“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
Greatness is not reserved for a select few. These quotes explore what it takes to do exceptional work, live with purpose, and push past mediocrity — not through talent alone, but through persistence, vision, and the refusal to settle.
“Passion for fame: A passion which is the instinct of all great souls.”
“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
“It is those who concentrates on but one thing at a time who advance in this world. The great man or woman is the one who never steps outside his or her specialty or foolishly dissipates his or her individuality.”
“The planter, the farmer, the mechanic, and the laborer... form the great body of the people of the United States, they are the bone and sinew of the country men who love liberty and desire nothing but equal rights and equal laws.”
“The great thing in the world is not so much to seek happiness as to earn peace and self-respect.”
“I'd rather attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.”
“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”
“If there is not the war, you don't get the great general if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name.”
“Being is the great explainer.”
“Only passions, great passions can elevate the soul to great things.”
“I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.”
“I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self.”
“He had no failings which were not owing to a noble cause to an ardent, generous, perhaps an immoderate passion for fame a passion which is the instinct of all great souls.”
“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.”
“Until you're ready to look foolish, you'll never have the possibility of being great.”
“The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and must therefore be treated with great caution.”