be your president, too."
By Scott Helman and Michael Kranish, Globe Staff
Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor November 5, 2008 01:25 AM at boston.com © 2009 NY Times Co.

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama
Source:flickr.com
Date 2008-01-07
Author Luke Vargas 2008 edited by Muhammad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The Future First Family Waves"
Springfield, Illinois, USA.
Obama's family was on hand for the announcement
Source: flickr.com
Date Photo taken on February 10, 2007.
Author acaben at Flickr

Signs of Hope & Change: Election Night
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. He worked as a community organizer, and practiced as a civil rights attorney in Chicago before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He also taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, Obama was elected to the Senate in November 2004. Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004.
Of his early childhood, Obama has recalled, "That my father looked nothing like the people around me — that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk — barely registered in my mind." In his 1995 memoir, he described his struggles as a young adult to reconcile social perceptions of his multiracial heritage. He wrote that he used alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind". At the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency, Obama identified his high-school drug use as his "greatest moral failure."
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

"Birth Certificate of Barack Obama"
Department of Health, Hawaii
PolitiFact.com (August 8, 1961)
Retrieved on 2008-12-12
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In June 2008, the Obama campaign released a digitally scanned image of his birth certificate to quell speculative charges that he might not be a natural-born citizen. But the image prompted more blog-based skepticism about the document's authenticity. And recently, author Jerome Corsi, whose book attacks Obama, said in a TV interview that the birth certificate the campaign has is "fake."
We beg to differ. FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving U.S. citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. We have posted high-resolution photographs of the document as "supporting documents" to this article. Our conclusion: Obama was born in the U.S.A. just as he has always said.
(Update, Nov. 1: The director of Hawaii’s Department of Health confirmed Oct. 31 that Obama was born in Honolulu at
Copyright © 2003 - 2009, Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania)

A Mother's Promise: Barack's Biography
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family. "Michelle will tell you that when we get together for Christmas or Thanksgiving, it's like a little mini-United Nations." he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." Obama has seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living, and a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband. Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham[181] until her death on November 2, 2008, just before the presidential election. In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, president of the southern Confederacy during the American Civil War.
Tuesday 20 January 2009 22.42 GMT, Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as 44th president of the United States of America in front of quite possibly the largest mass of humanity ever to have gathered in one place for a single political moment.

Obama's Journey Begins
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

Russell Simmons On Obama
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

Preparation For The Big Day
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

Security Tight As Ever
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

As many as 2 million people in ­Washington's National Mall heard their new commander-in-chief deliver a sombre 20-minute speech in which he acknowledged that the country was in the midst of crisis – mired in wars, its economy struggling and its national confidence sapped. He promised the largely silent crowd that the challenges would be met, but warned it would take time, some sacrifice, a new form of politics and a re-engagement with the world, in which America would recognise that "power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please".
(By Alan Rusbridger in Washington guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 20 January 2009 22.42 GMT Article history at guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009)

Obama's Global Message
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

When Barack Obama steps up to the podium to deliver his inaugural address, one man standing anonymously in the crowd will be paying especially close attention. With his cropped hair, five o'clock shadow and boyish face, he might look out of place among the dignitaries, though as co-author of the speech this man has more claim than most to be a witness to this moment of history.
Jon Favreau, 27, is, as Obama himself puts it, the president's mind reader. He is the youngest chief speechwriter on record in the White House, and, despite such youth, was at the centre of discussions of the content of today's speech, one which has so much riding on it.
For a politician whose rise to prominence was largely built upon his powers as an orator, Obama is well versed in the arts of speech-making. But today's effort will tower over all previous ones.
(By Ed Pilkington in New York The Guardian, Tuesday 20 January 2009 Article history at guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009)

A Feeling Of Good Will
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

The Day After The Inauguration
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

In December 2008, Time magazine named Barack Obama as its Person of the Year for his historic candidacy and election, which it described as "the steady march of seemingly impossible accomplishments."

The President-elect
The Presidents of the United States of America
From whitehouse.gov

"Barack Obama: Creation of Tales"
Obama (1995, 2004), pp. 9–10. For book excerpts, see East African (2004-11-01). Retrieved on 13 April 2008. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.

MORALITY AND LAW

According to Rick Garlikov, 'some laws are managerial or administrative in that they institute behavior for procedural purposes that could equally well, from a moral or socially useful point of view, have been written in a different, or even opposite way. The common example is traffic rules about the side of the road on which one is to drive. Apart from consistency with bordering neighbors (especially for safety purposes of driving across borders and in neighboring countries), it does not matter from a moral standpoint which side a country (or a set of neighboring countries) adopts, as long as the choice is made among equally right (e.g., safe) options, though once a side is chosen by law, it is generally prudent, and morally obligatory without some good reason to the contrary to abide by the choice. These laws are not based on morality, in terms of their specifics. They are moral because they are a way of promoting social benefits of a certain kind in an optimal way.
some laws are immoral, usually because they are unfair but sometimes because they are counterproductive or harmful; in some cases, egregious and reprehensible. There have also been government programs set up by law that simply mistakenly harmed the people they were intended to help, such as aspects of the welfare rules that ended up trapping people in poverty rather than assisting them to escape it.
laws concerning evidence and procedure in courtrooms often lead to acquittals of obviously guilty defendants, and sometimes to convictions or continuing sentences and punishment of known or likely innocent ones. There is no reason to believe that just because a law passes, it is for the best or that it is right or moral, even if the people passing it think it is. If one were to be charitable about legislators, one might perhaps be able to argue that they pass those laws they believe to be right, whether those laws actually are right or not, but there is sufficient evidence legislators will often pass laws for political reasons -- to win or keep political support from those whom the law favors or to whom it panders -- even though they know the laws are bad or wrong. Either way, however, sometimes bad or immoral laws get passed which are perfectly legal.
Not all morality is enshrined in law because law is in a sense "incomplete". Many unfair and wrong business practices are not anticipated and therefore not made illegal until someone invents and uses them in a way that clearly mistreats others. These practices are wrong and immoral from inception, but not illegal until law "catches up" to them. In a sense morality is "complete" and applies to all acts, but the law typically is "incomplete" and only applies to behaviors legislation has already addressed, or that the courts can interpret to have been addressed by implication in existing law. Law has to be "invented" or manufactured; morality only has to be recognized. And in the creating of specific laws with specific wording, loopholes creep in because it is difficult to predetermine and specify those and only those acts intended to be covered. Morality does not have loopholes. It is probably impossible to make a complete set of laws that anticipate, enumerate, fully describe, and forbid every possible specific wrong behavior.
Not all morality should be enshrined in law, because enforcing some morality would be far worse than not enforcing it. For example, even if it might be wrong for someone to lie in bed an extra half hour rather than having a good breakfast or getting to work on time, or even if is wrong for a child or husband to leave dirty clothes on the bed or floor, or even if it is wrong to break a prom date at the last minute for no good reason, those transgressions are not grounds for sending in the police.
Liberty and autonomy are important values and they sometimes require letting someone make a mistake or do the wrong thing -- as long as the wrong that is done is not so bad or so costly that civil society has a legitimate interest to prevent it. There are sometimes disagreements about where the line should be drawn, but there are clearly some actions where autonomy is more important than being forced to do what is right by law, and there are clearly some actions where prevention of harm overrides autonomy and liberty.
people disagree about moral issues. People also sometimes disagree about which laws should be created or kept, sometimes on moral grounds, sometimes on merely prudential or practical grounds where different consequences are predicted. When moral viewpoints conflict or are contradictory, law, unless it is to be contradictory itself, cannot reflect the morality of different people. Constitutional rights will sometimes even prevent law from conforming to the wishes of a simple (even substantial) majority of people or their representatives. How can laws conform to morality when people disagree about what is morally right or wrong, or when their collective wishes are "thwarted" by the Constitution and by whatever minority is sufficient to prevent amending the Constitution? "Morality is subjective." But disagreement can be about objective matters as well as subjective ones, when it is difficult or impossible to know or conclusively demonstrate the correct answer. Disagreement, even unresolvable disagreement, does not necessarily make an issue subjective.
it is often normal for people to believe that the status quo and traditional practices are what is morally right. It often is very difficult, especially for those who benefit from current practice, to notice or see there is something wrong with it, let alone agree with that assessment. Hence, they tend to see efforts for reform as unnecessary, destructive of a well-functioning system and social order, or even morally wrong. It is one view of law that it tends to favor existing power structures and relationships, not necessarily or not only through some sort of Machiavellian attempt to maintain power through evil means, but because existing systems seem to work well (enough) and because they seem psychologically to be normal and reasonable, especially to those in power.
In spite of all the above, there seems to be some relationship between law and morality, or at least it seems there ought to be because we talk about unfair or unjust laws, laws that are immoral, laws that ought not to be obeyed or enforced; and we typically do not mean just that they are unconstitutional, but that they are counterproductive to their intended purpose or that they are bad or harmful or morally unfair or unjust laws.
Most of the major purposes of the Constitution are to help us be law-abiding so that we are a better country, not just an orderly or merely obedient or efficient country. Hence, it would be remiss, and wrong, to make laws or to try to interpret laws in court, and deriving their legal authority ultimately from it) without any regard to their moral meaning, moral significance, or moral consequences insofar as these impact justice, liberty, general welfare, the common defense, and domestic tranquility. And it would seem that any constitution without a moral purpose would be merely an arbitrarily pointless or meaningless formal document establishing an equally pointless formal system. There could be such a system of law and those who pronounce judgments, but it would not be a system of "justice." And it would not, except by chance, promote the general welfare or any other moral virtue.
Given that some laws are immoral, that some laws reasonably are neutral with regard to morality, and that there are institutional limitations to enforcing some aspects of morality, the interesting question should be, not what the relationship is between law and morality, but what it ought to be. It might be important to obey some bad laws, under certain circumstances, until they can be changed because the fairness and consequences of doing so might outweigh the justice or consequences of moral disobedience in those cases. If, for example, some system is established for distribution of resources that is arguably not the best system, but which works to some extent, chaos might result in trying to implement a better system on one's own or in some fragmented or rebellious way. In the driving case, for example, even if you knew it would be far safer for everyone to drive on the other side of the road, and even if you worked diligently to change the side of the road your country required drivers to use, it would be madness, and morally wrong (because it endangered people unjustifiably), for you to simply begin to drive on the opposite side on your own. Nor would it likely be safe for the legislature to pass a law requiring an abrupt change on a certain date, if that does not allow time for changing road signs to the other side of the road or doing any of the many other things that would be required to make the switch feasible. Or even if it makes more sense to use the metric system than the English system of measurements, one cannot just switch to metrics overnight. Bad laws and bad administrative practices, though, do not justify their continuation without remedy just because some remedies might be difficult. Optimally fair and beneficial remedies to achieve optimally beneficial and fair laws should always be the goal. Doing the morally right act is always at least our prima facie obligation. Obeying some bad laws in some circumstances is a worse breach of morality and duty than obeying them until they can be changed. And in those cases, the law ought not to be obeyed. A law, for example, that required you to take the life of an innocent person ought not to be obeyed if there is not time to change it first. That is not something you follow and then change afterward.
In any practical case people may disagree about what is tolerable or not, and that disagreement should be worked through, in an attempt to resolve it, in a morally acceptable and reasonable way. Here, it' not about how to deal with civil disobedience based on genuine disagreements of conscience, but presumably there should be some reasonable and fair way to deal with such cases. It should also be understood that even where there are grounds for civil disobedience, there can be wrongful acts of civil disobedience, such as, in some cases, assassinating those who disagree with you over an issue that does not justify such murder. Morality is not only relevant to the content of specific laws but it is also relevant to the proper way to make law and to take into account differences of conscience by reasonable people. There needs to be some sort of understanding about what forms of disobedience may be acceptable when there is serious disagreement among the consciences of reasonable people.
It seems to me then that what gives law its authority is its conformity to morality, in that correct laws need to be obeyed because they are fair, just, and beneficial under the conditions and circumstances in which they exist and apply. Insofar as the legal act is the right act, one should do the legal act just because it is the right act.
And what makes people voluntarily obey laws when they do is either that they believe the law is in conformity with what is morally right (or if it is a procedural law, they believe it does not conflict with what is right) and is just and beneficial, or they believe that the particular law at issue is not so bad, even if wrong, that it is justified to break, either because breaking it would cause more harm than not breaking it or because breaking it would risk undermining the general cultural respect for law. But many morally good people will disobey laws they think are very wrong, either in a form of civil disobedience, or in order to get away with it (as in speeding on a long straight, flat, open road with no traffic, because they believe the law does not have moral authority then. And if the government passes sufficiently many bad laws, or sufficiently egregious laws, it will lose obedience by rebellion or revolution, because citizens will believe (sometimes correctly) that the laws and the government are too immoral to have any authority that deserves their obedience.
It, of course, is always possible that people will obey the bad laws of any government that has policing resources strong enough to force such obedience out of fear or risk of punishment or reprisal. But that does not give law authority; not rightful authority anyway. If we were to call that "authority" then we would have to say that as long as they go unchecked, playground bullies have the authority to take other children's money or lunches. They have the power, of course, but not the authority. The conventional wisdom is that one should obey the law until one can get it changed. That is a moral contention, which has some, but not complete merit. There are some laws and rules that are so egregious or so (potentially) harmful to obey, and sufficiently less harmful to disobey, that it would be morally wrong to adhere to them until the law can be changed. The example above is of having to execute a person known to be innocent simply because there might be no formal mechanism in law to prevent the execution. Or having to prosecute someone harshly for conscientiously and correctly disobeying an unjust, but legal, law.'
(From Morality and Law by Rick Garlikov at garlikov.com)

THE DOCTOR

Valentino Rossi, aka The Doctor
Closing in on the century mark
Grand Prix racing
From Motorcycle-USA.com

Posted by ALATAMENTE at fanclubvalentinorossi.com

The reigning MotoGP World Champion, Valentino Rossi is the man whom every other rider is aspiring to defeat in 2009.
Rossi's natural skill, charisma and flair has already made him a huge fan favourite, and he is already one of the sport’s true greats. His career has been defined by record breaking achievements, particularly in the premier class.
Conqueror of the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc/MotoGP World Championships in his second season in each category, Rossi became only the second rider in the history of motorcycling to lift all three titles. He is now the only man to win the premier class MotoGP World Championship with 500cc, 990cc and 800cc machinery, returning to the pinnacle after two seasons away with his sixth MotoGP title in 2008. En route to his latest title, the Italian took the record for all-time premier class victories from Giacomo Agostini, incidentally the only other rider to have regained the title after two dry seasons, with a 69th triumph.
(Copyright © 2001 Dorna Sports S.L.)

Career Highlights:
2007 - 3rd MotoGP
2006 - 2nd MotoGP
2005 - MotoGP Champion
2004 - MotoGP Champion
2003 - MotoGP Champion
2002 - MotoGP Champion
2001 - 500cc Moto GP Champion
2001 - Suzuka 8 Hour Champion
2000 - 2nd 500 Moto GP
1999 - 250 Moto GP Champion
1998 - 2nd 250 Moto GP
1997 - 125 Moto GP Champion
1996 - 9th 125 MotoGP
1995 - 3rd European 250 Championship
1995 - Italian 125 Sport Production Champion
1994 - Italian 125 Sport Production Champion
(Source Motorcycle-USA.com)

His career remarkably zoomed to glorious heights ever since he kick-started his racing at the age of two. Thanks to the inspiration and support from his father, Graziano Rossi himself a former motorcycle racer and mother Stefania. By the end of his eleventh year, the little champion had already won 16 regional races.
His growing years have further necessitated him to acquire a new motorcycle of his own, a Cagiva Mito 125cc to launch his racing career professionally. It was Sandroni of Aprilia team, who discovered the brilliant fifteen-year-old racer in 1994 and offered him to ride for his team Aprilia. At the age of 16, Rossi won the 1995 Italian 125cc class championship and became the youngest ever to achieve the feat.
Moving on to the 125cc class world championships in 1996, Valentino Rossi fared pretty well in his debut season with a sole race win at Czech Republic and further finished six times in top ten positions. The following year Rossi proved his racing abilities by taking 11 race wins out of 15 and two podium finishes, which ultimately won him the 1997 world championship title in 125cc class.
Soaring high on confidence Rossi made his grand entry in 1998 in 250cc class world championships for Aprilia. Once again Rossi dominated the season with his brilliant performance taking 5 race wins out of 14, and 3 second place, and a podium position he finally finished the 250cc debut season in overall 2nd position conceding the title to Loris Capirossi. His retirement from five races during the season might probably have cost him the championship title.
Rossi showed remarkable consistency in his form and speed the following year, posting 3 podium finishes and winning nine out of 16 races. With those achievements he walked away with the 250cc class world championship title in 1999.
After having proven his class at the 125cc and 250cc levels Rossi was all set to take the big leap into the 500cc MotoGp Championships. Having given two championship titles for Aprilia team, Rossi decided to don the armor-of-winning for Honda in his debut season of 500cc class MotoGP World Championships in 2000. Taking two race wins out of 16 and finishing with 8 podium places Rossi finished the 2000 MotoGP season in 2nd position.
The following year Rossi, the lightening speedster set 10 fastest laps taking 11 race wins out of 16 and in addition to two podium finishes; he finally clinched the MotoGP World Championship title from Kenny Roberts Jr in 2001. From here there was no turning back for this brilliant racing prodigy, for he left every other racer miles behind and went on to win the World Championship titles for the next four years until 2005. It was Nicky Hayden in 2006 coming from behind and whizzed past the seven-time World Champion and ended his glorious run of wins on wheels by winning the 2006 MotoGp championship.
(From Moto Gp Official Site at (C) 2007 valentino-rossi.ws)

MotoGP 2008
Valentino Rossi at Malaysian track
Copyright © 2001 Dorna Sports S.L

Victory at Sepang
Rossi celebrates 2008 win number 9
From Motorcycle-USA.com

Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi (above) picked up win number nine in 2008 with an impressive victory over Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa and JiR Honda's Andrea Dovizioso under sweltering-hot conditions at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia. Pedrosa actually started out strong and look impressive leading the race early on. But Rossi had little trouble tracking him down and eventually made the pass on the Spaniard at the halfway point and never looked back.
(From Motorcycle-USA.com)
Since his dominance in 500 cc and MotoGP, Rossi has used the nickname "The Doctor." This has been attributed to his "cold and clinical dismantling of his opponents" as well as his cool and calm composure in racing compared to his frenetic days in 125 cc and 250 cc where his performance was erratic and dangerous, resulting in numerous crashes. Two theories prevail as to why Rossi is entitled to "The Doctor." One is that Rossi adopted the nickname upon having earned a degree, which in Italy entitles one to use the title "Doctor.." Another, as spoken by Graziano himself, "The Doctor because, I don't think there is a particular reason, but it's beautiful, and is important, The Doctor. And in Italy, The Doctor is a name you give to someone for respect, it's very important, The Doctor... important". Although Valentino often jokes that the name arrived because in Italy, Rossi is a common surname for Doctors. These days Rossi rarely crashes and in fact holds the record for the longest streak of consecutive podiums. From September 8, 2002 to April 18, 2004, he stood on the podium at the end of all 23 races including every race in 2003.

Valentino Rossi No:46
Posted by guitargodmitch
January 11, 2007
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

He has always raced with the number #46 in his motorcycle grand prix career. Rossi has stated that the original inspiration for this choice of number was the Japanese "wild card" racer Norifumi Abe whom he saw on television speeding past much more seasoned riders in a wet race. He later found out that it was the number his father had raced with in the first of his 3 grand prix career wins, in 1979, in Yugoslavia, on a 250c Morbidelli. Typically, a World Championship winner (and also runner-up and third place) is awarded the #1 sticker for the next season. However, in a homage to Barry Sheene (who was the first rider of the modern era to keep the same number, #7), Rossi has stayed with the now-famous #46 throughout his career. The text on his helmet refers to the name of his group of friends: "The Tribe of the Chihuahua," and the letters WLF on his leathers stand for "Viva La Figa," Italian for "Long Live Pussy." He has so far escaped any sanctions or ultimatums that he remove the letters because the "W" in "WLF" represents the two "V"s in "ViVa". Equally obvious is his success at escaping any disciplinary action from the FIM or Dorna for having the letters so brazenly on the front neck area of his leathers. He traditionally also incorporates his favorite color (fluorescent yellow) into his leather designs. Though Rossi won the MotoGP title six times he never put the number 1 on his motorcycle representing the World Champion, instead staying with his famous "46". But Rossi has worn the #1 reserved for the reigning World Champion on the shoulder of his racing leathers.
Fellow motorcycle racer and former team mate Colin Edwards refers to him as The GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).

Special Valentino Rossi
© 2009 Metacafe Inc. powered by You

Rossi is a very superstitious person and his pre-ride rituals are well known. Prior to riding (whether racing, qualifying, or practice), he will start his personal ritual by stopping at about 2 metres from his bike, bend over and reach his boots (thus the 2004 TV spoiler "Are you ready boots?"). Then, when arriving at his bike, he will crouch down and hold the right-side foot-peg, with his head bowed. It is not known whether he is in silent prayer, if he is getting in the correct frame-of-mind needed to ride, or paying respect to a fellow racer, family member, or friend. He will also be adjusting the fit of his leathers by standing straight up on the foot-pegs, whilst riding the pit-lane before the start of race or practice; this may merely be a matter of comfort, which has become a much-commented upon habit. He also revealed in an interview with MotoGP.com that he always puts one boot on before the other, one glove on before the other, and he always gets on the bike the same way. He also gets off the bike in the same way, swinging his right leg over the front of the bike.

Valentino Rossi Tribute
posted by PIT0987
October 17, 2007
© 2008 YouTube, LLC

Records:
125 cc records: Rossi is
1. First in most race wins in a season with 11 race wins in 1997.
2. Second in most podiums in a season with 13 podiums in 1997, behind Álvaro Bautista with 14 podiums in 2006.

250 cc records: Rossi is
1. Third in most race wins in a season with 9 race wins in 1999 along with Jorge Lorenzo, Marco Melandri and Max Biaggi, behind Daijiro Kato with 11 race wins in 2001, Anton Mang and Mike Hailwood with 10 race wins in 1981 and 1966 respectively.
2. Second most podiums in a season with 12 podiums in 1999 along with Jorge Lorenzo, Marco Melandri, Shinya Nakano, Max Biaggi, Luca Cadalora, John Kocinski and Sito Pons, behind Dani Pedrosa, Tetsuya Harada, Daijiro Kato and Ralf Waldmann with 13 podiums in 2004, 2001, 2001 and 1996 respectively.

500 cc/MotoGP records: Rossi is
1. Second in all time world championship wins with 6 world championships, behind Giacomo Agostini with 8 world championships.
2. Second in consecutive world championship wins with 5 consecutive world championships in 2001-2005 along with Michael Doohan with 5 consecutive world championships in 1994-1998, behind Giacomo Agostini with 7 consecutive world championships in 1966-1972.
3. First in all time race wins standings with 71 race wins. Giacomo Agostini is second with 68 race wins.
4. First in all time podium standings with 115 podiums in premier class.
5. First in most podiums in a season with 16 podiums in 2003, 2005 and 2008.
6. First in most fastest laps in a season with 12 fastest laps in 2003.
7. First in most points in one season 373 points in 2008.
8. Second in all time pole positions standings with 41 pole positions, behind Michael Doohan with 58 pole positions.
9. Second in all time race fastest laps standings with 58 race fastest laps, behind Giacomo Agostini with 69 race fastest laps.
10. Second in most race wins in a season with 11 race wins in 2001, 2002 and 2005 along with Giacomo Agostini, behind Michael Doohan with 12 race wins in 1997.
11. Third in most pole positions in a season with 9 pole positions in 2003 along with Michael Doohan and Kevin Schwantz, behind Michael Doohan with 12 pole positions in 1997, Wayne Gardner and Freddie Spencer with 10 pole positions in 1987 and 1985 respectively.

Other records: Rossi is
1. The only rider to win World Championship titles in four different classes: 125 cc, 250 cc, 500 cc & MotoGP
2. The only rider to win consecutive races with different manufacturers. He won the final race of 2003 with Honda at Valencia and the first race of 2004 with Yamaha at Welkom (South Africa).
3. The only rider to win championships with the 3 different engines used in MotoGP history, 500cc 2 stroke (2001), 800cc 4stroke (2008) and 990cc 4 stroke (2002/03/04/05)
4. The only rider to win seven consecutive races at his home Grand Prix at Mugello in 2002-2008.
5. The only rider to win three races after starting the race from 11th or lower on the grid (British GP 2001, German GP 2006 & Dutch TT 2007).
6. The only rider to win the premier-class title on four different types of motorcycle: A Honda 500cc four-cylinder two-stroke (2001), Honda 990cc five-cylinder four-stroke (2002, 2003), Yamaha 990cc four-cylinder four-stroke (2004, 2005) and a Yamaha 800cc four-cylinder four-stroke (2008).

Valentino Rossi Wins Moto GP 08'
© 2009 Metacafe Inc. powered by You

7. The second rider to win consecutive world championships with different manufacturers (2001-2003 with Honda and 2004-2005 with Yamaha) along with Eddie Lawson (1988 with Yamaha and 1989 with Honda).
8. The second rider in history - after Giacomo Agostini - to regain the premier-class crown after two successive defeats.
9. Yamaha's most successful rider in the premier class with 38 wins,and 3 titles (2004/05/08).
10. Aprilia's most successful rider in all classes with 26 wins (12 125 cc and one title 1997, and 14 in 250cc and one title 1999).
11. From all the riders in activity still he is Honda's most successful rider in all classes with 33 wins (13 500cc, 20 MotoGP), and 3 world titles (2001 500cc, 2002 2003 MotoGP).

Rossi leads Stoner at Laguna
Best of GP racing of the season
From Motorcycle-USA.com

Valentino Rossi has won a lot of Grand Prix, but never here in the US of A. That all changed on Sunday in one of the best races of the season. It was an epic battle but The Doctor bested Casey Stoner, scoring his first career USGP win. The final podium position was snatched up by Rizla Suzuki's Chris Vermeulen.
The beginning of the 32-lap race did little to dissuade the belief that Stoner would be denied the win, the Aussie having dominated practice and qualifying - not to mention last year's USGP. Stoner jumped off the line to snare the holeshot, with Rossi sneaking ahead of two-time USGP winner Nicky Hayden in the first corner. Lap 1 was a frantic endeavor as riders jockeyed for position, including the front-running duo, with Rossi sliding past his championship rival in the famed corkscrew.
With nine laps to go, again Stoner challenged Rossi, but The Doctor refused to budge. The result was yet more side-by-side racing, but Stoner's aggressive maneuvering resulted in a trackside run-off at Turn 11 - the reigning champ tucking the front end and forced to pick up his bike in the gravel. Stoner got back on the track, with eight laps to go and Rossi 16 seconds ahead.

An off-track run-off
The turning point for Stoner
The Aussie was able to remount and finish second
From Motorcycle-USA.com

The line through the corkscrew
It worked out for Vale this time around
From Motorcycle-USA.com

Dropping down the corkscrew for the final time in 2008, Rossi rocketed past the finish line with a stand-up wheelie - The Doctor celebrating his first ever USGP victory. Taking his victory lap, Rossi made a pit stop at the corkscrew, getting down on his hands and knees to kiss the ground where he passed for the lead and almost kissed another USGP good-bye.
(From Motorcycle-USA.com)

Overall records:
1. Fifth in all time world championship wins with 8 world championships along with Phil Read, behind Carlo Ubbiali and Mike Hailwood with 9 world championships, Ángel Nieto with 13 world championships and Giacomo Agostini with 15 world championships.
2. Second in all time race wins standings with 97 race wins, behind Giacomo Agostini with 122 race wins.
3. Second in all time podium standings with 151 podiums, behind Giacomo Agostini with 159 podiums. Ángel Nieto is third with 139 podiums.
4. Third in all time pole positions standings with 51 pole positions, behind Michael Doohan with 58 pole positions and Max Biaggi with 56 pole positions.
5. Fourth in all time fastest laps standings with 77 fastest laps, behind Giacomo Agostini with 117 fastest laps, Ángel Nieto with 81 fastest laps and Mike Hailwood with 79 fastest laps.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

THE WISDOM OF LIFE CHAPTER IV

In Chapter IV of The Wisdom of Life, Arthur Schopenhauer has written, 'By a peculiar weakness of human nature, people generally think too much about the opinion which others form of them; although the slightest reflection will show that this opinion, whatever it may be, is not in itself essential to happiness. Therefore it is hard to understand why everybody feels so very pleased when he sees that other people have a good opinion of him, or say anything flattering to his vanity. If you stroke a cat, it will purr; and, as inevitably, if you praise a man, a sweet expression of delight will appear on his face; and even though the praise is a palpable lie, it will be welcome, if the matter is one on which he prides himself. If only other people will applaud him, a man may console himself for downright misfortune or for the pittance he gets from the two sources of human happiness already discussed: and conversely, it is astonishing how infallibly a man will be annoyed, and in some cases deeply pained, by any wrong done to his feeling of self-importance, whatever be the nature, degree, or circumstances of the injury, or by any depreciation, slight, or disregard.
At all events, a man is in a very bad way, who finds no source of happiness in the first two classes of blessings already treated of, but has to seek it in the third, in other words, not in what he is in himself, but in what he is in the opinion of others. For, after all, the foundation of our whole nature, and, therefore, of our happiness, is our physique, and the most essential factor in happiness is health, and, next in importance after health, the ability to maintain ourselves in independence and freedom from care.
The truth is that the value we set upon the opinion of others, and our constant endeavor in respect of it, are each quite out of proportion to any result we may reasonably hope to attain; so that this attention to other people’s attitude may be regarded as a kind of universal mania which every one inherits.
The truth is that the value we set upon the opinion of others, and our constant endeavor in respect of it, are each quite out of proportion to any result we may reasonably hope to attain; so that this attention to other people’s attitude may be regarded as a kind of universal mania which every one inherits. In all we do, almost the first thing we think about is, what will people say; and nearly half the troubles and bothers of life may be traced to our anxiety on this score; it is the anxiety which is at the bottom of all that feeling of self-importance, which is so often mortified because it is so very morbidly sensitive. It is solicitude about what others will say that underlies all our vanity and pretension, yes, and all our show and swagger too. Without it, there would not be a tenth part of the luxury which exists. Pride in every form, point d’honneur and punctilio, however varied their kind or sphere, are at bottom nothing but this—anxiety about what others will say—and what sacrifices it costs! One can see it even in a child; and though it exists at every period of life, it is strongest in age; because, when the capacity for sensual pleasure fails, vanity and pride have only avarice to share their dominion. It is a regular epidemic, appearing sometimes in the most absurd ambition, or in a ridiculous kind of national vanity and the most shameless boasting.
This is an admirable example of the way in which a man, with death in the most dreadful form before his very eyes, and eternity beyond it, will care for nothing but the impression he makes upon a crowd of gapers, and the opinion he leaves behind him in their heads. There was much the same kind of thing in the case of Lecompte, who was executed at Frankfurt, also in 1846, for an attempt on the king’s life. At the trial he was very much annoyed that he was not allowed to appear, in decent attire, before the Upper House; and on the day of the execution it was a special grief to him that he was not permitted to shave. Mateo Aleman tells us, in the Introduction to his celebrated romance, Juzman de Alfarache, that many infatuated criminals, instead of devoting their last hours to the welfare of their souls, as they ought to have done, neglect this duty for the purpose of preparing and committing to memory a speech to be made from the scaffold.
These extreme cases is the best illustrations to what is meant; for they give us a magnified reflection of our own nature. The anxieties of all of us, our worries, vexations, bothers, troubles, uneasy apprehensions and strenuous efforts are due, in perhaps the large majority of instances, to what other people will say; and we are just as foolish in this respect as those miserable criminals. Envy and hatred are very often traceable to a similar source.
We should get rid of a thorn in the flesh which is always causing us pain. But it is a very difficult task, because the impulse in question is a natural and innate perversity of human nature. Tacitus says, The lust of fame is the last that a wise man shakes off37 The only way of putting an end to this universal folly is to see clearly that it is a folly; and this may be done by recognizing the fact that most of the opinions in men’s heads are apt to be false, perverse, erroneous and absurd, and so in themselves unworthy of attention; further, that other people’s opinions can have very little real and positive influence upon us in most of the circumstances and affairs of life. We should be clear about the fact that honor itself has no really direct, but only an indirect, value. A good deal of positive misfortune might be avoided, which we are now drawn into by striving after shadows, or, to speak more correctly, by indulging a mischievous piece of folly. But [Greek: chalepa ga kala]—what is worth doing is hard to do.
The folly of our nature which we are discussing puts forth three shoots, ambition, vanity and pride. The difference between the last two is this: pride is an established conviction of one’s own paramount worth in some particular respect; while vanity is the desire of rousing such a conviction in others, and it is generally accompanied by the secret hope of ultimately coming to the same conviction oneself. Pride works from within; it is the direct appreciation of oneself. Vanity is the desire to arrive at this appreciation indirectly, from without. So we find that vain people are talkative, proud, and taciturn. But the vain person ought to be aware that the good opinion of others, which he strives for, may be obtained much more easily and certainly by persistent silence than by speech, even though he has very good things to say. Anyone who wishes to affect pride is not therefore a proud man; but he will soon have to drop this, as every other, assumed character.
The cheapest sort of pride is national pride; for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own of which he can be proud; otherwise he would not have recourse to those which he shares with so many millions of his fellowmen. The man who is endowed with important personal qualities will be only too ready to see clearly in what respects his own nation falls short, since their failings will be constantly before his eyes. But every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud adopts, as a last resource, pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and glad to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority. For example, if you speak of the stupid and degrading bigotry of the English nation with the contempt it deserves, you will hardly find one Englishman in fifty to agree with you; but if there should be one, he will generally happen to be an intelligent man.
Since you cannot speak of national character without referring to large masses of people, it is impossible to be loud in your praises and at the same time honest. National character is only another name for the particular form which the littleness, perversity and baseness of mankind take in every country. If we become disgusted with one, we praise another, until we get disgusted with this too. Every nation mocks at other nations, and all are right.
A man soon discovers that everything depends upon his being useful, not in his own opinion, but in the opinion of others; and so he tries his best to make that favorable impression upon the world, to which he attaches such a high value. Hence, this primitive and innate characteristic of human nature, which is called the feeling of honor, or, under another aspect, the feeling of shame—verecundia. It is this which brings a blush to his cheeks at the thought of having suddenly to fall in the estimation of others.
Nothing in life gives a man so much courage as the attainment or renewal of the conviction that other people regard him with favor; because it means that everyone joins to give him help and protection, which is an infinitely stronger bulwark against the ills of life than anything he can do himself.
People of different tastes can never be friends, and the sight of pre-eminent merit is apt to raise the secret ire of a ne’er-do-well. What Goethe says in the Westöstlicher Divan is quite true, that it is useless to complain against your enemies; for they can never become your friends, if your whole being is a standing reproach to them.
Greatness of soul, or wealth of intellect, is what makes a man happy—intellect, such as, when stamped on its productions, will receive the admiration of centuries to come,—thoughts which make him happy at the time, and will in their turn be a source of study and delight to the noblest minds of the most remote posterity. The value of posthumous fame lies in deserving it; and this is its own reward.
Would a musician feel flattered by the loud applause of an audience if he knew that they were nearly all deaf, and that, to conceal their infirmity, they set to work to clap vigorously as soon as ever they saw one or two persons applauding? And what would he say if he got to know that those one or two persons had often taken bribes to secure the loudest applause for the poorest player!'
(Web edition published by eBooks@Adelaide. Rendered into HTML by Steve Thomas)

THE WISDOM OF LIFE CHAPTER III

In Chapter III of The Wisdom of Life Arthur Schopenhauer has written that, 'Epicurus divides the needs of mankind into three classes, and the division made by this great professor of happiness is a true and a fine one. First come natural and necessary needs, such as, when not satisfied, produce pain,—food and clothing, victus et amictus, needs which can easily be satisfied. Secondly, there are those needs which, though natural, are not necessary, such as the gratification of certain of the senses. The third class consists of needs which are neither natural nor necessary, the need of luxury and prodigality, show and splendor, which never come to an end, and are very hard to satisfy.
to measure a man’s happiness only by what he gets, and not also by what he expects to get, is as futile as to try and express a fraction which shall have a numerator but no denominator. A man never feels the loss of things which it never occurs to him to ask for; he is just as happy without them; whilst another, who may have a hundred times as much, feels miserable because he has not got the one thing he wants. In fact, here too, every man has an horizon of his own, and he will expect as much as he thinks it is possible for him to get. If an object within his horizon looks as though he could confidently reckon on getting it, he is happy; but if difficulties come in the way, he is miserable. What lies beyond his horizon has no effect at all upon him. So it is that the vast possessions of the rich do not agitate the poor, and conversely, that a wealthy man is not consoled by all his wealth for the failure of his hopes.
Riches, one may say, are like sea-water; the more you drink the thirstier you become; and the same is true of fame. The loss of wealth and prosperity leaves a man, as soon as the first pangs of grief are over, in very much the same habitual temper as before; and the reason of this is, that as soon as fate diminishes the amount of his possessions, he himself immediately reduces the amount of his claims. But when misfortune comes upon us, to reduce the amount of our claims is just what is most painful; once that we have done so, the pain becomes less and less, and is felt no more; like an old wound which has healed.
People are often reproached for wishing for money above all things, and for loving it more than anything else; but it is natural and even inevitable for people to love that which, like an unwearied Proteus, is always ready to turn itself into whatever object their wandering wishes or manifold desires may for the moment fix upon. Everything else can satisfy only one wish, one need: food is good only if you are hungry; drugs, if you are sick; fur for the winter; love for youth, and so on. These are all only relatively good, [Greek: agatha pros ti]. Money alone is absolutely good, because it is not only a concrete satisfaction of one need in particular; it is an abstract satisfaction of all.
People who are not born with a fortune, but end by making a large one through the exercise of whatever talents they possess, almost always come to think that their talents are their capital, and that the money they have gained is merely the interest upon it; they do not lay by a part of their earnings to form a permanent capital, but spend their money much as they have earned it.
Accordingly, they often fall into poverty; their earnings decreased, or come to an end altogether, either because their talent is exhausted by becoming antiquated,—as, for instance, very often happens in the case of fine art; or else it was valid only under a special conjunction of circumstances which has now passed away. There is nothing to prevent those who live on the common labor of their hands from treating their earnings in that way if they like; because their kind of skill is not likely to disappear, or, if it does, it can be replaced by that of their fellow-workmen; morever, the kind of work they do is always in demand; so that what the proverb says is quite true, a useful trade is a mine of gold. But with artists and professionals of every kind the case is quite different, and that is the reason why they are well paid. They ought to build up a capital out of their earnings; but they recklessly look upon them as merely interest, and end in ruin.
On the other hand, people who inherit money know, at least, how to distinguish between capital and interest, and most of them try to make their capital secure and not encroach upon it; nay, if they can, they put by at least an eighth of their interests in order to meet future contingencies.
People who have been born and bred in good circumstances are as a rule much more careful about the future, more economical, in fact, than those who, by a piece of good luck, have suddenly passed from poverty to wealth. This looks as if poverty were not really such a very wretched thing as it appears from a distance. The true reason, however, is rather the fact that the man who has been born into a position of wealth comes to look upon it as something without which he could no more live than he could live without air; he guards it as he does his very life; and so he is generally a lover of order, prudent and economical. But the man who has been born into a poor position looks upon it as the natural one, and if by any chance he comes in for a fortune, he regards it as a superfluity, something to be enjoyed or wasted, because, if it comes to an end, he can get on just as well as before, with one anxiety the less; or, as Shakespeare says in Henry VI:
.... the adage must be verified
That beggars mounted run their horse to death.
The man who is born with enough to live upon is generally of a somewhat independent turn of mind; he is accustomed to keep his head up; he has not learned all the arts of the beggar; perhaps he even presumes a little upon the possession of talents which, as he ought to know, can never compete with cringing mediocrity; in the long run he comes to recognize the inferiority of those who are placed over his head, and when they try to put insults upon him, he becomes refractory and shy. This is not the way to get on in the world. Nay, such a man may at least incline to the opinion freely expressed by Voltaire: We have only two days to live; it is not worth our while to spend them in cringing to contemptible rascals.
What Juvenal says—it is difficult to rise if your poverty is greater than your talent—
Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat
Res angusta domi—
is more applicable to a career of art and literature than to a political and social ambition.'
(Web edition published by eBooks@Adelaide. Rendered into HTML by Steve Thomas)

THE ECLIPSE OF CLASSICISM

Reverie by John William Godward
Getty Museum

Lost in her thoughts, a languid young woman lounges on a smooth, veined marble bench terminating in a herm figure, probably representing the type of the poet Homer with its heavy beard, thick hair and narrow ribbon around the head. The cloth wrapped around her hips, over her silky chiton, or tunic, is not an authentic element of ancient costume, but it bears a repeated palmette border based on a common ancient design. The fluffy, spotted animal fur is almost tactile but has no specific connection to antiquity. John William Godward probably included it for the delight of juxtaposing such varied textures and colors. He painted the silk, fur, and marble with great accuracy, approaching photographic realism, and arranged them to enliven the subtly colored composition.
Godward specialized in portraying women alone in settings suggesting antiquity, usually decorative, dark-haired beauties in diaphanous gowns created with ingenious contrasts of colors and flesh tones.
(© J. Paul Getty Trust)
Godward excelled in oil and watercolour. His work remained consistent throughout a remarkable career spanning almost forty years, over which time he created a vital stylistic niche for his oeuvre.
Godward is best known for his highly finished paintings of pretty girls attired in classical robes, indeed, he became known as the master ‘classical tunic gown’ painter. The diaphanous fabrics of their Grecian tunics highlight their pearly flesh surrounded by marble statuary and balustrades amidst abundant flowers.
Godward was admired for his archaeologically exact rendering of the surfaces of marble and the flowing movement of classical costume.
Godward’s paintings were also often accepted to the Birmingham Royal Society of Artists’ Autumn Exhibitions. The art dealer Thomas McLean was an important champion of Godward’s work which was often included in his annual exhibitions. The prints made of Godward’s work by McLean and later by Eugène Cremetti introduced a wider audience to the artist’s work and guaranteed his popularity.
Godward also exhibited internationally, making his début at the Paris Salon of 1899. In 1913 he was awarded the gold medal at the International Exhibition in Rome.
The first years of the twentieth century saw a revival of interest in classicism, as prosperity rose throughout the British Empire.
In fact, ‘the early Victorians believed that in ancient Rome they had found a parallel universe – a flawless mirror of their own immaculate world.” (Cited in Iain Gale, ‘The Empire Looks Back’, Country Life (30 May 1996) p.68.) This increased Godward’s popularity and success, with 1910 emerging as one of the best years for him as an artist.
(© 1996-2008, The Hawaiian Group)

A cool retreat
Image © 1996-2008, The Hawaiian Group

A lily pond
© 1996-2008, The Hawaiian Group

The Sweet Siesta of a Summer Day
Posted by Andréa Fernandes at mentalfloss.com

Godward was born in 1861 and lived in Wilton Grove, Wimbledon. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1887. When he moved to Italy with one of his models in 1912, his family broke off all contact with him and even cut his image from family pictures. Godward returned to England in 1919, died in 1922 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, west London.
One of his best known paintings is Dolce far Niente (1904), which currently resides in the collection of Andrew Lloyd Webber. As in the case of several other paintings, Godward painted more than one version, in this case an earlier (and less well known) 1897 version.

Dolce far niente [Sweet Nothings]
Oil on canvas
Collection of Andrew Lloyd Webber
This image is courtesy of the Art Renewal Center

Godward was a Victorian Neo-classicist, and therefore a follower in theory of Frederic Leighton. However, he is more closely allied stylistically to Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, with whom he shared a penchant for the rendering of Classical architecture, in particular, static landscape features constructed from marble.
Given that Classical scholarship was more widespread among the potential audience for his paintings during his lifetime than in the present day, meticulous research of detail was important in order to attain a standing as an artist in this genre. Alma-Tadema was, as well as a painter, an archaeologist who attended historical sites and collected artefacts that were later used in his paintings: Godward, too, studied such details as architecture and dress, in order to ensure that his works bore the stamp of authenticity. In addition, Godward painstakingly and meticulously rendered those other important features in his paintings, animal skins (the paintings Noon Day Rest (1910) and A Cool Retreat (1910) contain superb examples of such rendition) and wild flowers (Nerissa (1906), and Summer Flowers (1903) are again excellent examples of this).
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Summer Flowers
Oil on canvas, 1903
Private collection
This image is courtesy of the Art Renewal Center

The serene beauty and astonishing technical execution of John William Godward's paintings contradict the fact that this important artist has received virtually no critical acclaim or art historical recognition. We know little about this artist's private life, which is not betrayed by his art. Melancholy, kindly, reclusive, handsome, talented and shy, J. W. Godward's life is still a mystery, a censored book, protected by himself and sealed by his family. Unlike most Olympian Classicists before him, he preferred anonymity and privacy.
Desperately idealistic, Godward was one of those artists, who at first glance, we think we fathom completely. Since he is often dismissed with the inadequate catch phrases: an Alma-Tadema clone, a "too late" Classicist, a "pedant of the brush", a "pot-boiler" or merely the painter of an insipid world of languorous women on marble benches, no serious study of his art has been undertaken. And because we are a society that honors "firsts" rather than "lasts" few art historians have examined the demise of Classical subject-painting, of which Godward is a chief exemplar. All of these judgements, in the light of historical distance, can be seen as unjust prejudices.
(Opening Chapter of Dr Vern Swanson's landmark biography of the artist: John William Godward: The Eclipse of Classicism at artrenewal.org)

Endymion
Oil on canvas, 1893
Private collection
This image is courtesy of the Art Renewal Center


A Souvenir
Oil on canvas, 1920
Private collection
This image is courtesy of the Art Renewal Center



'Under the Blossom that Hangs on the Bough'
Oil on canvas, 1917
Private collection
This image is courtesy of the Art Renewal Center

Typically, his paintings are without any story, focussed on a single girl, large on the canvas, semi-draped or wearing translucent garments, giving a sensuality somewhat diminished by the careful, classical composition of the rest of the picture. Often the model is recognisable as his Italian girl, with black hair parted in the middle, very large eyes, thick eyebrows and a rounded face. The surroundings of his pictures - the marble terraces - always include a few props from classical antiquity - mosaic floors and sculpted roundels on walls are particular favorites, and also lion or leopard skins. Unlike Alma Tadema and Leighton, Godward was no scholar of antiquity, and his pictures are not obviously meant to be Roman on the one hand or Greek on the other. However, his painting of marble is almost as good as that of Alma Tadema. As well as the many pictures of single girls, and some with groups, Godward also did portraits of girls. A few pure landscapes, and early portraits of his family, are entirely different from his main body of work. His numerous pencil studies of the female figure show a concentration on the eyes and hair that is much toned down in finished paintings.
(From cartage.org)
John William Godward is now recognised as one of the finest classical genre painters of his period and will always be appreciated for his high-quality paintings of Graeco-Roman women set in luxurious surroundings.