Welcome to our collection of insightful and inspiring quotes about great men. Throughout history, individuals have emerged whose actions, words, and legacies have left an indelible mark on society. From leaders and visionaries to innovators and pioneers, these great men have shaped the course of human history and continue to inspire us today.
Great men are not solely defined by their accomplishments, but also by their character, values, and the principles they uphold. Their wisdom, courage, and resilience serve as guiding lights for generations to come, offering profound insights into the human experience and the pursuit of excellence. Whether through their remarkable achievements or profound philosophical insights, these individuals have left an enduring legacy that transcends time and resonates with people from all walks of life.
Below, you’ll find a curated selection of quotes from great men spanning various fields, eras, and cultures. Feel free to explore these quotes, capture their essence, and share them in your own creative ways. Whether you choose to place them on an image, enhance them with stylish fonts, or simply reflect upon their wisdom, may these quotes inspire and motivate you on your own journey of greatness.
Few great men would have got past personnel. Paul Goodman
There is a strange kind of human being in whom there is an eternal struggle between body and soul, animal and god, for dominance. In all great men this mixture is striking, and in none more so than in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Alfred Einstein
Some great men owe most of their greatness to the ability of detecting in those they destine for their tools the exact quality of strength that matters for their work. Joseph Conrad
If there is a single quality that is shared by all great men, it is vanity. Yousuf Karsh
The first 50 years of the cinema were absolutely great years. Original minds were at work establishing the ways to tell a story. And what is happening now is a copying, a pastiche-ing of what was done by great men. V. S. Naipaul
Admiration of great men, living or dead, naturally evokes imitation of them in a greater or less degree. Samuel Smiles
The Church of England hasn’t often produced great men in modern times. But I have long believed that George Bell, Bishop of Chichester from 1929 to 1958, was such a man. Peter Hitchens
Great men, unknown to their generation, have their fame among the great who have preceded them, and all true worldly fame subsides from their high estimate beyond the stars. Henry David Thoreau
Traditionally the great men of our country have sprung from poor environments; that being so, it would appear we have long suffered from a severe lack of poverty. Gerald F. Lieberman
Good sense travels on the well-worn paths; genius, never. And that is why the crowd, not altogether without reason, is so ready to treat great men as lunatics. Cesare Lombroso
First at the outset, let me commend the great men and women of the United States Coast Guard for what they do. Vito Fossella
In America, we may acknowledge Washington and Lincoln as great men, and probably Franklin and Jefferson and maybe Franklin Delano Roosevelt and possibly even several more, but we would probably disagree about precisely what it was that made them great, what it was that enabled them to give a lasting direction to the course of events. Edmund Morgan
The defects of great men are the consolation of the dunces. Isaac D’Israeli
The truth is that all great men have had great mothers. Great women have had, as a rule, great fathers. Robert Green Ingersoll
All great men are gifted with intuition. They know without reasoning or analysis, what they need to know. Alexis Carrel
It’s rather splendid to think of all those great men and women who appear to have presented symptoms that allow us to describe them as bipolar. Whether it’s Hemingway, Van Gogh… Robert Schumann has been mentioned… Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath… some of them with rather grim ends. Stephen Fry
The great men of a nation reach out to all mankind. They are unifying, not divisive; internationally conciliating and still great nationally. Gustav Stresemann
Most great men start in that position, with very little and that’s what motivates them to get where they’re going. Caleb Plant
They’ve all been through bad things. So bad things happen to people. They happen to all the great men of God. Jim Bakker
Even the best intentioned of great men need a few scoundrels around them; there are some things you cannot ask an honest man to do. Jean de la Bruyere
Great men show politeness in a particular way; a smile suffices to assure you that you are welcome, and keep about their avocations as if you were a member of the family. John James Audubon
The great men of power who seek to change the nations they belong to usually are pretty terrible people. John Keegan
Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
No sadder proof can be given by a man of his own littleness than disbelief in great men. Thomas Carlyle
Gutenberg and Richter were very great men. Frank Press
It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations. Charles Dickens
I’ve met some great men, I’ve met a lot of not-so-great ones. Brandi Glanville
Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so. Charles de Gaulle
The megalomaniac differs from the narcissist by the fact that he wishes to be powerful rather than charming, and seeks to be feared rather than loved. To this type belong many lunatics and most of the great men of history. Bertrand Russell
All the children of the great men in Persia are brought up at court, where they have an opportunity of learning great modesty, and where nothing immodest is ever heard or seen. Xenophon
It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their most precious thoughts, and pour their souls into ours. William Ellery Channing
No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men. Thomas Carlyle
The silent killer of all great men and women of achievement – particularly men, I don’t know why, maybe it’s the testosterone – I think it’s narcissism. Even more than hubris. And for women, too. Narcissism is the killer. James Woods
Great men or men of great gifts you shall easily find, but symmetrical men never. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Moderation has been called a virtue to limit the ambition of great men, and to console undistinguished people for their want of fortune and their lack of merit. Benjamin Disraeli
Great men are they who see that spiritual is stronger than any material force – that thoughts rule the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson
An invincible determination can accomplish almost anything and in this lies the great distinction between great men and little men. Thomas Fuller
Growing up, I was surrounded by many great men in my life. I watched them and learned, taking it in like a sponge. Greg Vaughan
I think my best work has been in France with great men. It’s been my great fortune to work with really great men – with Olivier Assayas, Raoul Ruiz, Jacques Rivette. I am tutored by them. Emmanuelle Beart
We want the big stories, of course, of the great men, but there’s as much drama and interest and lessons to be learned in actions that people like us take on a daily basis. Margot Lee Shetterly
It wasn’t until I did a musical revue in Paris in the 1980s called ‘Black and Blue,’ and met the great men and women responsible for the progress of tap dance, that my relationship with the dance really began. Savion Glover
Lives of great men oft remind us as we o’er their pages turn, That we too may leave behind us – Letters that we ought to burn. Thomas Hood
I have never had any issues with falling in love, dating, sustaining long-term relationships, or attracting great men in my life, who have loved me unconditionally. Kenya Moore
In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves… self-discipline with all of them came first. Harry S Truman
Produce great men, the rest follows. Walt Whitman
As I have encountered difficult moments in my own life, I have been privileged to learn from the great men I have come to know as a writer. Candice Millard
We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement and, most importantly, we are protected by God. Donald Trump
For me, I was always the only woman in my cohort, first as a mechanical engineering undergraduate student, then as a chemical engineering graduate student. There were very few women getting degrees in those fields at the time. My role models were men – great men role models. Frances Arnold
I have talked with great men, and I do not see how they differ from others. Abraham Lincoln
Walking is the natural recreation for a man who desires not absolutely to suppress his intellect but to turn it out to play for a season. All great men of letters have therefore been enthusiastic walkers. Leslie Stephen
The world’s great men have not commonly been great scholars, nor its great scholars great men. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Great men of action… never mind on occasion being ridiculous; in a sense it is part of their job, and at times they all are. Oswald Mosley
I’m not sexist in any way – sexism is another form of violence, and there are many great men in this world. Betty Williams
I have labored to make the record of the great men of my time. Gutzon Borglum
My driving force in this business is to create and build great men, and to do that, you have to have great relationships. Dabo Swinney
If Lincoln is among history’s truly great men, he didn’t achieve that stature until his final three years. This was when his long-held antipathy to slavery cohered into a dedicated hostility that gave larger purpose to the Civil War and also confirmed the logic of Lincoln’s destiny. Steve Erickson
Circumstances have rarely favored great men. A lowly beginning is no bar to a great career. The boy who works his way through college may have a hard time of it, but he will learn how to work his way in life, and will usually take higher rank in school and in after life than his classmate who is the son of a millionaire. Orison Swett Marden
Whether the prayer of Seneca was granted we do not know; but, as we do not again hear of Marcus, it is probable that he died before his father, and that the line of Seneca, like that of so many great men, became extinct in the second generation. Frederic William Farrar
The great untruth around which everything pivots is the idea that the defenders of these statues are the defenders of history and truth; while those who want to see them toppled or contextualised are the Huns at the gate, who would destroy national histories and bring down great men. David Olusoga
I have huge respect for Preet Bharara, a great U.S. Attorney by any measure. But even great men can make mistakes. Jed S. Rakoff
I don’t believe in the Great Man theory of science or history. There are no great men, just men standing on the shoulders of other men and what they have done. Jacque Fresco
Measured by any standard, white or black, Washington must be regarded today as one of the great men of this country: and in the future he will be so honored. Ray Stannard Baker
Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude. Arthur Schopenhauer
The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The more you’re at Alabama, you grow as a person and as a player learning from great coaches and great men and just growing with your teammates. Derrick Henry
Great men lose somewhat of their greatness by being near us; ordinary men gain much. Walter Savage Landor
It is only the great men who are truly obscene. If they had not dared to be obscene, they could never have dared to be great. Havelock Ellis
Great men hallow a whole people, and lift up all who live in their time. Sydney Smith
Great men marry great women. Ilyasah Shabazz
Great men are rare, poets are rarer, but the great man who is a poet, transfiguring his greatness, is the rarest of all events. John Drinkwater
Our nuclear scientists and engineers have done a splendid job, and naturally, the entire nation has risen to salute their professional excellence, discipline, and patriotism. They have had the benefit of having been led in the past by great men like Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. Atal Bihari Vajpayee
In my opinion, most of the great men of the past were only there for the beer – the wealth, prestige and grandeur that went with the power. A. J. P. Taylor
Great men are usually the products of their times and one of the men developed by these times takes rank with the greatest railroad leaders in history. John Moody
Great hopes make great men. Thomas Fuller
Great women, in partnership with great men, will continue to take us forward. Richard Edelman
Indeed, the study of universities and the great men and women who have attended them leads me to think that the best of these schools are characterized not so much by what they teach and how they teach it but by the extent they provide opportunities and encouragement for students to teach themselves. Paul Johnson
I distrust Great Men. They produce a desert of uniformity around them and often a pool of blood too, and I always feel a little man’s pleasure when they come a cropper. E. M. Forster
Great men always pay deference to greater. Walter Savage Landor
The search after the great men is the dream of youth, and the most serious occupation of manhood. Ralph Waldo Emerson
There would be no great men if there were no little ones. George Herbert
The mechanical and social achievements of our day must not blind our eyes to the fact that, in all that relates to man, his nature and aspirations, we have added little or nothing to what has been so finely said by the great men of old. James Loeb
The only good luck many great men ever had was being born with the ability and determination to overcome bad luck. Channing Pollock
The reward of great men is that, long after they have died, one is not quite sure that they are dead. Jules Renard
It does not take great men to do great things; it only takes consecrated men. Phillips Brooks
I’ve also seen that great men are often lonely. This is understandable, because they have built such high standards for themselves that they often feel alone. But that same loneliness is part of their ability to create. Yousuf Karsh
There have been many great men that have flattered the people who ne’er loved them. William Shakespeare
There were some great clinicians in the 20th century – great men. Freud was a genius; Jung was a genius, Carl Rogers was a genius – there’s a half-dozen psychologists of the 1950s and humanists of the 1960s. Jordan Peterson
Havin’ fun while freedom fightin’ must be one of those lunatic Texas traits we get from the water – which is known to have lithium in it – because it goes all the way back to Sam Houston, surely the most lovable, the most human, and the funniest of all the great men this country has ever produced. Molly Ivins
Certainly there are great men whose age circumscribes them so completely that we lose interest. Haniel Long
What we usually do to great men and women is relegate them to homogenised heroism. Their words and actions become soundbites and images in a way that gives us an excuse not to act bravely in our own lives. David Oyelowo
Faith, there hath been many great men that have flattered the people who ne’er loved them. William Shakespeare
Great men are rarely isolated mountain peaks; they are the summits of ranges. Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Great men are seldom over-scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire. Charles Dickens
Flattery and deceit are the darlings of great men, and so with these men spread the butter on thick, if you want to get something out of them, otherwise you’ll come home to me with a full belly and an empty purse. Pietro Aretino
I jump out of perfectly good airplanes, and it’s a great thrill and it allows me to share in the dangers that our great men and women in uniform share in on a regular basis. Hugh Shelton
Obama likes to quote great men but will never be a great man himself. I can’t stand it when our leader goes around apologizing for who we are. Joe Wurzelbacher