Marcus Aurelius
Philosopher, Emperor
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."
Greatness quotes
Greatness
1.9K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Marcus Aurelius
Philosopher, Emperor
"A man's true greatness lies in the consciousness of an honest purpose in life, founded on a just estimate of himself and everything else, on frequent self-examinations, and a steady obedience to the rule which he knows to be right, without troubling himself about what others may think or say, or whether they do or do not that which he thinks and says and does."
Mahatma Gandhi
Political Leader
"The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane."
Thomas Aquinas
Philosopher, Theologian
"The things that we love tell us what we are."
Coretta Scott King
Civil Rights Activist
"The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members."
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Greatness quotes (page 1 of 94)
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"The key to greatness is to look for people's potential and spend time developing it."
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"You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry"
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"Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness."
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"The moment anyone tries to demean or degrade you in any way, you have to know how great you are. Nobody would bother to beat you down if you were not a threat."
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"Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service."
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"Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness."
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"The prohibition of science would be contrary to the Bible, which in hundreds of places teaches us how the greatness and the glory of God shine forth marvelously in all His works, and is to be read above all in the open book of the heavens."
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"The Jews who will it shall achieve their State. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and in our own homes peacefully die. The world will be liberated by our freedom, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind."
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"The discipline of suffering, of great suffering- do you not know that only this discipline has created all enhancements of man so far? That tension of the soul in unhappiness which cultivates its strength, its shudders face to face with great ruin, its inventiveness and courage in enduring, preserving, interpreting, and exploiting suffering, and whatever has been granted to it of profundity, secret, mask, spirit, cunning, greatness- was it not granted to it through suffering, through the discipline of great suffering?"
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"If human beings can be trained for cruelty and greed and a belief in power which comes through hate and fear and force, certainly we can train equally well for greatness and mercy and the power of love which comes because of the strength of the good qualities to be found in the soul of every human being."
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"You have to have a habitual vision of greatness ... you have to believe in fact that you will refuse to settle for mediocrity. You won't confuse your financial security with your personal integrity, you won't confuse your success with your greatness or your prosperity with your magnanimity ... believe in fact that living is connected to giving."
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"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of humankind."
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"In order to do something you've never done, you've got to become someone you've never been. I think that all of us have great potential within us, but greatness is a choice; it's not our destiny. And in the pursuit of our dreams we are introduced to trials, failures and disappointments , which take us to the door of discovery and greatness."
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"Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness."
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"When it's time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived."
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"Doing what needs to be done may not make you happy, but it will make you great."
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"We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed."
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"Do not talk about giftedness, inborn talents! One can assume great men of all kinds who were very little gifted. They acquired greatness, became “geniuses” (as we put it), through qualities the lack of which no one who knew what they were would boast of: they all possessed that seriousness of the efficient workman which first learns to construct the parts properly before it ventures to fashion a great whole; they allowed themselves time for it, because they took more pleasure in making the little, secondary things well than in the effect of a dazzling whole."
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"The poor are great! The poor are wonderful! The poor are very generous! They give us much more than what we give them."
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"Every individual has a place to fill in the world and is important in some respect whether he chooses to be so or not."
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