“Some must be great. Great offices will have
Great talents. And God gives to every man
The virtue, temper, understanding, taste,
That lifts him into life, and lets him fall
Just in the niche he was ordain'd to fill.”

“Every great and original writer, in proportion as he is great and original, must himself create the taste by which he is to be relished.”

“Let each man think himself an act of God,
His mind a thought, his life a breath of God;
And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds,
To show the most of Heaven he hath in him.”

“Behind every great man is not a woman, she is beside him, she is with him, not behind him”

“Great let me call him, for he conquered me.”

“Every man has some peculiar train of thought which he falls back upon when he is alone. This, to a great degree, moulds the man.”

“The less somebody knows and understand himself the less great he is, however great may be his talent. For this reason our scientists are not great.”

“But 'Thou mayest!'! Why, that makes a man great, that gives him stature with the gods, for in his weakness and his filth and his murder of his brother he has still the great choice. He can choose his course and fight it through and win”

“Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.”

“It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him.”