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Greatness Quotes

Browse 4457 quotes about Greatness.

Greatness Quotes

“True loyalty consists not in bowing the knee to earthly greatness, or in heroic deeds to "gild the kingly knave, or garnish out the fool," but in noble, generous acts of honest purpose, where truth, honor, and virtue, and a nation's welfare, are dearer than life.”

Purpose Nations Virtue Honest Greatness Fool Honor Deeds Noble Loyalty Knees Welfare Generous Heroic Knaves Heroic Deeds

Author:James Ellis

“History is the necessary food of good and noble sentiments. It ought to give us at once humility and confidence in the face of greatness.”

Giving Faces Greatness Humility Ought Noble Sentiments

Author:Vincent Massey

“It is a note Of upstart greatness to observe and watch For these poor trifles, which the noble mind Neglects and scorns.”

Mind Poor Watches Trouble Greatness Notes Noble Neglect Scorn Trifles Upstart

Book:The Works of Ben Jonson ...: With Notes Critical and Explanatory, and Biographical Memoir

Source: The Works of Ben Jonson ...: With Notes Critical and Explanatory, and Biographical Memoir

“I believe that there is no test of greatness in periods, nations or men more sure than the development, among them or in them, of a noble grotesque, and no test of comparative smallness or limitation, of one kind or another, more sure than the absence of grotesque invention, or incapability of understanding it.”

Men Believe Kind I Believe Nations Understanding Greatness Development Periods Tests Noble Absence Invention Limitation Grotesque Smallness Incapability

Book:The Stones of Venice -: The Fall

Source: The Stones of Venice -: The Fall

“There was about all the Romans a heroic tone peculiar to ancient life. Their virtues were great and noble, and these virtues madethem great and noble. They possessed a natural majesty that was not put on and taken off at pleasure, as was that of certain eastern monarchs when they put on or took off their garments of Tyrian dye. It is hoped that this is not wholly lost from the world, although the sense of earthly vanity inculcated by Christianity may have swallowed it up in humility.”

World May Certain Lost Natural Pleasure Christianity Virtue Taken Greatness Humility Ancient Noble Vanity Tone Peculiar Heroic Possessed Eastern Majesty Garments Monarchs

Book:Tales, Poems, and Other Writings

Source: Tales, Poems, and Other Writings

“Good fortune will elevate even petty minds, and give them the appearance of a certain greatness and stateliness, as from their high place they look down upon the world; but the truly noble and resolved spirit raises itself, and becomes more conspicuous in times of disaster and ill fortune.”

World Giving Mind Looks Spirit Certain Greatness Raises Fortune Ill Appearance Noble Disaster Petty Good Fortune High Places

Book:The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Volume II: (A Modern Library E-Book)

Source: The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Volume II: (A Modern Library E-Book)

“Immediately upon the fall, the mind of man shrank from its primitive greatness and expandedness, to an exceeding smallness and contractedness... Before, his soul was under the government of the noble principles of divine love, whereby it was enlarged to the comprehensiveness of all his fellow creatures and their welfare... [But] sin, like some powerful astringent, contracted his soul to the very small dimensions of selfishness, and God was forsaken, and man retired within himself, and became totally governed by narrow and selfish principles and feelings.”

“Never sound pompous. You always sound noble, noble. Absolute character of music is nobility. Even popular music can be noble, you see. If it's not noble, then it's not very good... Music is an art of emotion, of nobility, of dignity, of greatness, of love, of tenderness. All that must be brought out in music but never a show of pompousness.”

Ifs Art Character Shows Sound Emotion Greatness Music Is Dignity Absolutes Very Good Noble Tenderness Nobility Pompous Popular Music

Author:Arthur Rubinstein

“Unless we change our ways and our direction, our greatness as a nation will soon be a footnote in the history books, a distant memory of an offshore island, lost in the mist of time like Camelot, remembered kindly for its noble past.”

Way Book Past Time Lost Nations Change Memories Greatness Noble Remembered Islands Mist History Books Footnotes Camelot Offshore

Author:Margaret Thatcher

“No profession or occupation is more pleasing than the military; a profession or exercise both noble in execution (for the strongest, most generous and proudest of all virtues is true valor) and noble in its cause. No utility either more just or universal than the protection of the repose or defense of the greatness of one's country. The company and daily conversation of so many noble, young and active men cannot but be well-pleasing to you.”

Source: Selected essays of Montaigne: in the translation of John Florio

“Greatness of mind becomes an object of love only when the power at work in it itself has a noble character”

Mind Character Objects Greatness Noble Noble Character

Author:Karl Jaspers

“Countrymen, the task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge - a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve - to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life?”

Men Believe Dream Fighting Asks Challenges Responsibility Achieve Greatness Highest Tasks Dare Heavy Noble Glorious Countrymen Greatness Of Man

Author:Kwame Nkrumah