Big Enough to Stand Snubs
NOTHING tests a person's greatness more sharply than the way in which he takes slights and snubs. It is not difficult, nor always wholly unpleasant, to be attacked or differed with or denounced for holding a certain view or following a certain course of action. There is an implied compliment in being considered of sufficient influence to be worth attacking. But to be passed over as not worth noticing — that wounds our pride. And it takes real greatness to ignore one's own wounded pride. The greatest man in any roomful of people is the one who thinks so little of himself that he does not expect any one to think him great. No one but a truly big soul can stand being considered small and keep sweet under it. When others show that they think we are built on a small scale, the surest way to prove that they are right is to take offense at it. — Anon.