“Great times call for great men.”

— Jaroslav Hašek , book The Good Soldier Švejk

Preface
The Good Soldier Švejk (1921)
Context: Great times call for great men. There are unknown heroes who are modest, with none of the historical glamour of a Napoleon. If you analysed their character you would find that it eclipsed even the glory of Alexander the Great. Today you can meet in the streets of Prague a shabbily dressed man who is not even himself aware of his significance in the history of the great new era. He goes modestly on his way, without bothering anyone. Nor is he bothered by journalists asking for an interview. If you asked him his name he would answer you simply and unassumingly: 'I am Švejk….

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 "Great times call for great men." by Jaroslav Hašek?

Jaroslav Hašek 2

Czech humorist, satirist, writer and anarchist 1883–1923

Related quotes

“I don't know if great times make great men, but I know they can kill them.”

Max Brooks book World War Z

Source: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

“The world's great men have not commonly been great scholars, nor its great scholars great men.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) Poet, essayist, physician

The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table (1858)

“Great men are not born great, they grow great…”

Mario Puzo The Godfather

Source: The Godfather

“I have been called a great many things in my time – that's politics.”

Nigel Farage (1964) British politician and former commodity broker

Upon being fined €2,980 for "inappropriate behaviour" towards Herman Van Rompuy, EU President - Nigel Farage fined for verbal attack on EU president http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/02/nigel-farage-fined-mep-rompuy, The Guardian, 2 March 2010.
2010

“Above all, at some point, everybody is involved in the business of change, not just the so-called "great men."”

James Burke (science historian) (1936) British broadcaster, science historian, author, and television producer

Connections (1979), 1 - The Trigger Effect
Context: An invention acts rather like a trigger, because, once it's there, it changes the way things are, and that change stimulates the production of another invention, which in turn, causes change, and so on. Why those inventions happened, between 6,000 years ago and now, where they happened and when they happened, is a fascinating blend of accident, genius, craftsmanship, geography, religion, war, money, ambition... Above all, at some point, everybody is involved in the business of change, not just the so-called "great men." Given what they knew at the time, and a moderate amount of what's up here [pointing to head], I hope to show you that you or I could have done just what they did, or come close to it, because at no time did an invention come out of thin air into somebody's head, [snaps fingers] like that. You just had to put a number of bits and pieces, that were already there, together in the right way.

“Great necessities call forth great leaders.”

Abigail Adams (1744–1818) 2nd First Lady of the United States (1797–1801)

This seems to first appear in Why Leaders Can't Lead : The Unconscious Conspiracy Continues (1989) by Warren G. Bennis, p. 159, where it is cited as being from a letter to Thomas Jefferson, but it might be a misquote of "Great necessities call out great virtues" stated in a letter to her son John Quincy Adams (19 January 1780)
Disputed