Эрнст Кассирер (1874-1945) Myth of the State (1946)
PART III The Myth of the Twentieth Century
XV The preparation: Carlyle
The Metaphysical Background of Carlyle's Theory and His Conception of History
...It is true, that Carlyle did not refrain from saying that "might makes right," But he always understood the very term "might" in a moral rather than in a physical sense. Hero worship always meant to him the worship of a moral force. He seems often to have a deep distrust of human nature. But he is confident and optimistic enough to assume and assert that "man never yields himself wholly to brute force, but always to moral greatness." If we ignore this principle of his thought we destroy his whole conception of history, of culture, of political and social life.