Let your enthusiasm radiate in your voice, your actions, your facial expressions, your personality, the words you use, and the thoughts you think! Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There would be no great men if there were no little ones.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
The measure of a master is his success in bringing all men around to his opinion twenty years later.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
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 I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Whatever you are, be a good one.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Everything we think of as great has come to us from neurotics. It is they and they alone who found religions and create great works of art. The world will never realize how much it owes to them, and what they have suffered in order to bestow their gifts on it.
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922) French Novelist
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.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
The superiority of some men is merely local. They are great because their associates are little.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Nothing great in this world has been accomplished without passion.
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) German Philosopher
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 (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
All your youth you want to have your greatness taken for granted; when you find it taken for granted, you are unnerved.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
To a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the spirit.
To find that answer, we need only look within ourselves.
When we listen to the better angels of our nature, we find that they celebrate the simple things, the basic things—such as goodness, decency, love, kindness.
Greatness comes in simple trappings.
—Richard Nixon (1913–94) American Head of State, Lawyer
It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world; that inspired the crusades; that instituted the monastic orders; it was not reason that produced the Jesuits; above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
Sighing that Nature formed but one such man, and broke the die.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
To be really great in little things, to be truly noble and heroic in the insipid details of everyday life, is a virtue so rare as to be worthy of canonization.
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) American Abolitionist, Author
Great men are rarely isolated mountain-peaks; they are the summits of ranges.
—Thomas Wentworth Higginson (1823–1911) American Social Reformer, Clergyman
No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
A great man stands on God. A small man on a great man.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Being too good is apt to be uninteresting.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
If you want to be important – that’s wonderful. If you want to be great – that’s wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s your new definition of greatness – it means that everybody can be great because everybody can serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know the second law of thermodynamics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love…
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
The qualities of a great man are vision, integrity, courage, understanding, the power of articulation, and profundity of character.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
The price of greatness is responsibility.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
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 (1891–1980) American Novelist
Twice in my lifetime the long arm of destiny has reached across the oceans and involved the entire life and manhood of the United States in a deadly struggle.There was no use in saying We don’t want it; we won
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great.
—Ray Charles (1930–2004) American Singer, Songwriter, Musician
All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant’s revolving door.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
Great and good are seldom the same man.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.
—Herodotus (c.485–425 BCE) Ancient Greek Historian
He was dull in a new way, and that made many think him great.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
A great man’s greatest good luck is to die at the right time.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author