“The history of the world is but a biography of great men.”

“History of the world is the biography of the great man. And I said: The great man always act like a thunder. He storms the skies, while others are waiting to be stormed.”

“History is the essence of innumerable biographies.”

“To men in their sleep there is nothing granted in this world.”

“Great men taken up in any way are profitable company. We cannot look, however imperfectly, upon a great man without gaining something by him.”

“To reform a world, to reform a nation, no wise man will undertake; and all but foolish men know, that the only solid, though a far slower reformation, is what each begins and perfects on himself.”

“There needs not a great soul to make a hero; there needs a god-created soul which will be true to its origin; that will be a great soul!”