“If to be great means to be good, then Denis Diderot was a little man. But if to be great means to do great things in the teeth of great obstacles, then none can refuse him a place in the temple of the Immortals.”

“The great in Evil, and the great in [Goodness|Good]]—both leave an immortal residue.”

“940. The great would have none great, and the little all little.”

“These little things are great to little man.”

“What do I mean by the Generation of Greatness?
I mean that in this age, in this country, there is an opportunity for the development of man's intellectual, cultural, and spiritual potentialities that has never existed before in the history of our species. I mean not simply an opportunity for greatness for a few, but an opportunity for greatness for the many.”

“… a man of great common sense and good taste, meaning thereby a man without originality or moral courage.”

“My friend, brag not yet of our American cousins! Their quantity of cotton, dollars, industry and resources, I believe to be almost unspeakable; but I can by no means worship the like of these. What great human soul, what great thought, what great noble thing that one could worship, or loyally admire, has yet been produced there? None: the American cousins have yet done none of these things.”

“All men can do great things, if they know what great things are.”

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way”

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”