Greatness famous quotes
Last updated: Sep 5, 2024
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A good character today is shaped by greatness, greatness in vision, greatness in courage, greatness in insight, greatness in purpose and devotion.
-- A. Powell Davies -
I know I'm capable of greatness, and I'm expecting to reach that level.
-- Aaron Rodgers -
No great thought, no great object, satisfies the mind at first view, nor at the last.
-- Abel Stevens -
A prophet's true greatness is his ability to hold God and man in a single thought.
-- Abraham Joshua Heschel -
You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry
-- Abraham Lincoln -
She died chasing greatness and never saw it each time it was in her hand, so she kept seeking it elsewhere, but never understood the work required to get it or to keep it.
-- Abraham Verghese -
There is greatness in the fear of God, contentment in faith of God, and honour in humility.
-- Abu Bakr -
Read for yourselves, read for the sake of your inspiration, for the sweet turmoil in your lovely head. But also read against yourselves, read for questioning and impotence, for despair and erudition... and also read those whose darkness or malice or madness or greatness you can't understand because only in this way will you grow, outlive yourself, and become what you are.
-- Adam Zagajewski -
The greatness of every mighty organization embodying an idea in this world lies in the religious fanaticism and intolerance with which, fanatically convinced of its own right, it intolerantly imposes its will against all others.
-- Adolf Hitler -
The stronger must dominate and not blend with the weaker, thus sacrificing his own greatness.
-- Adolf Hitler -
Under the guidance of the Reich, Europe would speedily have become unified. Once the Jewish poison had been eradicated, unification would have been an easy matter. France and Italy, each defeated in turn at an interval of a few months by the two Germanic Powers, would have been well out of it. Both would have had to renounce their inappropriate aspirations to greatness. At the same time they would have had to renounce their pretensions in North Africa and the Near East; and that would have allowed Europe to pursue a bold policy of friendship towards Islam. (4th February 1945)
-- Adolf Hitler -
It would appear... that moral phenomena, when observed on a great scale, are found to resemble physical phenomena; and we thus arrive, in inquiries of this kind, at the fundamental principle, that the greater the number of individuals observed, the more do individual peculiarities, whether physical or moral, become effaced, and leave in a prominent point of view the general facts, by virtue of which society exists and is preserved.
-- Adolphe Quetelet -
It goes without saying that only inner greatness possess a true value ("une valeur véritable,", Fr.) . Any attempt to rise up (or at rising up, - "s'élever", Fr.) outwardly above others, or to want (or wish) to impose one's superiority, denote a lack of moral greatness, since we do not try to replace ("suppléer", Fr.) in that way (.... in French "par là ", Fr.) to what, if we did really possess it, would have no need whatsoever to flaunt itself.
-- African Spir -
Education has a tremendous power on man. Can't we see to which astonishing disciple the people of Sparte have submitted ("s'est plié", Fr.) for centuries, and this with a view to very petty purposes: purely outer greatness, the military predominace of Sparte. This example proves that man can everything on themselves when they want it ("peuvent tout sur eux-mêmes quand ils le veulent", Fr.); therefore it would only be a question of making them will the good.
-- African Spir -
You treat people with greatness and greatness will come back to you.
-- Afrika Bambaataa -
I did a little bit to raise the dignity and recognition of the greatness of African-American music.
-- Ahmet Ertegun -
The United States is a big country but unfortunately it seems it has the brain of a little bird not befitting the greatness of the country.
-- Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -
The greatness of the Raiders lies in their future.
-- Al Davis -
If there is no passion in your life, then have you really lived? Find your passion, whatever it may be. Become it, and let it become you and you will find great things happen FOR you, TO you and BECAUSE of you.
-- Alan Armstrong -
The difficulties of life do not keep you from greatness. They show you to its door.
-- Alan Cohen -
I have found no greater satisfaction than achieving success through honest dealing and strict adherence to the view that, for you to gain, those you deal with should gain as well.
-- Alan Greenspan -
It's been a wild ride. I hope people can appreciate how special it is to see the people that ran well today; how special and sometimes fleeting greatness can be even from yourself. I gave it everything I had and for a short period of time I did very very well and I'm very proud of that and I'm leaving it at that. I did the best I could.
-- Alan Webb -
Greatness consists in trying to be great. There is no other way.
-- Albert Camus -
For those of us who have been thrown into hell, mysterious melodies and the torturing images of a vanished beauty will always bring us, in the midst of crime and folly, the echo of that harmonious insurrection which bears witness, throughout the centuries, to the greatness of humanity.
-- Albert Camus -
The greatness of man lies in his decision to be stronger than his condition.
-- Albert Camus -
There is only one road to human greatness: through the school of hard knocks.
-- Albert Einstein -
Inevitably anyone with an independent mind must become 'one who resists or opposes authority or established conventions': a rebel. If enough people come to agree with, and follow, the Rebel, we now have a Devil. Until, of course, still more people agree. And then, finally, we have --- Greatness.
-- Aleister Crowley -
The greatness of peoples springs from their ability to grasp the grand conceptions of being. It is the absorption of a people, of a nation, of a rare, in large majestic and abiding things which lifts them up to the skies.
-- Alexander Crummell -
Let Americans disdain to be the instruments of European greatness! Let the thirteen States, bound together in a strict and indissoluble Union, concur in erecting one great American system, superior to the control of all transatlantic force or influence, and able to dictate the terms of the connection between the old and the new world!
-- Alexander Hamilton -
The NHL's opinion of itself is so high.... Let them get drunk on their greatness. We'll see how many Euros look our way.
-- Alexander Medvedev -
The greatness of an artist or a writer does not depend on what he has in common with other artists and writers, but on what he has peculiar to himself.
-- Alexander Smith -
The truly great rest in the knowledge of their own deserts, nor seek the conformation of the world.
-- Alexander Smith -
All great men are gifted with intuition. They know without reasoning or analysis, what they need to know.
-- Alexis Carrel -
Greatness is the dream of youth realized in old age.
-- Alfred de Vigny -
Eugenics was central to the entire Nazi enterprise, joined with romantic nativist and racist myths of the pure-bred Nordic. The emphasis on 'blood' called for a purifying of the nation's gene pool, so that Germans could regain the nobility and greatness of their genetically pure forebears.
-- Alison Thompson -
In America we have only the bourgeoisie, and the love of the heroic is one of the few counterpoises available to us. In us the contempt for the heroic is only an extension of the perversion of the democratic principle that denies greatness and wants everyone to feel comfortable in his skin without having to suffer unpleasant comparisons. Students have not the slightest notion of what an achievement it is to free oneself from public guidance and find resources for guidance within oneself.
-- Allan Bloom -
Know your literary tradition, savor it, steal from it, but when you sit down to write, forget about worshiping greatness and fetishizing masterpieces.
-- Allegra Goodman -
This is what America is about when it comes to understanding that it is equal opportunity versus equal achievement. Each and every one of us has the opportunity for greatness in this country.
-- Allen West -
If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare compare any great man in history with Muhammad?
-- Alphonse de Lamartine -
The founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of oÂne spiritual empire, that is Muhammed. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?
-- Alphonse de Lamartine -
True greatness is sovereign wisdom. We are never deceived by our virtues.
-- Alphonse de Lamartine -
The greatness of a popular character is less according to the ratio of his genius than the sympathy he shows with the prejudices and even the absurdities of his time. Fanatics do not select the cleverest but the most fanatical leaders as was evidenced in the choice of Robespierre by the French Jacobins, and in that of Cromwell by the English Puritans.
-- Alphonse de Lamartine -
Human relations are built on feeling, not on reason or knowledge. And feeling is not an exact science; like all spiritual qualities, it has the vagueness of greatness about it.
-- Amelia Barr -
...decide...whether or not the goal is worth the risks involved. If it is, stop worrying....
-- Amelia Earhart -
To see the greatness of a mountain, one must keep one's distance.
-- Anagarika Govinda -
We three belong to the Middle Ages. We have this need of heroism, and there is no place for such feelings in modern life. That is our tragedy. Once I wanted to be a saint. It seemed the only absolute act left to do, for what is most powerful in me is the craving for purity, greatness.
-- Anais Nin -
Any person can achieve greatness if they understand the philosophy of success and the steps required to achieve it.
-- Andrew Carnegie -
Get up my friend. If you're still breathing, there's still time enough for greatness.
-- Andrew Craig -
Rare is the book that can actually transform us into better, more fulfilled people. Having combed through the research and documented case studies all over the world, Kristof and WuDunn present the clearest view I have ever seen of the human soul. A Path Appears tells us whether we are intrinsically good, why specific ways we parent our newborns help predict their chances for success, and how we can live lives of greater significance. This book, full of rich and riveting true stories, reminds us that human greatness is all around us, and even within us, if we dare to look.
-- Ann Curry -
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.
-- Anne Frank -
Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness.
-- Anne Frank -
The genius of a composer is found in the notes of his music; but analyzing the notes will not reveal his genius. The poet's greatness is contained in his words; yet the study of his words will not disclose his inspiration. God reveals himself in creation; but scrutinize creation as minutely as you wish, you will not find God, any more than you will find the soul through careful examination of your body.
-- Anthony de Mello -
A man needs the feelings of kindness to think great than thinking of the greatness to feel good.
-- Anuj -
No one was ever saved because his sins were small; no one was ever rejected on account of the greatness of his sins. Where sin abounded, grace shall much more abound.
-- Archibald Alexander -
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.
-- Aristotle -
The muscularity in my paintings is only an expression of the spirit within. When I paint Nephi, I'm painting the interior, the greatness, the largeness of spirit. Who knows what he looked like? I'm painting a man who looks like he could actually do what Nephi did.
-- Arnold Friberg -
Swing your swing. Not some idea of a swing. Not a swing you saw on TV. Not that swing you wish you had. No, swing your swing. Capable of greatness. Prized only by you. Perfect in it's imperfection. Swing your swing. I know, I did.
-- Arnold Palmer -
It seems to me that at 19 or 20, a young man is burning to be great at something. I was. You have a vision that's beyond the neighborhood. You want to make a mark while you're alive. You don't know exactly your future, but you want to be great at it. And greatness is an important word. And you dare not tell anybody how extreme and how burning are your visions, because you don't want anybody to mess with them
-- Art Garfunkel -
Every time you win, it diminishes the fear a little bit. You never really cancel the fear of losing; you keep challenging it.
-- Arthur Ashe -
Lack of something to feel important about is almost the greatest tragedy a man may have.
-- Arthur Ernest Morgan -
The thing which makes one man greater than another, the quality by which we ought to measure greatness, is a man's capacity for loving.
-- Arthur Helps -
The greatness of God is the true rebuke to the littleness of men. The greatness of Christ is the true rebuke to the littleness of Christians.
-- Arthur Penrhyn Stanley -
Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude.
-- Arthur Schopenhauer -
Vulgar people take huge delight in the faults and follies of great men.
-- Arthur Schopenhauer -
Goodness does not consist in greatness, but greatness in goodness.
-- Athenaeus -
What is greatness? I will answer: it is the capacity to live by the three fundamental values of John Galt: reason, purpose, self-esteem.
-- Ayn Rand -
Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves - or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth.
-- Ayn Rand -
If you want to know the one reason that's taking me back, I'll tell you: I cannot bring myself to abandon to destruction all the greatness of the world, all that which was mine and yours, which was made by us and is still ours by right - because I cannot believe that men refuse to see, that they can remain blind and deaf to us forever, when the truth is ours and their lives depend on accepting it. . . . So long as men desire to live, I cannot lose my battle.
-- Ayn Rand -
Innate must flow fully, freely, naturally; to, through, and into the educated brain to produce what education calls greatness.
-- B. J. Palmer -
Knowledge and courage take turns at greatness.
-- Baltasar Gracian -
The path to greatness is along with others.
-- Baltasar Gracian -
It is always the adventurers who do great things, not the sovereigns of great empires.
-- Baron de Montesquieu -
Much more frequent in Hollywood than the emergence of Cinderella is her sudden vanishing. At our party, even in those glowing days, the clock was always striking twelve for someone at the height of greatness; and there was never a prince to fetch her back to the happy scene.
-- Ben Hecht -
Every day that you don't practice is one day longer before you achieve greatness
-- Ben Hogan -
It is a note Of upstart greatness to observe and watch For these poor trifles, which the noble mind Neglects and scorns.
-- Ben Jonson -
We offend God because we do not know His greatness.
-- Benedict Joseph Labre -
The age does not believe in great men, because it does not possess any.
-- Benjamin Disraeli -
A great person is one who affects the mind of their generation.
-- Benjamin Disraeli -
There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.
-- Benjamin Franklin -
My short answer would be that there is no greatest jazz musician of the century. Jazz, like any valid art form, finds its greatness in its expression of the human spirit, and, to me, this can’t be reduced to a contest.
-- Bennie Wallace -
Yale's greatness carries an urgent need to guard against the fall of excellence into exclusivity, of refinement into preciousness, of elegance into class and convention.
-- Benno C. Schmidt, Jr. -
If laying aside all worldly Greatness and Vain-Glory, I should be ask'd where I thought it was most probable that Men might enjoy true Happiness, I would prefer a small peaceable Society, in which Men, neither envy'd nor esteem'd by Neighbours, should be contented to live upon the Natural Product of the Spot they inhabit, to a vast Multitude abounding in Wealth and Power, that should always be conquering others by their Arms Abroad, and debauching themselves by Foreign Luxury at Home.
-- Bernard de Mandeville -
A person's greatness is that which makes him/her equal to others
-- Bert Hellinger -
In the beginning, I want to say something about human greatness. Some time ago, I was reading texts of Kungtse. When I read these texts, I understood something about human greatness. What I understood from his writings was: What is greatest in human beings is what makes them equal to everybody else. Everything else that deviates higher or lower from what is common to all human beings makes us less. If we know this, we can develop a deep respect for every human being.
-- Bert Hellinger -
Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation; but above all because, through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind is also rendered great, and becomes capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest good.
-- Bertrand Russell -
Denys (Finch-Hatton) has been written about before and he will be written about again. If someone has not already said it, someone will say that he was a great man who never achieved greatness, and this will not only be trite, but wrong; he was a great man who never achieved arrogance.
-- Beryl Markham -
...if God teaches us victory in Christ Jesus day by day, we live in the constant awareness of His greatness and His sufficiency. Hard lessons are often long-lasting lessons. Never forget that God is far more interested in our getting to know the Deliverer than simply being delivered.
-- Beth Moore -
Tap into that one fear that drives greatness - the fear of regret.
-- Betty Liu -
By only becoming aware of Krishna's greatness we can become aware of our minuteness. That's the way to become Humble.
-- Bhakti Charu Swami -
Big dreams create the magic that stir men's souls to greatness.
-- Bill McCartney -
The ultimate is not to win, but to reach within the depths of your capabilities and to compete against yourself.
-- Billy Mills -
Man's greatness lies in his power of thought.
-- Blaise Pascal -
Sneezing absorbs all the functions of the soul just as much as the [sexual] act, but we do not draw from it the same conclusions against the greatness of man, because it is involuntary; although we bring it about, we do so involuntarily. It is not for the sake of the thing in itself but for another end, and is therefore not a sign of man's weakness, or his subjection to this act.
-- Blaise Pascal -
Those who profess contempt for men, and put them on a level with beasts, yet wish to be admired and believed by men, and contradict themselves by their own feelings--their nature, which is stronger than all, convincing them of the greatness of man more forcibly than reason convinces them of his baseness.
-- Blaise Pascal -
The greatness of man is so evident that it is even proved by his wretchedness. For what in animals is nature, we call in man wretchedness--by which we recognize that, his nature being now like that of animals, he has fallen from a better nature which once was his.
-- Blaise Pascal -
The greatness of man is great in that he knows himself to be wretched. A tree does not know itself to be wretched.
-- Blaise Pascal -
I am a big believer in the value of traveling while you are young. The experiences you have in other countries can inspire greatness.
-- Blake Mycoskie
