Greatness Quotes
Read the best selected
greatness quotes by some famous people of their times. These quotes
about greatness will motivate and inspire you and you
will be much wiser about the subject.
The price of greatness is responsibility. Winston Churchill
Great people are meteors designed to burn so that the earth may be lighted. Napoleon Bonaparte
The great must submit to the dominion of prudence and of virtue, or none will long submit to the dominion of the great. Edmund Burke
No great thing is created suddenly. Epictetus
Sighing that Nature formed but one such man, and broke the die. Lord Byron
Great men are true men, the men in whom nature has succeeded. They are not extraordinary -- they are in the true order. It is the other species of men who are not what they ought to be. Henri Frederic Amiel
Great people are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force, that thoughts rule the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson
There are people who possess not so much genius as a certain talent for perceiving the desires of the century, or even of the decade, before it has done so itself. Georg C. Lichtenberg
Great men never make bad use of their superiority. They see it and feel it and are not less modest. The more they have, the more they know their own deficiencies. Jean Jacques Rousseau
The search after the great men is the dream of youth, and the most serious occupation of manhood. Ralph Waldo Emerson
No great man ever complains of want of opportunity. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Great woman belong to history and to self sacrifice. Leigh Hunt
The essence of greatness is neglect of the self. James A. Froude
Great and good are seldom the same man. Winston Churchill
Some have greatness thrust upon them, but not lately. Frank Dane
Despite everybody who has been born and has died, the world has just gone on. I mean, look at Napoleon --but we went right on. Look at Harpo Marx --the world went around, it didn't stop for a second. It's sad but true. John Kennedy, right? Bob Dylan
I never knew a man come to greatness or eminence who lay abed late in the morning. Jonathan Swift
The greatest men of a nation are those it puts to death. Ernest Renan
I can write good songs. I can sing 'em, and I mean it, I mean it deeply, and I pour everything into that. Other than that, I suck. Adam Duritz
Great merit, or great failings, will make you respected or despised; but trifles, little attentions, mere nothings, either done or neglected, will make you either liked or disliked in the general run of the world. Lord Chesterfield
Greatness, in order to gain recognition, must all too often consent to ape greatness. Jean Rostand
The essence of greatness is the perception that virtue is enough. Ralph Waldo Emerson
The herd seek out the great, not for their sake but for their influence; and the great welcome them out of vanity or need. Napoleon Bonaparte
Because you are a great lord, you believe yourself to be a great genius. You took the trouble to be born, but no more. Pierre De Beaumarchais
No one ever became great by imitation. Samuel Johnson
The difference between Socrates and Jesus? The great conscious and the immeasurably great unconscious. Thomas Carlyle
In our society those who are in reality superior in intelligence can be accepted by their fellows only if they pretend they are not. Marya Mannes
Not he is great who can alter matter, but he who can alter my state of mind. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Those who intend on becoming great should love neither themselves or their own things, but only what is just, whether it happens to be done by themselves or others. Plato
He's the greatest man who ever came out of Plymouth, Vermont. Clarence Darrow
Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them. William Shakespeare
The greatness of a man's power is the measure of his surrender. William Booth
It is necessary to be slightly under employed if you are to do something significant. James Watson
The dullard's envy of brilliant men is always assuaged by the suspicion that they will come to a bad end. Sir Max Beerbohm
Neither wealth or greatness render us happy. Jean De La Fontaine
Great men are rarely isolated mountain-peaks; they are the summits of ranges. Thomas Wentworth Higginson
A great person is one who affects the mind of their generation. Benjamin Disraeli
Great men are not always wise. Bible
There is a sacred horror about everything grand. It is easy to admire mediocrity and hills; but whatever is too lofty, a genius as well as a mountain, an assembly as well as a masterpiece, seen too near, is appalling. Victor Hugo
The superiority of some men is merely local. They are great because their associates are little. Samuel Johnson
It is not difficult to get away into retirement; and there live upon your own convictions; nor is it difficult to mix with men and follow their convictions; but to enter into the world; and there live firmly and fearlessly according to your own conscience; that is Christian greatness. Anonymous
Great men always pay deference to greater. Walter Savage Landor
There would be no great men if there were no little ones. George Herbert
False greatness is unsociable and remote: conscious of its own frailty, it hides, or at least averts its face, and reveals itself only enough to create an illusion and not be recognized as the meanness that it really is. True greatness is free, kind, familiar and popular; it lets itself be touched and handled, it loses nothing by being seen at close quarters; the better one knows it, the more one admires it. Jean De La Bruyere
No man is truly great who is great only in his lifetime. The test of greatness is the page of history. William Hazlitt
Greatness is a spiritual condition. Matthew Arnold
Th abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power. William Shakespeare
You know, sometimes, when they say you're ahead of your time, it's just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing. George Mcgovern
The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still reaches us. So it is with great men who died centuries ago, but still reach us with the radiations of their personalities. Kahlil Gibran
To achieve greatness one should live as if they will never die. Francois De La Rochefoucauld
He is great who is what he is from nature, and who never reminds us of others. Ralph Waldo Emerson
In my stars I am above thee, but be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness ;thrust upon em. William Shakespeare
Nobody's ever the greatest anything. Maralyn Polak
A great man's greatest good luck is to die at the right time. Eric Hoffer
It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations. Charles Dickens
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them. [Twelfth Night] William Shakespeare
There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness and truth. Count Leo Tolstoy
Do not despise the bottom rungs in the ascent to greatness. Publilius Syrus
I distrust Great Men. They produce a desert of uniformity around them and often a pool of blood too, and I always feel a little man's pleasure when they come a cropper. Edward M. Forster
A good man, is a good man, whether in this church, or out of it. Brigham Young
There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous. Benjamin Franklin
The measure of a master is his success in bringing all men around to his opinion twenty years later. Ralph Waldo Emerson
I want to be great, something special. Sugar Ray Leonard
None think the great unhappy, but the great. Edward Young
To be great is to be misunderstood. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Greatness be nothing unless it be lasting. Napoleon Bonaparte
Being too good is apt to be uninteresting. Harry S. Truman
Whatever you are, be a good one. Abraham Lincoln
Well, I wouldn't say that I was in the great class, but I had a great time while I was trying to be great. Harry S. Truman
All great men are gifted with intuition. They know without reasoning or analysis, what they need to know. Alexis Carrel
What millions died that Caesar might be great? Joseph Campell
At most, the greatest persons are but great wens, and excrescences; men of wit and delightful conversation, but as morals for ornament, except they be so incorporated into the body of the world that they contribute something to the sustentation of the whole. John Donne
Man is only truly great when he acts from his passions. Benjamin Disraeli
A great thing can only be done by a great person; and they do it without effort. John Ruskin
We shall never resolve the enigma of the relation between the negative foundations of greatness and that greatness itself. Jean Baudrillard
All your youth you want to have your greatness taken for granted; when you find it taken for granted, you are unnerved. Elizabeth Bowen
You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration. James Allen
The first step toward greatness is to be honest. Proverb
It's not what you take but what you leave behind that defines greatness. Edward Gardner
A great man stands on God. A small man on a great man. Ralph Waldo Emerson
All my life I have always known I was born to greatness. Oprah Winfrey
Great men hallow a whole people, and lift up all who live in their time. Sydney Smith
A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less. Jean De La Bruyere
Let us never forget that the greatest man is never more than an animal disguised as a god. Francis Picabia
There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet. William F. Halsey
After a fellow gets famous it does not take long for someone to bob up that used to sit next to him in school. Kin Hubbard
All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Albert Camus
If you would attain greatness, think no little thoughts. Anonymous
The first element of greatness is fundamental humbleness (this should not be confused with servility); the second is freedom from self; the third is intrepid courage, which, taken in its widest interpretation, generally goes with truth; and the fourth --the power to love --although I have put it last, is the rarest. Margot Asquith
He was dull in a new way, and that made many think him great. Samuel Johnson
Greatness does not approach him who is forever looking down. Hitopadesa
No one who has come to true greatness has not felt in some degree that his life belongs to the people, and what God has given them he gives it for mankind. Phillips Brooks
I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great. Ray Charles
In historic events, the so-called great men are labels giving names to events, and like labels they have but the smallest connection with the event itself. Every act of theirs, which appears to them an act of their own will, is in an historical sense involuntary and is related to the whole course of history and predestined from eternity. Count Leo Tolstoy
Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. you only need a heart full of grace. a soul generated by love. Martin Luther King Jr.
The world isn't kept running because it's a paying proposition. (God doesn't make a cent on the deal.) The world goes on because a few men in every generation believe in it utterly, accept it unquestioningly; they underwrite it with their lives. Henry Miller
Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude. Arthur Schopenhauer
It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires. Charles De Montesquieu
Great men are the guideposts and landmarks in the state. Edmund Burke
In my opinion, most of the great men of the past were only there for the beer --the wealth, prestige and grandeur that went with the power. A. J. P. Taylor
There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great. Gilbert K. Chesterton
To have a great man for a friend seems pleasant to those who have never tried it; those who have, fear it. Horace
Traditionally the great men of our country have sprung from poor environments; that being so, it would appear we have long suffered from a severe lack of poverty. Gerald F. Lieberman
No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men. Thomas Carlyle
He is not great who is not greatly good. William Shakespeare
It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god. Seneca
Greatness and goodness are not means, but ends. Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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