“He is greatest who is most often in men’s good thoughts.”
Greatness
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part XIV - Higgledy-Piggledy
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Samuel Butler 232
novelist 1835–1902Related quotes

"Pythagorean Ethical Sentences From Stobæus" (1904)
Florilegium

History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany, Vol. III (1834)

“How good and thoughtful he is; the world seems full of good men--even if there are monsters in it.”
Variant: The world seems full of good men, even if there are monsters in it.
Source: Dracula

“he who thinks great thoughts often makes great errors”

“It's always the good men who do the most harm in the world.”
As quoted in American Heritage (December 1955), p. 44
Context: I disagree with my brother Charles and Theodore Roosevelt. I think that Lee should have been hanged. It was all the worse that he was a good man and a fine character and acted conscientiously. These facts have nothing to do with the case and should not have been allowed to interfere with just penalties. It's always the good men who do the most harm in the world.

The Freethinker's Text Book: Christianity: Its Evidences, Its Origin, Its ... http://books.google.co.in/books?id=9Ja-JNYYySYC&pg=PT262