--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - L. L. Greene Richards collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 8 number: 10 published: 1905-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'L. L. Greene Richards, "True Greatness," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 10 (August 1905): 761–762.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0810unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0810unse start_page: 761 end_page: 762 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1905-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0810unse publication_year: 1905 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1905, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # True Greatness TRUE GREATNESS.* BY L. L. GREENE RICHARDS. The subject, True Greatness, seems to me a very large one, for a small person to attempt to handle; especially before an intelligent and thoughtful congregation, as we have here. However, as it is so well understood that we are learners, merely, and may not be supposed to approach anywhere near the point of doing justice to such a theme, I will make no apology for the manner in which I may present a few thoughts on the massive topic under consideration. There have lived, at different periods upon the earth, many men, and women also, who have achieved true greatness in certain directions. I think we may say, comparatively few individuals have been truly great in m.any or varied pursuits. In the antediluvian periods, however, when a man lived to be nearly a thousand years old, some may have found time and gained ability to accomplish many truly great things, of which we have little meagre were their means of record keepor no account, so ing, compared with those of the present day. Even later, occasionally a case may be cited wherein a man may have excelled in various lines. King David, for instance, was truly great as a warrior; truly great as a musician; and, as a composer and writer of psalms, probably the world has produced none gr ater. Yet what we must ever most admire in this truly great character, (until he yielded to temptation and was overcome by the adversary,) is the unwavering fidelity to God, and the true greatness of soul manifested in his dealings with his avowed enemy. King Saui. *Read at a ward meeting of the Y. M. M. I. A. The truest greatness, it appears to me, is that quality in a exercise charnature, human or divine, which enables a person to ity and forgiveness towards others who wilfully wrong and oppress, And in this respect, we have as without just occasion. truly great heroes and heroines among our own people, in these days, as the world has ever brought forth; but the world does not know them; and likely we, ourselves, do not appreciate this truly great fact as we should, and perhaps will sometime in the future. When close to a thing of great proportions, you can see only a small part of it, but removed to a proper distance, the whole object may be clearly defined. It is doubtful whether Haydn, Mendelssohn, Handel, and all the truly great musicians who have lived, were appreciated by their contemporaries as highly as they have been by music- lovers of later generations. Illustrative of this fact, that true greatness often passes unseen and unrealized by those near it, we find that John Milton, old and blind, when he had finished his immortal poem. Paradise Lost, sold his rights in it for what would now be equal to about $87.50, with a contingency of $262.50. It is admitted that the merits of the poem, at least to some extent, were at once recognized by those able to judge; but the price paid for it is a good representation of how much a contemporaneous puTjlic usually appreciate true greatness. In Mark 6: 4 and in John 4: 44, Jesus himself testifies that a prophet is not without honor, save in his own country. And yet, it is possible that there have lived men of genius, truly great in their chosen lines, to whom, even in their own times, the mighty ones of the earth have bowed in reverence. Of the world's greatest artist it is said, that in his old age, the king arose when Michael Angelo entered the council chamber, and would not sit until he was seated at the right hand of the throne; the pope would not allow him to kneel before him; and when he walked through the streets of Rome, the people took oflf their hats as he passed. This is a single instance. Referring again to the fact that true greatness is generally attained, if at all, by diligent and fixed application in some special line, rather than in many different ones, by an individual, attention