"
Such as these, we may depend upon it, had little time to give to
considering their own effect upon posterity. When the sun rules the
day, there is no question about his supremacy; it is when we are
concerned with scanning the sky for lesser lights to rule the night
that we are wasting time. To go about searching for somebody to
inspire one testifies, no doubt, to a certain lack of fire and
initiative. But, on the other hand, there have been many great men
whose greatness their contemporaries did not recognise. We tend at
the present time to honour achievements when they have begun to
grow a little mouldy; we seldom accord ungrudging admiration to a
prophet when he is at his best. Moreover, in an age like the
present, when the general average of accomplishment is remarkably
high, it is more difficult to detect greatness. It is easier to see
big trees when they stand out over a copse than when they are lost
in the depths of the forest.
Now there are two modes and methods of being great; one is by
largeness, the other by intensity.
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