Greatness quotes
1.9K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside greatness — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"....for friendships that are acquired by a price and not by greatness and nobility of character are purchased but are not owned, and at the proper moment they cannot be spent."
"The sign of a great man is that the closer you get, the greater he seems."
"The greatness of the human personality begins at the hour of birth."
"You must lose a fly to catch a trout."
"The magnitude of a progress is gauged by the greatness of the sacrifice that it requires."
"By constant self-discipline and self-control you can develop greatness of character. Grenville Kleiser Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."
"The measure of any great civilization is its cities and a measure of a city's greatness is to be found in the quality of its public spaces, its parks and squares."
"I fear uniformity. You cannot manufacture great men any more than you can manufacture gold."
"A dying people tolerates the present, rejects the future, and finds its satisfactions in past greatness and half remembered glory"
"But what is great can only begin great."
"Pride of one's work is not improper, unladylike, or vain. We can all take a lesson from the sea turtle. She does not travel thousands of miles or risk all for her ego. She has an instinct for greatness --- one that I believe is found in all living creatures."
"What you're thinking is what you're becoming."
"The course of our lives is determined by how we react--what we decide and what we do--at the darkest of times. The nature of that response determines a person's true worth and greatness."
"How aware are we of our own inner life, our spirituality-something so intangible yet so priceless? How much effort do we make to perceive that which is not obvious, which can neither be seen nor heard? I believe the exploration and enrichment of the human spirit is what determines our very humanity. Such enrichment provides an inner compass that can lead civilizations to greatness."
"An ignorance of means may minister to greatness, but an ignorance of aims make it impossible to be great at all."
"What can we take on trust in this uncertain life? Happiness, greatness, pride - nothing is secure, nothing keeps."
"The great must submit to the dominion of prudence and of virtue, or none will long submit to the dominion of the great."
"A great person is one who affects the mind of their generation."
"It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations."
"Great as heaven and earth are, men still find some things in them with which to be dissatisfied. Thus it is that, were the superior man to speak of his way in all its greatness, nothing in the world would be found able to embrace it, and were he to speak of it in its minuteness, nothing in the world would be found able to split it."
