Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) American Poet, Educator, Academic
I shall not remain insignificant, I shall work in the world for mankind….I don’t want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living, even after my death.
—Anne Frank (1929–45) Holocaust Victim
Not a day passes over the earth but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words, and suffer noble sorrows. Of these obscure heroes, philosophers, and martyrs the greater part will never be known till that hour when many that were great shall be small, and the small great.
—Charles Reade
No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
He who comes up to his own idea of greatness, must always have had a very low standard of it in his mind.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Great crises produce great men and great deeds of courage.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
No great man ever complains of want of opportunity.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
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 (1802–85) French Novelist
We have, I fear, confused power with greatness.
—Stewart Udall (1920–2010) American Politician, Government Official, Author
It doesn’t take great men to do things, but it is doing things that make men great.
—Arnold Glasow (1905–98) American Businessman
A really great man is known by three signs — generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation in success.
—Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) Prussian German- Political leader, Nationalist
The greatness of art is not to find what is common but what is unique.
—Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–91) Polish-born American Children’s Books Writer, Novelist, Short Story Writer
To achieve greatness one should live as if they will never die.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
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
To a mathematician the eleventh means only a single unit : to the bushman who cannot count further than his ten fingers it is an incalculable myriad.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
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 don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle… (or) Einstein’s Theory of Relativity … (or) the Second Theory of Thermodynamics in physics 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 greatest man is he who chooses the right with invincible resolution; who resists the sorest temptations from within and without; who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully; who is calmest in storms, and most fearless under menace and frowns; and whose reliance on truth, on virtue, and on God, is most unfaltering.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
To do great work a man must be very idle as well as very industrious.
—Samuel Butler
Creativity means believing you have greatness.
—Wayne Dyer (b.1940) American Motivational Writer, Author, Motivational Speaker
To have read the greatest works of any great poet, to have beheld or heard the greatest works of any great painter or musician, is a possession added to the best things in life.
—Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) English Poet, Novelist
It’s not what you take but what you leave behind that defines greatness.
—Howard Gardner (b.1943) American Psychologist, Academic
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today… Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A solemn and religious regard to spiritual and eternal things is an indispensable element of all true greatness.
—Daniel Webster (1782–1852) American Statesman, Lawyer
I never wanted to be famous. I only wanted to be great.
—Ray Charles (1930–2004) American Singer, Songwriter, Musician
Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
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
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
Might I give counsel to any man, I would say to him, try to frequent the company of your betters. In books and in life, that is the most wholesome society; learn to admire rightly; the great pleasure of life is that. Note what great men admire.
—William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) English Novelist
Whatever you are, be a good one.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Some have greatness thrust upon them, but not lately.
—Frank Lane (1896–1981) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
Great thoughts, like great deeds, need no trumpet.
—Philip James Bailey (1816–1902) English Poet
Great and good are seldom the same man.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!
—Walter Scott (1771–1832) Scottish Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Lawyer
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
How may a man obtain greatness? By fidelity, truth, and lofty thoughts.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
All greatness is unconscious, or it is little and naught.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
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.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps, and whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.
—The Bhagavad Gita Hindu Scripture
Greatness is the secular name for Divinity : both mean simply what lies beyond us.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Every luminary in the constellation of human greatness, like the stars, comes out in the darkness to shine with the reflected light of God.
—Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) American Christian Science Religious Leader, Humanitarian, Writer
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
I’d rather be a great bad poet than a good bad poet.
—Ogden Nash (1902–71) American Writer of Sophisticated Light Verse
In heaven an angel is nobody in particular.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats little men.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
Great men always pay deference to greater.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
Greatness is only one of the sensations of littleness.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
—Seth Godin (b.1960) American Entrepreneur
Distinction is the consequence, never the object, of a great mind.
—Washington Allston (1779–1843) American Poet, Painter
Men in great place are thrice servants; servants of the sovereign or state, servants of fame, and servants of business; so that they have no freedom, neither in their persons, in their actions, nor in their times.—It is a strange desire to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man’s self.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
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 (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
Luck is always waiting for something to turn up. Labor, with keen eyes and strong will, always turns up something. Luck lies in bed and wishes the postman will bring news of a legacy. Labor turns out at six o’clock and with busy pen or ringing hammer, lays the foundation of a competence. Luck whines. Labor whistles. Luck relies on chance, labor on character.
—Richard Cobden
Success is all about consistency around the fundamentals.
—Robin Sharma (b.1964) Canadian Writer, Motivational Speaker
Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it serves only to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Protestant Clergyman, Social Reformer, Abolitionist
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
I note the derogatory rumors concerning the use of alcoholic stimulants and lavish living. It is the penalty of greatness.
—W. C. Fields (1880–1946) American Actor, Comedian, Writer
In the truly great, virtue governs with a scepter of knowledge and wisdom.
—Philip Sidney (1554–86) English Soldier Poet, Courtier
The difference between the shallowest routineer and the deepest thinker appears, to the latter, trifling ; to the former, infinite.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
We admit that when the divinity we worshipped made itself visible and comprehensible we crucified it.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
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 man who does his work, any work, conscientiously, must always be in one sense a great man.
—William Mulock
It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
From a little spark may burst a mighty flame.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
—Seth Godin (b.1960) American Entrepreneur
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 Beaumarchais (1732–99) French Inventor, Diplomat, Musician, Fugitive, Revolutionary
Anybody can be nobody, but it takes a man to be somebody.
—Eugene V. Debs (1855–1926) American Socialist, Union Leader
A great man leaves clean work behind him, and requires no sweeper up of the chips.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet, Translator
Subtract from the great man all that he owes to opportunity, all that he owes to chance, and all that he has gained by the wisdom of his friends and the folly of his enemies, and the giant will often be seen to be a pigmy.
—Charles Caleb Colton (1780–1832) English Angelic Priest, Writer, Collector
Those who give too much attention to trifling things become generally incapable of great ones.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your Vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your Ideal is the prophecy of what you shall at last unveil.
—James Allen (1864–1912) British Philosophical Writer
A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with — a man is what he makes of himself.
—Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) Scottish-born American Inventor, Engineer, Academic
Do not talk about your greatness; you are really, in essential nature, no great than those around you.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author