Quotes about greatness
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“It tires me to talk to rich men. You expect a man of millions, the head of a great industry, to be a man worthhearing; but as a rule they don't know anything outside their own business.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Men, Business

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.”

Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American author and journalist

Deep, Friendship, Relationship, Cute

“Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.”

Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly

The State in Journal des débats (1848) par. 5.20.
Variant: The State is the great fiction through which everyone endeavours to live at the expense of everyone else.

“And, like the great damned souls, I shall always feel that thinking is worth more than living.”

Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet

Source: The Book of Disquiet

Feeling, Soul, Thinking

“A great friendship was like a great work of art, he thought. It took time and attention, and a spark of something that was impossible to describe. It was a happy, lucky accident, finding some kindred part of yourself in a total stranger.”

Elise Broach Masterpiece

Source: Masterpiece

Friendship, Art, Time, Parting

“I'd rather be partly great than entirely useless.”

Neal Shusterman book Unwind

Source: Unwind

“Frequently misquoted as "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket."”

Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher

Source: The Temper of Our Time (1967)

Business

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

Mario Puzo The Godfather

Source: The Godfather

Business, Men

“Oh, this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil one could almost believe one's own secret sin didn't matter.”

Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) Dutch resistance hero and writer

Source: The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom

Secret, Evil

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Variant: Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds.

For Men

“When you talk about a great actor, you're not talking about Tom Cruise. His whole behavior is so shocking. It's inappropriate and vulgar and absolutely unacceptable to use your private life to sell anything commercially, but I think it's kind of a sickness.”

Lauren Bacall (1924–2014) American actress, model

On Tom Cruise, Time magazine (8 August 2005)

Life, Behavior, Thinking

“If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.”

Lewis Carroll book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Source: Alice in Wonderland

World, Business

“Hold the sadness and pain of samsara in your heart and at the same time the power and vision of the Great Eastern Sun. Then the warrior can make a proper cup of tea.”

Chögyam Trungpa (1939–1987) Tibetan Buddhist lama and writer

Pain, Sadness, Time, Sun

“Possibly here in the Holocene, or just before ten or twenty thousand years ago, life hit a peek of diversity. Then we appeared. We are the great meteorite.”

Lynn Margulis (1938–2011) American evolutionary biologist

Source: Mind, Life, and Universe: Conversations with Great Scientists of Our Time

Life, Appearance

“There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.”

Leo Tolstoy book War and Peace

Source: War and Peace

Truth

“Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

This has been compared to Horace Walpole's statement: "This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel."
Variant translation: Hegel remarks somewhere that all facts and personages of great importance in world history occur, as it were, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as a tragedy, the second time as farce.
Source: The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852)

World, Appearance, Time

“A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”

Saul Bellow (1915–2005) Canadian-born American writer

Compare: It’s a point so blindingly obvious that only an extraordinarily clever and sophisticated person could fail to grasp it.
John Bercow, 2016.
General sources
Variant: There is no limit to the amount of intelligence invested in ignorance when the need for illusion runs deep.
Source: To Jerusalem and Back: A Personal Account (1976), p. 127

Intelligence

“In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Words on being presented with a Bible, as reported in the Washington Daily Morning Chronicle (8 September 1864)
1860s

God, Books, World, Communication

“Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”

John Newton (1725–1807) Anglican clergyman and hymn-writer

Source: Amazing Grace

Memory, Christ

“Surrealism had a great effect on me because then I realised that the imagery in my mind wasn't insanity. Surrealism to me is reality.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

Reality

“We can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Life, Secret

“Every great love starts with a great story…”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Source: The Notebook

Romantic, Love

“The small amount of foolery wise men have makes a great show.”

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet

Men

“He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

Source: The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt

Thinking, Learning

“The necessary thing is after all but this; solitude, great inner solitude. Going into oneself for hours meeting no one - this one must be able to attain.”

Rainer Maria Rilke book Letters to a Young Poet

Variant: What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours—that is what you must be able to attain.
Source: Letters to a Young Poet

Solitude

“Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Variant: great people are those who make others feel that they, too, can become great.

Deep, Inspirational, For Team, Success

“The Girl With Many Eyes
One day in the park
I had quite a surprise.
I met a girl
who had many eyes.

She was really quite pretty
(and also quite shocking!)
and I noticed she had a mouth,
so we ended up talking.

We talked about flowers,
and her poetry classes,
and the problems she'd have
if she ever wore glasses.

It's great to know a girl
who has so many eyes,
but you really get wet
when she breaks down and cries.”

Tim Burton (1958) American filmmaker

Girl, Flowers, Problem

“Never mind what I say. I am always saying what I shouldn't say. In fact, I usually say what I really think. A great mistake nowadays. It makes one so liable to be misunderstood.”

Oscar Wilde An Ideal Husband

Source: An Ideal Husband

Thinking

“Yes, they are carnal, both of them, love and death, and therein lies their terror and their great magic!”

Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German novelist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate

Love, Death

“Summer is the season of motion, winter is the season of form. In summer everything moves save the fixed and inert. Down the hill flows the west wind, making wavelets in the shorter grass and great billows in the standing hay; the tree in full leaf sways its heavy boughs below and tosses its leaves above; the weed by the gate bends and turns when the wind blows down the road. It is the shadow of moving things that we usually see, and the shadows are themselves in motion. The shadow of a branch, speckled through with light, wavers across the lawn, the sprawling shadow of the weed moves and sways across the dust.”

Henry Beston (1888–1968) American writer

Source: The Northern Farm: A Glorious Year on a Small Maine Farm

Tree, Light, Grass, Winter

“When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself.”

Karen Blixen (1885–1962) Danish writer

Time

“Sometimes the darkest challenges, the most difficult lessons, hold the greates gems of light.”

Barbara Marciniak (1928–2012)

Source: Family of Light: Pleiadian Tales and Lessons in Living

Light

“It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.”

Louis Sachar (1954) American writer of children's books

“The feminine section of the proletarian army is of particularly great significance… the success of a revolution depends on the extent to which women take part in it.”

Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution

Women, Success, Parting, Dependency

“when we are powerless to do a thing, it is a great joy that we can come and step inside the ability of Jesus”

Corrie ten Boom (1892–1983) Dutch resistance hero and writer

Joy

“Don't fear failure. — Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.”

Bruce Lee (1940–1973) Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist, philosopher and filmmaker

Source: Striking Thoughts (2000), p. 121
Source: Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee's Wisdom for Daily Living

Fear, Failure

“Monkey bar," Annabeth said. "I'm great at these." She leaped onto to the first rung and start swinging her way across. She was scared of tiny spiders, but not of plummeting to her death from a set of monkey bars. Go figure.”

Rick Riordan book The Battle of the Labyrinth

Source: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Death, Way

“I am circling around God, around the ancient tower, and I have been circling for a thousand years, and I still don't know if I am a falcon, or a storm, or a great song.”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian poet and writer

Source: Rainer Maria Rilke's the Book of Hours: A New Translation with Commentary

God

“Time is more complex near the sea than in any other place, for in addition to the circling of the sun and the turning of the seasons, the waves beat out the passage of time on the rocks and the tides rise and fall as a great clepsydra.”

John Steinbeck book Tortilla Flat

Source: Tortilla Flat

Time, Sun, Sea, Season

“I have learned a great deal from novels. Some of it is even true.”

Dean Koontz (1945) American author

Learning

“I live my life in growing orbits which move out over this wondrous world, I am circling around God, around ancient towers and i have been circling for a thousand years. And I still dont know if I am an eagle or a storm or a great song.”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian poet and writer

Source: Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

Life, God, World

“Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind”

Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright

No. 166 (10 September 1711).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
Context: Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.

Books

“The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best.”

Oswald Chambers book My Utmost for His Highest

Source: My Utmost for His Highest

Life, God, Faith

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

In his letter to Theo, from The Hague, 22 October 1882, http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/letter/11/237.htm <br class="br">1880s, 1882

Motivational, For Team, Deep, Success

“Without justice and love, peace will always be a great illusion.”

Helder Camara (1909–1999) Brazilian Catholic priest, archbishop of Olinda and Recife

Love, Peace, Justice

“Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too; this is why a great and clear mind loves ardently and sees distinctly what it loves.”

Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher

For Him, Love, Passion

“I remained standing in the middle of the room, swaying on my feet as though I had received a blow. I thought of my life and saw what it had been. No one could swim against such a current of mud. I had been a man so horrible that he could have no friend. But wasn't that, I asked myself, because I had always been incapable of wearing a disguise? If all men went through life with unmasked faces, as I had done for half a century, one might be surprised to find how little difference there was between them. But, in fact, no one lives with his face uncovered, no one. Most men ape greatness or nobility. Though they do not know it, they conform to certain fixed types, literary or other. This the saints know, and they hate and despise themselves because they see themselves with unclouded eyes. I should not have been so universally condemned had I not been so defenseless, so open, and so naked.”

Francois Mauriac (1885–1970) French author

Source: Viper's Tangle

Life, Men, Hate, Universe

“I love to sleep. Do you? Isn't it great? It really is the best of both worlds. You get to be alive and unconscious.”

Rita Rudner (1953) American comedian

Love, World, Sleep

“Although not a very old man, I have yet lived a great deal in my life, and I have known sorrow too bitter and joy too keen to allow me to become either cast down or elated for more than a very brief period over any success or defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Life, Success, Joy

“What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support,
That to the height of this great argument
I may assert eternal Providence,
And justify the ways of God to men. 1
Paradise Lost. Book i. Line 22.”

John Milton book Paradise Lost

i.17-26
Paradise Lost (1667)
Context: And chiefly Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer
Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure,
Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first
Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread
Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss
And mad'st it pregnant: What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the highth of this great Argument
I may assert th' Eternal Providence,
And justifie the wayes of God to men.

Men, God, Books, Way

“The great question which, in all ages, has disturbed mankind, and brought on them the greatest part of their mischiefs… has been, not whether be power in the world, nor whence it came, but who should have it.”

John Locke book An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Source: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Age, World, Question, Parting

“To succeed in the game of power, you have to master your emotions. But even if you succeed in gaining such self-control, you can never control the temperamental dispositions of those around you. And this presents a great danger.”

Robert Greene book The 48 Laws of Power

Source: The 48 Laws of Power

Game

“I am little concerned with beauty or perfection. I don't care for the great centuries. All I care about is life, struggle, intensity. I am at ease in my generation.”

Emile Zola (1840–1902) French writer (1840-1902)

"My Hates" (1866).

Life, Beauty, Perfection

“With educated people, I suppose, punctuation is a matter of rule; with me it is a matter of feeling. But I must say I have a great respect for the semicolin; it's a useful little chap”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

People, Education, Feeling

“One of the great achievements of science has been, if not to make it impossible for intelligent people to be religious, then at least to make it possible for them not to be religious. We should not retreat from this accomplishment.”

Steven Weinberg (1933) American theoretical physicist

Address at the Conference on Cosmic Design, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C. (April 1999)

People, Intelligence, Science

“In his early twenties, a man started collecting paintings, many of which later became famous: Picasso, Van Gogh, and others. Over the decades he amassed a wonderful collection. Eventually, the man’s beloved son was drafted into the military and sent to Vietnam, where he died while trying to save his friend. About a month after the war ended, a young man knocked on the devastated father’s door. “Sir,” he said, “I know that you like great art, and I have brought you something not very great.” Inside the package, the father found a portrait of his son. With tears running down his cheeks, the father said, “I want to pay you for this.ℍ “No,” the young man replied, “he saved my life. You don’t owe me anything.ℍ The father cherished the painting and put it in the center of his collection. Whenever people came to visit, he made them look at it. When the man died, his art collection went up for sale. A large crowd of enthusiastic collectors gathered. First up for sale was the amateur portrait. A wave of displeasure rippled through the crowd. “Let’s forget about that painting!” one said. “We want to bid on the valuable ones,” said another. Despite many loud complaints, the auctioneer insisted on starting with the portrait. Finally, the deceased man’s gardener said, “I’ll bid ten dollars.ℍ Hearing no further bids, the auctioneer called out, “Sold for ten dollars!” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But then the auctioneer said, “And that concludes the auction.” Furious gasps shook the room. The auctioneer explained, “Let me read the stipulation in the will: “Sell the portrait of my son first, and whoever buys it gets the entire art collection. Whoever takes my son gets everything.ℍ It’s the same way with God Almighty. Whoever takes his Son gets everything.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Source: Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President

Life, God, War, People

“The breaking of so great a thing should make
A greater crack: the round world
Should have shook lions into civil streets,
And citizens to their dens.”

William Shakespeare Antony and Cleopatra

Source: Antony and Cleopatra

World

“The turning points of lives are not the great moments. The real crises are often concealed in occurrences so trivial in appearance that they pass unobserved.”

George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States

Appearance

“Every great man nowadays has his disciples, and it is always Judas who writes the biography.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Source: The Critic as Artist (1891), Part I

“When a man says to me, 'Let us work together in the great cause you have undertaken, and let me be your companion and aid, for I admire you more than I have ever admired any other woman,' then I shall say, 'I am yours truly'; but he must ask me to be his equal, not his slave.”

Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) American women's rights activist

“To me [Edgar Allen Poe's] prose is unreadable—like Jane Austin's [sic]. No there is a difference. I could read his prose on salary, but not Jane's. Jane is entirely impossible. It seems a great pity that they allowed her to die a natural death.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Death, Nature, Reading

“he who thinks great thoughts often makes great errors”

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976) German philosopher

Error, Thinking

“My great mistake, the fault for which I can’t forgive myself, is that one day I ceased my obstinate pursuit of my own individuality.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Forgiveness

“All great things must first wear terrifying and monstrous masks in order to inscribe themselves on the hearts of humanity.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Heart

“Leo: Rainbows. Very macho.
Annabeth: Butch is our best equestrian, he gets along great with the pegasi.
Leo: Rainbows, ponies…
Butch: I'm gonna toss you off this chariot.”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

“Remember, young man, experience is not the best teacher. Other people's experience is the best teacher. By reading about the lives of great people, you can unlock the secrets to what made them great.”

Andy Andrews (1959) author and corporate speaker

Source: The Noticer: Sometimes, All a Person Needs Is a Little Perspective

People, Secret, Teachers, Reading

“The greatness of the man's power is the measure of his surrender.”

William Booth (1829–1912) British Methodist preacher

“History sometimes reproduces, at a distance of many years, the same combinations of circumstances that generate great achievements. But nothing ever repeats itself in exactly the same way.”

Valerio Massimo Manfredi (1943) Italian writer and archaeologist

Source: Alexander: Child of a Dream

Way, History

“Great designers produce pleasurable experiences.”

Donald A. Norman book The Design of Everyday Things

The Design of Everyday Things

Pleasure

“It almost seemed as if there must be some random and of course unfair thrift in the emotional housekeeping of the world, if the great happiness--however temporary, however flimsy--of one person could come out of the great unhappiness of another.”

Alice Munro book Too Much Happiness

Source: Too Much Happiness

World, Personality, Happiness

“The greatness of a mind is determined by the depth of its suffering.”

Hayao Miyazaki (1941) Japanese animator, film director, and mangaka

Source: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 1

Suffering

“Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red.”

William Shakespeare Macbeth

Source: Macbeth

Sea

“Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

The Critic as Artist (1891), Part I

History

“The first lesson to learn is to resign oneself to the little difficulties in life, not to hit out at everything one comes up against. If one were able to manage this one would not need to cultivate great power; even one's presence would be healing.”

Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882–1927) Indian Sufi

Life, Learning

“High school isn't a very important place. When you're going you think it's a big deal, but when it's over nobody really thinks it was great unless they're beered up.”

Stephen King book Carrie

Source: Carrie

School, Beer, Thinking

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist

Attitude

“The spiritualization of sensuality is called love: it is a great triumph over Christianity.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Love

“Great calm, generous detachment, selfless love, disinterested effort: these are what make for success in life. If you can find peace in yourself and can spread comfort around you, you will be happier than an empress.”

Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali polymath

Love, Life, Peace, Effort

“Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. And not to Democrats alone do I make this appeal, but to all who love these great and true principles.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Speech at Kalamazoo, Michigan (27 August 1856) http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=14&subjectID=2, Collected Works 1:391 http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:391?rgn=div1;view=fulltext <br class="br">1850s

Love

“Writing, the art of communicating thoughts to the mind through the eye, is the great invention of the world… enabling us to converse with the dead, the absent, and the unborn, at all distances of time and space.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Source: Speeches And Letters Of Abraham Lincoln, 1832 1865

World, Art, Communication, Time

“My defenses were so great. The cocky rock and roll hero who knows all the answers was actually a terrified guy who didn't know how to cry. Simple.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

Source: John Lennon: In His Own Words

Guy, Cry

“It is in the brain, and the brain only, that the great sins of the world take place”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

World

“It struck Mort with sudden, terrible poignancy that Death must be the loneliest creature in the universe. In the great party of Creation, he was always in the kitchen.”

Terry Pratchett book Mort

Source: Mort

Death, Universe

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Misattributed to Lincoln by several authors since about 2000. Source of quote: General Douglas MacArthur is quoted as saying, "Like Abraham Lincoln, I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts" (John Gunther, The Riddle of MacArthur, New York: Harper, 1950, p. 61). By the 1970s, the phrase is quoted in several places without the words "Like Abraham Lincoln," and attributed directly to Lincoln. The additional phrase "and beer" first appears in a list of jokes published online in 1999.
Misattributed

People, Truth, Beer, Dependency

“In each little life, we can see great truth and beauty, and in each little life we glimpse the way of all things in the universe. If we alow ourselves to be enchanted by the beauty of the ordinary, we begin to see that all things extraordinary.”

Dean Koontz (1945) American author

Source: A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog

Life, Truth, Beauty, Way

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Funny