#greatness

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

#people

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

#jesus

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — 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

#greatness #misunderstood #philosophical

Our Christian destiny is, in fact, a great one: but we cannot achieve greatness unless we lose all interest in being great. For our own idea of greatness is illusory, and if we pay too much attention to it we will be lured out of the peace and stability of the being God gave us, and seek to live in a myth we have created for ourselves. And when we are truly ourselves we lose most of the futile self-consciousness that keeps us constantly comparing ourselves with others in order to see how big we are. ↗

— Thomas Merton

#greatness #self-consciousness #christian-living

The poet will only be recited until the death of his language. The violinist will only give recitals until the bowing of nose hairs. ↗

— Bauvard

#greatness #humor #music #noses #poetry

All your youth you want to have your greatness taken for granted; when you find it taken for granted, you are unnerved. ↗

— Elizabeth Bowen

#granted #greatness #taken #taken for granted #unnerved

There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth. ↗

— Leo Tolstoy

#greatness #simplicity #truth #where

Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation - not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago. ↗

— Barack Obama

#ago #based #because #declaration #economy

A child does not notice the greatness and the beauty of nature and the splendor of God in his works. ↗

— Rudolf Otto

#child #does #god #greatness #his

Take those chances and you can achieve greatness, whereas if you go conservative, you'll never know. I truly believe what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Even if you fail, learning and moving on is sometimes the best thing. ↗

— Danica Patrick

#achieve #believe #best #chances #conservative