“You would not think any duty small,
If you yourself were great.”

— George MacDonald

Willie's Question
The Disciple and Other Poems (1867)

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 "You would not think any duty small, If you yourself were great." by George MacDonald?

George MacDonald 127

Scottish journalist, novelist 1824–1905

Related quotes

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”

Helen Keller (1880–1968) American author and political activist

“Everything - a horse, a vine - is created for some duty… For what task, then, were you yourself created?”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

“Of any activity you do, ask yourself: If I were the last person on earth, would I still do it?”

Steven Pressfield (1943) United States Marine

Source: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

“Marcia: You look great, you're beautiful and this song suits you. You were being yourself and you did great.”

Hayley Jensen (1983) Australian singer

Australian Idol, Final Performances, Final 4

“Beloved, you that have faith in the fountain, frequent it. Beware of two errors which are very natural and very disastrous; beware of thinking any sin too great for it; beware of thinking any sin too small.”

James Hamilton (1814–1867) Scottish minister and a prolific author of religious tracts

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 88.

“Statistically the probability of any one of us being here is so small that you would think the mere fact of existence would keep us all in a contented dazzlement of surprise.”

Lewis Thomas book The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher

"On Probability and Possibility"
The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (1974)
Context: Statistically the probability of any one of us being here is so small that you would think the mere fact of existence would keep us all in a contented dazzlement of surprise. We are alive against the stupendous odds of genetics, infinitely outnumbered by all the alternates who might, except for luck, be in our places.