The 30 People I’d Most Enjoy Having Dinner With

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Citizens, several years ago, I put together my personal list of great men and women whom I would most love to get around a dinner table. Having just come across the list again, I thought it worth sharing. 🙂

Can you imagine having some of history’s greatest philosophers, scientists, leaders, heroes, musicians and bon vivants together – and the discussions that would result? After much thought, these would be the people I’d invite – I’ve included only verified historical figures for this exercise.

In alphabetical order:

1. The nameless man who stood in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square.
2. Alexander the Great (Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγας) – conqueror of the known world by age 32.
3. Neil Armstrong – the first man in space.
4. Aristotle (Ἀριστοτέλης) – the premier philosopher, rhetorician and natural scientist.
5. Marcus Aurelius – the Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher.
6. Matsuo Bashō (松尾 芭蕉) – the revered haiku poet of feudal Japan.
7. Sir Richard Francis Burton – the incomparable Victorian adventurer.
8. Paulo Coelho – the unmatched Brazilian author and philosopher.
9. Marie Curie – The scientist who discovered Radium, also a remarkable philanthropist and activist who paid dearly for her studies.
10. Leonardo da Vinci – the original ‘renaissance man’.
11. Albert Einstein – perhaps the greatest theoretical scientist in history, and a superlative humanist.
12. Queen Elizabeth I – the greatest Queen in modern history.
13. Benjamin Franklin – the scientist/statesman/wit of the American Revolution.
14. Mohandas K. Gandhi – The greatest practitioner of non-violent struggle in the history of the world.
15. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – the Age of Enlightenment’s ‘renaissance man’ and polymath.
16. Hildegard of Bingen – The Medieval-era mystic, poet and musician.
17. The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ།) – the greatest living exponent of tolerance and world peace.
18. Hinmatóoyalahtq’it (“Thunder traveling to higher areas”), aka Chief Jospeh – An indomitable voice of conscience for the American West.
19. Hypatia of Alexandria (Ὑπατίᾱ η Αλεξανδρινή) – the greatest female mathematician and philosopher the world has ever known.
20. Imhotep (*jā-im-ḥātap meaning “the one who comes in peace, is with peace”) – The great architect who designed the first pyramid, as well as being one of the leading scholars and physicians of Ancient Egypt.
21. Count Nikola Jurišić – leading only 750 men without cannons and few guns, he successfully defended a town against a Turkish army of more than 130,000.
22. Li Po (李白) – an eccentric and brilliant lover of wine, women and life who also happened to be the most acclaimed poet in Chinese history.
23. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – who needs no introduction.
24. Marco Polo – The great Medieval traveler, trader and chronicler.
25. Rosa Robota – She made the ultimate resistance – and sacrifice – in Auschwitz.
26. Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (جلال‌الدین محمد رومی) – Perhaps the greatest Sufi mystic and poet.
27. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson– The Lubavitcher Rebbe of Chabad.
28. William Shakespeare – The Eternal Bard.
29. Robert Smalls – An escaped slave and a Civil War hero, Robert Smalls served five terms in the U.S. House for South Carolina.
30. Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) – the great wit, writer and cynic.

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