Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Greatness
Nay, then, farewell!
I have touch’d the highest point of all my greatness;
And from that full meridian of my glory,
I haste now to my setting. I shall fall
Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
And no man see me more.
Shakespeare.—King Henry VIII., Act III. Scene 2. (Wolsey on his Fall.)
’Tis, alas, the poor prerogative
Of greatness to be wretched, and unpitied—
Congreve.—The Mourning Bride, Act I. Scene 1.
In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.
Shakespeare.—Twelfth Night, Act II. Scene 5. (Malvolio reading a letter.)