A great man can be cast in a
big, magnanimous mould, without any very special accomplishments or
abilities; it may be very difficult to praise any of his faculties
very highly, but he is there. Such men are the natural leaders of
mankind; they effect what they effect not by any subtlety or
ingenuity. They see in a wide, general way what they want, they
gather friends and followers and helpers round them, and put the
right man on at the right piece of work. They perform what they
perform by a kind of voluminous force, which carries other
personalities away; for lesser natures, as a rule, do not like
supreme responsibility; they enjoy what is to ordinary people the
greatest luxury in the world, namely, the being sympathetically
commandeered, and duly valued. Inspiration and leadership are not
common gifts, and there are abundance of capable people who cannot
strike out a novel line of their own, but can do excellent work if
they can be inspired and led. I was once for a short time brought
into close contact with a man of this kind; it was impossible to
put down on paper or to explain to those who did not know him what
his claim to greatness was.
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