“In the world of thought a man’s rank is determined, not by his average work, but by his highest achievement.”

— John Lancaster Spalding

Source: Aphorisms and Reflections (1901), p. 13

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "In the world of thought a man’s rank is determined, not by his average work, but by his highest achievement." by John Lancaster Spalding?

John Lancaster Spalding 202

Catholic bishop 1840–1916

Related quotes

“For the deepest in feeling is highest in rank,
The freest is first of the band,
Nature's own Nobleman, friendly and frank,
Is a man with his heart in his hand!”

Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–1889) English writer and poet

Nature's Nobleman (1844)
Context: Away with false fashion, so calm and so chill,
Where pleasure itself cannot please;
Away with cold breeding, that faithlessly still
Affects to be quite at its ease;
For the deepest in feeling is highest in rank,
The freest is first of the band,
Nature's own Nobleman, friendly and frank,
Is a man with his heart in his hand!

“Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life.”

Ayn Rand (1905–1982) Russian-American novelist and philosopher

The Ayn Rand Column ‘Introducing Objectivism’

“All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts.”

James Allen book As a Man Thinketh

Source: As a Man Thinketh

“Many a man may thank his talent for his rank, but no man has ever been able to return the compliment by thanking his rank for his talent.”

Charles Caleb Colton (1777–1832) British priest and writer

Vol. I; VIII
Lacon (1820)

“A warrior takes responsibility for his acts, for the most trivial of his acts. An average man acts out his thoughts, and never takes responsibility for what he does.”

Carlos Castaneda book The Wheel of Time

Source: The Wheel of Time: Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts About Life, Death and the Universe], (1998), Quotations from A Separate Reality (Chapter 6)