There is but one method, and that is hard labor; and a man who will not pay that price for greatness had better at once dedicate himself to the pursuit of the fox, or to talk of bullocks, and glory in the goad.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
He’s the greatest man who ever came out of Plymouth, Vermont. On Calvin Coolidge
—Clarence Darrow (1857–1938) American Civil Liberties Lawyer
Great woman belong to history and to self sacrifice.
—Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) British Poet, Essayist, Journalist
A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Doing justice to the work is your task, not setting a world record.
—Seth Godin (b.1960) American Entrepreneur
Every great man is unique.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
How may a man obtain greatness? By fidelity, truth, and lofty thoughts.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
It doesn’t take great men to do things, but it is doing things that make men great.
—Arnold Glasow (1905–98) American Businessman
Great people are meteors designed to burn so that the earth may be lighted.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Since most of us spend our lives doing ordinary tasks, the most important thing is to carry them out extraordinarily well.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
In the truly great, virtue governs with a scepter of knowledge and wisdom.
—Philip Sidney (1554–86) English Soldier Poet, Courtier
Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who know me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower when I thought a flower would grow.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Every individual has a place to fill in the world, and is important in some respect, whether he chooses to be so or not.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
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
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
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 (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
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
Greatness be nothing unless it be lasting.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Greatness consists in trying to be great. There is no other way.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
Before you can inspire with emotion, you must be swamped with it yourself. Before you can move their tears, your own must flow. To convince them, you must yourself believe.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Recipe for greatness – To bear up under loss, to fight the bitterness of defeat and the weakness of grief, to be victor over anger, to smile when tears are close, to resist evil men and base instincts, to hate hate and to love love, to go on when it would seem good to die, to seek ever after the glory and the dream, to look up with unquenchable faith in something evermore about to be, that is what any man can do, and so be great.
—Zane Grey (1875–1939) American Novelist
To vilify a great man is the readiest way in which a little man can himself attain greatness.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
A great, a good, and a right mind is a kind of divinity lodged in flesh, and may be the blessing of a slave as well as of a prince: it came from heaven, and to heaven it must return; and it is a kind of heavenly felicity, which a pure and virtuous mind enjoys, in some degree, even upon earth.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
The price of greatness is responsibility.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
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
A good man, is a good man, whether in this church, or out of it.
—Brigham Young (1801–77) American Mormon Leader
All great men are gifted with intuition. They know without reasoning or analysis, what they need to know.
—Alexis Carrel (1873–1944) American Surgeon, Biologist
The search after the great men is the dream of youth, and the most serious occupation of manhood.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher