---
title: "1 Highly Improbable Quotes By Isaiah Berlin"
description: "1 Highly Improbable quotes by Isaiah Berlin. Plus more from Isaiah Berlin and more Highly Improbable sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/267/isaiah-berlin-10150_great-man_i-have-said-that-one-of-the-distinguishi_1718415.jpg"
---

> [“I have said that one of the distinguishing characteristics of a great man is that his active intervention makes what seemed highly improbable in fact happen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/i-have-said-that-one-of-the-distinguishing-characteristics-of-a-great/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/267/isaiah-berlin-10150_great-man_i-have-said-that-one-of-the-distinguishi_1718415.jpg)

## More by Isaiah Berlin

> [Those who have ever valued liberty for its own sake believed that to be free to choose, and not to be chosen for, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/those-who-have-ever-valued-liberty-for-its-own-sake-believed-that-to/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [Liberty is liberty, not equality or fairness or justice or human happiness or a quiet conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/liberty-is-liberty-not-equality-or-fairness-or-justice-or-human/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [“The world that we encounter in ordinary experience is one in which we are faced by choices equally absolute, the realisation of some of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-world-that-we-encounter-in-ordinary-experience-is-one-in-which-we/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [Philosophers are adults who persist in asking childish questions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/philosophers-are-adults-who-persist-in-asking-childish-questions/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [The history of society is the history of the inventive labors that man alter man, alter his desires, habits, outlook, relationships both to other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-history-of-society-is-the-history-of-the-inventive-labors-that/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [Out of the crooked timber of humanity, nothing completely straight was ever made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/out-of-the-crooked-timber-of-humanity-nothing-completely-straight-was/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [Utopias have their value -- nothing so wonderfully expands the imaginative horizons of human potentialities -- but as guides to conduct they can prove…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/utopias-have-their-value-nothing-so-wonderfully-expands-the/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [Both liberty and equality are among the primary goals pursued by human beings throughout many centuries; but total liberty for wolves is death to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/both-liberty-and-equality-are-among-the-primary-goals-pursued-by/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [All forms of tampering with human beings, getting at them, shaping them against their will to your own pattern, all thought control and conditioning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/all-forms-of-tampering-with-human-beings-getting-at-them-shaping-them/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [The case against the notion of historical objectivity is like the case against international law, or international morality; that it does not exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-case-against-the-notion-of-historical-objectivity-is-like-the/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [“True pluralism, as Berlin understands it, is much more tough-minded and intellectually bold: it rejects the view that all conflicts of values can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/true-pluralism-as-berlin-understands-it-is-much-more-tough-minded-and/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [Liberty and equality, spontaneity and security, happiness and knowledge, mercy and justice - all these are ultimate human values, sought for themselves alone; yet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/liberty-and-equality-spontaneity-and-security-happiness-and-knowledge/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [To understand is to perceive patterns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/to-understand-is-to-perceive-patterns/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [“The view that the truth is one and undivided, and the same for all men everywhere at all times, whether one finds it in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-view-that-the-truth-is-one-and-undivided-and-the-same-for-all-men/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

> [The most passionate, consistent, extreme and implacable enemy of the Enlightenment and ... all forms of rationalism ... was Johann Georg Hamann. His influence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-most-passionate-consistent-extreme-and-implacable-enemy-of-the/)

[Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highly-improbable/isaiah-berlin/#itemlist",
            "name": "1 Highly Improbable Quotes By Isaiah Berlin",
            "numberOfItems": 1,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“I have said that one of the distinguishing characteristics of a great man is that his active intervention makes what seemed highly improbable in fact happen.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Isaiah Berlin"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/i-have-said-that-one-of-the-distinguishing-characteristics-of-a-great/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/267/isaiah-berlin-10150_great-man_i-have-said-that-one-of-the-distinguishi_1718415.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/267/isaiah-berlin-10150_great-man_i-have-said-that-one-of-the-distinguishi_1718415.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/267/isaiah-berlin-10150_great-man_i-have-said-that-one-of-the-distinguishi_1718415.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“I have said that one of the distinguishing characteristics of a great man is that his active intervention…” — Isaiah Berlin",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highly-improbable/isaiah-berlin/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highly-improbable/isaiah-berlin/",
            "name": "Highly Improbable Quotes by Isaiah Berlin",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highly-improbable/isaiah-berlin/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/267/isaiah-berlin-10150_great-man_i-have-said-that-one-of-the-distinguishi_1718415.jpg"
            },
            "description": "1 Highly Improbable quotes by Isaiah Berlin. Plus more from Isaiah Berlin and more Highly Improbable sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highly-improbable/isaiah-berlin/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highly-improbable/isaiah-berlin/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Highly Improbable",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highly-improbable/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Isaiah Berlin",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/highly-improbable/isaiah-berlin/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```