Bob Dylan - Lord Byron - Montaigne - Cicero - Jean de la Bruyere - George Foreman - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie TV - Francis Bacon - Muhammad Ali - Bert Randolph Sugar - Napoleon Bonaparte - Mark Twain - Ralph Waldo Emerson - Death of a Salesman 1985 - William Shakespeare - George Chapman - Benjamin Disraeli - Seneca - Robert Kennedy - Winston Churchill - Floyd Mayweather - George Bernard Shaw - Leo Tolstoy - Elbert Hubbard - Charles Simmons - Oprah Winfrey - Samuel Johnson - James Dean - Alexander Chase - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Green Man 1956 - Sky Andrew - Kazuo Ishiguro - Stephen Fry - Sylvia Nasar - Ray Donovan TV - Daily Telegraph - Matt Busby - Deuteronomy 4:7&8 - Job 32:9 - John Steinbeck - Michael Jordan - John Ruskin - Virginia Woolf - Citizen Kane 1941 -
‘If the measure of greatness is to gladden the heart of every human being on the Earth, then he [Muhammad Ali] truly was The Greatest.’ Bob Dylan, cited Ken Burn’s Muhammad Ali
What want these outlaws conquerors should have
But History’s purchased page to call them great? Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage III:48
The greatest thing in the world is to know how to be oneself. Montaigne aka Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Essais 1580
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. Cicero
The people have little intelligence, the great no heart … If I had to choose I should have no hesitation: I would be of the people. Jean de la Bruyere, 1688
Muhammad Ali was the greatest man to ever box. He was the greatest man to do an interview. He was the greatest man to do about anything that’s ever been done. George Foreman
Muhammad Ali was the greatest celebrity ever ... What a celebrity! What a fighter! George Foreman
Garibaldi united Italy into one country. Garibaldi was as great in his day as Mussolini is in ours. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie II starring Geraldine McEwan & Amanda Kirby & Lynsey Baxter & Vivienne Ross et al, Brodie to class, ITV 1978
But for me the very greatest artist of that period has always been Van Gogh. Francis Bacon, cited The Art of Francis Bacon
I’m so modest I can admit my own fault. And my only fault is I don’t realise how great I am. Muhammad Ali, interview Harry Carpenter
I’m not the greatest: I’m the double greatest. Not only do I knock ’em out I pick the round. Muhammad Ali
I’m still the greatest of all time. Muhammad Ali
I am the greatest – I said that even before I knew I was. Muhammad Ali
It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am. Muhammad Ali
When they say Great to me, it’s Joe Louis. Bert Randolph Sugar
Great men become great because they have been able to master luck. Napoleon Bonaparte
Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions; small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great. Mark Twain
Whatever thing men call great, look for it in Joan of Arc, and there you will find it. Mark Twain
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Remember that – you’ve got all kinds of greatness. Death of a Salesman 1985 ***** starring Dustin Hoffman & John Meldovich & Stephen Lang & Kate Reid & Charles Durning & Louis Zorich et al, director playwright Arthur Miller, Willy to Biff
Greatness knows itself. William Shakespeare, I Henry IV iii 74
Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour’s at stake. William Shakespeare, Hamlet IV iv 53-56
But be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em. William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night II v 139-140
Yet ’tis the plague of great ones;
Prerogatived are they less than the base.
’Tis destiny unshunnable, like death. William Shakespeare, Othello III iii 277-279, Othello
Thou wouldst be great,
Are not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it. William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Macbeth I v 17-19, Lady Macbeth
Faith, there hath been many great men that have flattered the people who ne’er loved them; and there be many that they have loved they know not wherefore, so that if they love they know not why, they hated upon no better a ground. Therefore for Coriolanus neither to care whether they love or hate him manifests the true knowledge he has in their disposition, and out of his noble carelessness lets them plainly see’t. William Shakespeare, Coriolanus II ii @7, Second Officer
They’re only truly great who are truly good. George Chapman, 1559-1634
Man is only truly great when he acts from the passions. Benjamin Disraeli, Coningsby
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness. Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. Robert Kennedy
The price of greatness is responsibility. Winston Churchill, Finest Hour
‘When they say Floyd Mayweather, they say that’s an all-time great.’ Inside Mayweather v Pacquiao, Sky Sports 2015, Floyd Mayweather
Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness. George Bernard Shaw
There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth. Leo Tolstoy
The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment. Elbert Hubbard
True greatness consists in being great in little things. Charles Simmons
I always knew I was destined for greatness. Oprah Winfrey
No man was ever great by imitation. Samuel Johnson
The only greatness for man is immortality. James Dean
The banalities of a great man pass for wit. Alexander Chase
Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
I only accepted assignments against the so-called Great. Those overgrown balloons who just cry out to be popped. The Green Man 1956 starring Alastair Sim & Terry-Thomas & George Cole & Raymond Huntley & Jill Adams & Colin Gordon & Avril Angers & John Chandos & Eileen Moore & Arthur Brough & Dora Bryan & Richard Wattis & Alexander Gauge & Marie Burke et al, director
He’s one of the greatest players in the world, if not one of the greatest anywhere. Sky Andrew
And yet what precisely is this ‘greatness’? Just where, or in what, does it lie? I am quite aware it would take a far wiser head than mine to answer such a question, but if I were forced to hazard a guess, I would say that it is the very lack of obvious drama or spectacle that sets the beauty of our land apart. Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day p28
The greatness of kindness. Stephen Fry