GREATNESS
RELATED INDEX TOPICS: Leaders & Shepherds, Sample, Little Things
1. Do not be dazzled by the World's false judgments. The common soldier is often nobler than the general. ... Nor is it otherwise on the battlefield of life. There is a yet harder & higher heroism--to live well in the quiet routine of life; to fill a little space because God wills it; to go on cheerfully with a petty round of little duties, little vocations; to accept unmurmuringly a low position; to smile for the joys of others when the heart is aching; to banish all ambition, all pride, & all restlessness, in a single regard to our Saviour's Work. To do this for a lifetime is a greater effort, & he who does this is a greater hero than he who for one hour stems a breach, or for one day rushes onward undaunted in the flaming front of shot & shell. His works will follow him. He may not be a hero to the World, but he is one of God's heroes, & though the builders of Nineveh & Babylon be forgotten & unknown, his memory shall live & shall be blessed.
--Fredric W.Farrar
2. I believe the first test of a truly great man is his humility.
3. The measure of a man's greatness is not the number of servants he has, but the number of people he serves.
4. Every great person first learned how to obey, whom to obey, & when to obey.
5. You would not think any duty small if you yourself were great.
6. Most great men & women are not perfectly rounded in their personalities, but are instead people whose one driving enthusiasm is so great it makes their faults seem insignificant.
7. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
8. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.
9. Great men, like the tallest mountain, retain their majesty & stability during the most severe storm.
10. It takes a great man to give sound advice tactfully, but a greater man to accept it graciously.
11. There are no great men except those who have rendered service to mankind.
12. Great men see where small men sigh.
13. The World's idea of greatness is to rule, but Christian greatness consists in serving.
14. Characters that are really great are always simple.
15. He who would be great must be fervent in his prayers, fearless in his principles, firm in his purposes, & faithful in his promises.
16. The measure of a truly great man is the courtesy with which he treats lesser men.
17. The greatest men are the ones who didn't know they were great, at least they didn't feel great. What makes you really great is the greatness GOD gives you--the SPIRIT, the INSPIRATION.
18. One test of a person's strength is his knowledge of his weakness.
19. Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great.--Mark Twain
20. Great men have but a few hours to be "great." Like the rest of us they must dress, bathe, & eat. And, being human, they must make visits to the dentist, doctor, & barber & have conferences with their wives about domestic matters. What makes men great is their ability to decide what is important, & then focus their attention on that.
21. Whatever other differences they may have, there is one unfailing identifying mark among great people--they are never solemn; they may be serious or grave, or as devout as a cathedral, but they are not solemn as others are, for they retain the gaiety & clarity of childhood that is one source of their mysterious powers.
22. Greatness after all, in spite of its name, appears to be not so much a certain size as a certain quality in human lives. It may be present in lives whose range is very small.
23. There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the really great man is the man who makes every man feel great.
24. The price of greatness is responsibility.--Sir Winston Churchill
25. He who stays not in his littleness, loses his greatness.--St. Francis de Sales
26. It is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness; & I pronounce it as certain that there was never yet a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.--Benjamin Franklin
27. There is a greatness that can come to all of us, but it is a greatness that comes to us through prayer.
28. One of the marks of true greatness is the ability to develop greatness in others.
29. If you want to get up, step down.
If you want to be seen, get out of sight.
If you want to be great, forget yourself.
30. The beginning of greatness is to be little,
The increase of greatness is to be less,
And the perfection of greatness is to be nothing.
31. The heights by great men reached & kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, when their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow