It is the prerogative of great men only to have great defects.
[Fr., Il n'appartient qu'aux grands hommes d'avoir read more

It is the prerogative of great men only to have great defects.
[Fr., Il n'appartient qu'aux grands hommes d'avoir de grands
defauts.]

Man's Unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his Greatness; it is
because there is an Infinite in him, which read more

Man's Unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his Greatness; it is
because there is an Infinite in him, which with all his cunning
he cannot quite bury under the Finite.

Man is only truly great when he acts from the passions.

Man is only truly great when he acts from the passions.

A great man is made up of qualities that meet or make great
occasions.

A great man is made up of qualities that meet or make great
occasions.

Great abilities produce great vices as well as virtues.

Great abilities produce great vices as well as virtues.

Greatness consists in trying to be great. There is no other way.

Greatness consists in trying to be great. There is no other way.

He who comes up to his own idea of greatness, must always have
had a very low standard of read more

He who comes up to his own idea of greatness, must always have
had a very low standard of it in his mind.
- William Hazlitt,

That man is great, and he alone,
Who serves a greatness not his own,
For neither praise read more

That man is great, and he alone,
Who serves a greatness not his own,
For neither praise nor pelf:
Content to know and be unknown:
Whole in himself.

So let his name through Europe ring!
A man of mean estate,
Who dies as firm as read more

So let his name through Europe ring!
A man of mean estate,
Who dies as firm as Sparta's king,
Because his soul was great.