We must never expect discretion in first love: it is accompanied by such excessive joy that unless the joy is allowed to overflow, it will choke you.
Alexandre DumasRead
It is quite rare for God to provide a great man at the necessary moment to carry out some great deep, which is why when this unusual combination of circumstance does occur, history at once records the name of the chosen one and recommends him to the admiration of posterity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Great individuals often emerge in crucial moments to shape history, and their contributions are recognized by future generations.
This quote by Alexandre Dumas emphasizes the rarity of exceptional individuals who appear at pivotal times in history. When such a 'great man' arises to address profound challenges or moments, they are swiftly acknowledged and revered by history, suggesting that certain circumstances call for unique leaders who can influence the course of events significantly.
Themes
Great ManHistoryLeadershipCircumstancesRecognition
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech acknowledging a leader during a historic moment.
More from Alexandre Dumas
All quotes →There are two ways of seeing: with the body and with the soul. The body's sight can sometimes forget, but the soul remembers forever.
Alexandre DumasRead
I do not often laugh, sir, as you may perceive by the air of my countenance; but nevertheless, I retain the privilege of laughing when I please.
Alexandre DumasRead
There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness.
Alexandre DumasRead
Those born to wealth, and who have the means of gratifying every wish, know not what is the real happiness of life, just as those who have been tossed on the stormy waters of the ocean on a few frail planks can alone realize the blessings of fair weather.
Alexandre DumasRead
It is the way of weakened minds to see everything through a black cloud. The soul forms its own horizons; your soul is darkened, and consequently the sky of the future appears stormy and unpromising
Alexandre DumasRead
Similar quotes
It just is nothing foreign to consciousness at all that could present itself to consciousness through the mediation of phenomena different from the liking itself; to like is intrinsically to be conscious.
Edmund HusserlRead
Life is no way to treat an animal.
Kurt VonnegutRead
I don't wish to be the symbol of anything. I'm only myself.
Ayn RandRead
Jesus came into this world not as a philosopher or a general but as a carpenter. All work matters to God.
Timothy KellerRead
If our free society is to endure, those who govern must recognize human dignity and accept the enforcement of constitutional limitations on their power conceived by the Framers . . . . Such recognition will not come from a technical understanding of the organs of government, or the new forms of wealth they administer. It requires something different, something deeper-a personal confrontation with the wellsprings of our society.
William J. BrennanRead
The idea of interdependence is central to Buddhism, which holds that all things come into being through the mutual interactions of various causes and conditions.
Daisaku IkedaRead