THE TEST OF GREATNESS by Ruskin

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 14, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 40.

THE TEST OF GREATNESS.

By Ruskin

I BELIEVE the test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility doubt of his own power, or hesitation in speaking his opinions, but a right understanding of the relation between what he can do and say and the rest of the world’s doings and sayings. All great men not only know their own business, but usually know that they

know it, and are not only right in their main opinions, but usually know that they are, only they do not think much of themselves on that account. They do not expect their fellow men to fall down and worship them; they have a curious under-sense of powerlessness, feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them; that they could not do or be anything else than God made them. And they see something divine and God-made in every other man they meet, and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful. They do their work, feeling that they cannot well help it; the story must be told, the effect put down; if people like it, well and good; and if not, the world will not be much the worse.—Ruskin.