--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You do not need to import greatness from…" description: "\"You do not need to import greatness from another; you just need to act on your own.\" — Alan Cohen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b1/alan-cohen-1112_greatness_you-do-not-need-to-import-greatness-from_870067.png" --- # You do not need to import greatness from another; you just… ![“You do not need to import greatness from another; you just need to act on your own.” quote by Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b1/alan-cohen-1112_greatness_you-do-not-need-to-import-greatness-from_870067.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b1/alan-cohen-1112_greatness_you-do-not-need-to-import-greatness-from_870067.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b1/alan-cohen-1112_greatness_you-do-not-need-to-import-greatness-from_870067.png) > “You do not need to import greatness from another; you just need to act on your own.” [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. True greatness comes from personal action, not from borrowing others' achievements. **In simple terms:** Act on your own to be great. Key Takeaway Take responsibility for your impact. Themes self‑reliance growth leadership Mood motivational empowering Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career development - creative projects - personal goals Key Concepts personal agency intrinsic motivation Questions to Reflect On - What actions reflect your authentic values? - How do you measure success without comparison? A Different Perspective External validation can still dominate decisions. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) [Greatness Just](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness-just-943374/) [Import](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/import/) [Import Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/import-greatness-943373/) [Imports](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imports/) [Just Need](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/just-need-248093/) [Needs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/needs/) ## Related quotes > [Argentina is a marvelous place. Argentines are great bankers of information. They import information; if someone sneezes in Milan or in New York, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emilio-ambasz/argentina-is-a-marvelous-place-argentines-are-great-bankers-of/) [Emilio Ambasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emilio-ambasz/) > [The upward revision of import duty, from 1 per cent to over 4 per cent on steam coal imports, will adversely impact the industry,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautam-adani/the-upward-revision-of-import-duty-from-1-per-cent-to-over-4-per-cent/) [Gautam Adani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautam-adani/) > [They import and they consume reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robinson-jeffers/they-import-and-they-consume-reality/) [Robinson Jeffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robinson-jeffers/) > [If I could snap my fingers and import France's health care system today, I'd do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-drum/if-i-could-snap-my-fingers-and-import-france-s-health-care-system/) [Kevin Drum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-drum/) > [Imports create competition and keep domestic industry more responsive to consumers. In the United States, we import everything consumers want. So why not pharmaceuticals?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-grassley/imports-create-competition-and-keep-domestic-industry-more-responsive/) [Chuck Grassley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-grassley/) > [ Regular Monster \[< \] Monster Import Yep.. Imports Are Better.. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/regular-monster-monster-import-yep-imports-are-better/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [For all the import and message of 'The Iliad,' it's ultimately a story that's meant to be heard, and the person hearing 'The Iliad'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-o-hare/for-all-the-import-and-message-of-the-iliad-it-s-ultimately-a-story/) [Denis O'Hare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-o-hare/) > [Words matter, words have import.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/words-matter-words-have-import/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Given the brevity of our time here, it does seem likely that our species, too, must have at best a blinkered understanding of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-russell/given-the-brevity-of-our-time-here-it-does-seem-likely-that-our/) [Karen Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-russell/) > [Shaped like Texas, but twice as big, Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. It exports almost nothing - mostly just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-engel/shaped-like-texas-but-twice-as-big-mali-is-one-of-the-poorest/) [Richard Engel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-engel/) > [I think we'd be very foolish to expect that we can just import everything from somewhere else and imagine that that's going to last…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/prince-charles/i-think-we-d-be-very-foolish-to-expect-that-we-can-just-import/) [Prince Charles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/prince-charles/) > [If in the after life there is not music, we will have to import it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/domenico-cieri/if-in-the-after-life-there-is-not-music-we-will-have-to-import-it/) [Domenico Cieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/domenico-cieri/) > [You cannot import anything from outside your country regarding the future of your country.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bashar-al-assad/you-cannot-import-anything-from-outside-your-country-regarding-the/) [Bashar al-Assad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bashar-al-assad/) > [“And yet what precisely is this ‘greatness’? Just where, or in what, does it lie? I am quite aware it would take a far…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kazuo-ishiguro/and-yet-what-precisely-is-this-greatness-just-where-or-in-what-does/) [Kazuo Ishiguro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kazuo-ishiguro/) > [“Your Greatness is just between Falling and Rising”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-asumadu-sarkodie/your-greatness-is-just-between-falling-and-rising/) [Samuel Asumadu-Sarkodie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-asumadu-sarkodie/) ## More by Alan Cohen > [When you protect yourself from pain, be sure you do not protect yourself from love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/when-you-protect-yourself-from-pain-be-sure-you-do-not-protect/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [Anyone in a state of seeking can never be happy. Only those who are constantly finding are fulfilled. And finding is not something that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/anyone-in-a-state-of-seeking-can-never-be-happy-only-those-who-are/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [“You cannot be other than you are. Thank God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/you-cannot-be-other-than-you-are-thank-god/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [Evaluate every act by whether it brings you greater life, or deadens you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/evaluate-every-act-by-whether-it-brings-you-greater-life-or-deadens/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [Put aside ambition for public recognition, and simply do what you do because it feels good inside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/put-aside-ambition-for-public-recognition-and-simply-do-what-you-do/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [“When you finally give up striving, you will be left with what you have been striving for.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/when-you-finally-give-up-striving-you-will-be-left-with-what-you-have/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [“newspaper ads for lost pets and earthquakes that soon follow. Other studies indicate a higher rate of last-minute cancellations for airplane flights that crash.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/newspaper-ads-for-lost-pets-and-earthquakes-that-soon-follow-other/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [“Quit using your creative power to formulate questions. You can just as easily—more easily— use it to formulate answers.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/quit-using-your-creative-power-to-formulate-questions-you-can-just-as/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > ['How can I be more like you?' she asked the guru. 'The best way to be more like me is to be more like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/how-can-i-be-more-like-you-she-asked-the-guru-the-best-way-to-be-more/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [Turmoil is a call for awakening. Every challenge, great or small, is moving you to look deeper and draw forth the highest in you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/turmoil-is-a-call-for-awakening-every-challenge-great-or-small-is/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [The difficulties of life do not keep you from greatness. They show you to its door.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/the-difficulties-of-life-do-not-keep-you-from-greatness-they-show-you/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [What a doctor or healer tells you is a reflection of the beliefs and expectations you hold. Change your beliefs and you change the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/what-a-doctor-or-healer-tells-you-is-a-reflection-of-the-beliefs-and/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [Quit planning your dream and start living it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/quit-planning-your-dream-and-start-living-it/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [The more you invest in your happiness, the more happiness will invest in you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/the-more-you-invest-in-your-happiness-the-more-happiness-will-invest/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) > [Joy is the wild card of life; it supersedes every other formula for success. If you can find a way to create joy, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/joy-is-the-wild-card-of-life-it-supersedes-every-other-formula-for/) [Alan Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) [Explore all 290 Alan Cohen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/) ## More Greatness quotes > [The man who can master his time can master nearly anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/the-man-who-can-master-his-time-can-master-nearly-anything/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [Every man who is high up likes to think that he has done it all himself, and the wife smiles and lets it go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/every-man-who-is-high-up-likes-to-think-that-he-has-done-it-all/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straghtforward men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/what-we-shall-need-is-not-geniuses-or-cynics-or-misanthropes-or/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [“The power of imagination is strongest in the place of solitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunday-adelaja/the-power-of-imagination-is-strongest-in-the-place-of-solitude/) [Sunday Adelaja](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunday-adelaja/) > [“You are destiny for greatness. Your future is in the hands of the Lord.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/you-are-destiny-for-greatness-your-future-is-in-the-hands-of-the-lord/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [We need to discover all over again that worship is natural to the Christian, as it was to the godly Israelites who wrote the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-i-packer/we-need-to-discover-all-over-again-that-worship-is-natural-to-the/) [J. I. Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-i-packer/) > [Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/each-man-is-capable-of-doing-one-thing-well-if-he-attempts-several-he/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office-seeking. Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutherford-b-hayes/nothing-brings-out-the-lower-traits-of-human-nature-like-office/) [Rutherford B. Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutherford-b-hayes/) > [Men generally decide upon a middle course, which is most hazardous, for they know neither how to be entirely good nor entirely bad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niccolo-machiavelli/men-generally-decide-upon-a-middle-course-which-is-most-hazardous-for/) [Niccolo Machiavelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niccolo-machiavelli/) > [Every man remembers his childhood as a kind of mythical age, just as every nation's childhood is its mythical age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giacomo-leopardi/every-man-remembers-his-childhood-as-a-kind-of-mythical-age-just-as/) [Giacomo Leopardi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giacomo-leopardi/) > [Greatness is not guarding yourself from people. Greatness is being accepted by the people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-tyson/greatness-is-not-guarding-yourself-from-people-greatness-is-being/) [Mike Tyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-tyson/) > [The superior man is distressed by his want (lack) of ability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/the-superior-man-is-distressed-by-his-want-lack-of-ability/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) > [Great men don't 'move to the center' - great men move the center!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/great-men-don-t-move-to-the-center-great-men-move-the-center/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [Perfection is the enemy of greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janelle-monae/perfection-is-the-enemy-of-greatness/) [Janelle Monae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janelle-monae/) > [Men want a challenge, but they want a challenge they can win.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitney-gaskell/men-want-a-challenge-but-they-want-a-challenge-they-can-win/) [Whitney Gaskell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitney-gaskell/) [Browse all 7,631 Greatness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You do not need to import greatness from another; you just need to act on your own.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alan Cohen" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/you-do-not-need-to-import-greatness-from-another-you-just-need-to-act/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Greatness" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/you-do-not-need-to-import-greatness-from-another-you-just-need-to-act/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b1/alan-cohen-1112_greatness_you-do-not-need-to-import-greatness-from_870067.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b1/alan-cohen-1112_greatness_you-do-not-need-to-import-greatness-from_870067.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3b1/alan-cohen-1112_greatness_you-do-not-need-to-import-greatness-from_870067.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You do not need to import greatness from another; you just need to act on your own.” — Alan Cohen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "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": "Alan Cohen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-cohen/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "You do not need to import...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/you-do-not-need-to-import-greatness-from-another-you-just-need-to-act/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-cohen/you-do-not-need-to-import-greatness-from-another-you-just-need-to-act/#breadcrumb" }, { "@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 } } ] } ```