Thursday Thirteen: Men Speak on Greatness

1. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” ― Mark Twain

2. “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” ― Albert Einstein

3. “Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

4. “A great man is always willing to be little.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

5. “You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don't. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly.” ― Jalaluddin Rumi

6. “Great leaders can see the greatness in others when they can’t see it themselves and lead them to their highest potential they don’t even know.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

7. “It takes a great man to be a good listener.” ― Calvin Coolidge

8. “The mark of a great man is one who knows when to set aside the important things in order to accomplish the vital ones.” ― Brandon Sanderson, The Alloy of Law

9. “Good and great are seldom in the same man.” ― Winston S. Churchill

10. “Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

11. “There are times when the world is rearranging itself, and at times like that, the right words can change the world.” ― Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game (The wrong words can change it, too - me)

12. “I believe that the first test of a great man is his humility. I don't mean by humility, doubt of his power. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.” ― John Ruskin

13. “The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.” ― Mahatma Gandhi 


Farewell to President Barack Obama. May his greatness follow him as he heads out onto the next leg of his journey.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 483nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.