~ Greatness be nothing unless it be lasting. ~
~ The greatest man in history was the poorest ~
~ Men achieve a certain greatness unawares, when working to another aim. ~
~ It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god. ~
~ He is greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own. ~
~ The greatest man is he who forms the taste of a nation; the next greatest is he who corrupts it ~
~ Greatness, generally speaking, is an unusual quantity of a usual quality grafted upon a common man. ~
~ He who comes up to his own idea of greatness must always have had a very low standard of it in mind ~
~ 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. ~
~ To be great is to be misunderstood. ~
~ There is no such thing as a little country. The greatness of a people is no more determined by their numbers than the greatness of a man is by his height. ~
~
It is a mistake to imagine that potentially great men are rare. It is the conditions that permit the promise of greatness to be fulfilled that are rare. What is so difficult to
achieve is the cultural background that permits potential greatness to be converted into actual greatness. ~