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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"Greatness of Soul seems therefore to be as it were a crowning ornament of the virtues; it enhances their greatness, and it cannot exist without them. Hence it is hard to be truly great-souled, for greatness of soul is impossible without moral nobility."
"Lack of something to feel important about is almost the greatest tragedy a man may have."
"The government's only proper job is to protect individual rights against violence by force or fraud ... to protect men from foreign invaders ... to settle disputes among men according to objective laws ... The greatness of the Founding Fathers was how well they understood this issue and how close some of them came to understanding it perfectly."
"The nation which once held the creed that greatness is achieved by production, is now told that it is achieved by squalor."
"Great men are the guideposts and landmarks in the state."
"Great is Youth--equally great is Old Age--great are Day and Night. Great is Wealth--great is Poverty--great is Expression-great is Silence."
"There's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half a year."
"I have touched the highest point of all my greatness."
"I have touch'd the highest point of all my greatness, And from that full meridian of my glory I haste now to my setting."
"No might nor greatness in mortality Can censure 'scape; back- wounding calumny The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?"
"Farewell! a long farewell to all my greatness!"
"Great and good are seldom the same man."
"Decision is often the difference between greatness and mediocrity. In every man's life there comes a time when he must search for a cause, a work, an ideal to which he can give himself. Whether he says 'Yes' or 'No' to the challenge will determine his future."
"Tramaine Hawkins has been a mentor, a confidante and an example of greatness. She has been through a lot in her life, and her career has spanned over 50 years. To me, that's what you call a legend."
"Every individual strives to grow and exclude, to the extremities of the universe, and to impose the law of its being on every other creature."
"Greatness is a property for which no man gets credit too soon; it must be possessed long before it is acknowledged."
"We are very near to greatness: one step and we are safe; can we not take the leap?"
"A man in pursuit of greatness feels no little wants."
"The essence of greatness is the perception that virtue is enough."
"A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before."
