“Good is the enemy of great. Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline.”
“We found that for leaders to make something great, their ambition has to be for the greatness of the work and the company, rather than for themselves.”
“Thus our tender minds, fettered by the prejudices and habits of a just servitude, are unable to expand themselves, or to attain that well-proportioned greatness which we admire in the ancients.”
“Amy made me believe I was exceptional, that I was up to her level of play. That was both our making and undoing. Because I couldn’t handle the demands of greatness. I began craving ease and average-ness, and I hated myself for it, and ultimately, I realized, I punished her for it. I turned her into the brittle, prickly thing she became.”
“We ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.”
“It seems that in order to inscribe themselves upon the heart of humanity with everlasting claims, all great things have first to wander about the earth as enormous and awe-inspiring caricatures.”
“And yet what precisely is this ‘greatness’? Just where, or in what, does it lie? . . . I would say that it is the very lack of obvious drama or spectacle that sets the beauty of our land apart.”
“For too long we have allowed apathy to masquerade itself as humility. There is nothing humble about living apathetic lives. In the same way, we cannot live lives of passion without unlocking our greatness.”
“Whatever God has placed within you that could ever be described as great was never meant for you, anyway. It’s a stewardship that has been given to you. Greatness never belongs to the one who carries it; it belongs to the world that needs it.”
“Passion is the fuel of greatness, and love is the fuel of passion. When we love someone or something, we give them all of us. This is the elegant interconnection between servanthood and greatness. It is love that drives us to serve and love that drives us to greatness. This is why the two cannot be mutually exclusive. In the end, the one who serves is the one who is great, as they are the one who loves most profoundly.”
″‘You know all that stuff we’ve always said about you? I whispered, ‘What a total pain you are? Don’t believe it. Don’t believe it for a minute, Marley.’ He needed to know that and something more, too. There was something I had never told him, that no one ever had. I wanted him to hear it before he went. ‘Marley,’ I said. ‘You are a great dog.‘”
“To achieve greatness, though, that requires artistry. That requires imagination and thoughtfulness, and it is those qualities that the best warriors share, even if, on the surface, they appear completely different.”
“God is preparing you for greater things. He’s going to take you further than you thought possible, so don’t e surprised when He asks you to think better of yourself and act accordingly.”
″‘You don’t understand. I’m going to be great. I have more potential than you have!’
‘Potential,’ I said, ‘doesn’t mean a thing. You’ve got to do it. Almost every baby in a crib has more potential than I have.‘”
“A burning brand shows the way, and each day your flame grows brighter. There is none like you, Matthias. You have the sign of greatness upon you. One day Redwall and all the land will be indebted to you. Matthias, you are a true Warrior.”
“A poet, a weaver of dreams, a man who makes glory from nothing and dazzles you with its making. And my job now is to tell this day’s tale in such a way that men will never forget our great deeds.”