
“No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men.”
1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Divinity
The Judge
"Beyond" (1933)
“No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men.”
1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Divinity
“Feelings are self-justifying, with a set of perceptions and "proofs" all their own.”
Source: Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (1995), p. 295
“The chief proof of man's real greatness lies in his perception of his own smallness.”
Source: The Sign of Four
Source: The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child (1877)
Context: Only a few years ago there was a great awakening of the human mind. Men began to inquire by what right a crowned robber made them work for him? The man who asked this question was called a traitor. Others asked by what right does a robed hypocrite rule my thought? Such men were called infidels. The priest said, and the king said, where is this spirit of investigation to stop? They said then and they say now, that it is dangerous for man to be free. I deny it. Out on the intellectual sea there is room enough for every sail. In the intellectual air there is space enough for every wing.
The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellow-men.
“Man's knowledge, save before his fellow man,
Is ignorance—his widest wisdom folly.”
The Coming of Love and Other Poems (1897)
Source: "Prophetic Pictures at Venice VII: New Year's Morning, 1867", p. 207.
“I don't believe Fermat had a proof. I think he fooled himself into thinking he had a proof.”
Nova Interview
“Beyond his own sure knowledge, he had not a shred of proof.”
“The Sitters” (p. 90)
Short Fiction, Skirmish (1977)
“His folly has not fellow
Beneath the blue of day
That gives to man or woman
His heart and soul away.”
No. 14, st. 3.
A Shropshire Lad (1896)