--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The most characteristic mark of a great…" description: "\"The most characteristic mark of a great mind is to choose some one important object, and pursue it for life.\" — Anna Letitia Barbauld" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/181/anna-letitia-barbauld-16166_characteristic_the-most-characteristic-mark-of-a-great_2098462.png" --- # The most characteristic mark of a great mind is to choose… ![“The most characteristic mark of a great mind is to choose some one important object, and pursue it for life.” quote by Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/181/anna-letitia-barbauld-16166_characteristic_the-most-characteristic-mark-of-a-great_2098462.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/181/anna-letitia-barbauld-16166_characteristic_the-most-characteristic-mark-of-a-great_2098462.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/181/anna-letitia-barbauld-16166_characteristic_the-most-characteristic-mark-of-a-great_2098462.png) > “The most characteristic mark of a great mind is to choose some one important object, and pursue it for life.” [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Great minds focus on a single, important pursuit throughout life. **In simple terms:** Great minds commit to one important pursuit. Key Takeaway Identify and commit to a core purpose. Themes focus purpose great mind lifelong pursuit Mood inspirational determined Type advice philosophical When to use this quote - academic research - artistic career - entrepreneurship Key Concepts goal setting career development Questions to Reflect On - What is your most important lifelong goal? - How can you stay flexible while staying focused? A Different Perspective Over‑focus may limit breadth of experience. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Great minds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-minds/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) ## Related quotes > [The power of duly appreciating little things belongs to a great mind...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-whately/the-power-of-duly-appreciating-little-things-belongs-to-a-great-mind/) [Richard Whately](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-whately/) > [Small mind competes, big mind collaborates and great mind encompasses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-ray/small-mind-competes-big-mind-collaborates-and-great-mind-encompasses/) [Amit Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-ray/) > [The little mind who loves itself, will wr'te and think with the vulgar; but the great mind will be bravely eccentric, and scorn the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-goldsmith/the-little-mind-who-loves-itself-will-wr-te-and-think-with-the-vulgar/) [Oliver Goldsmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-goldsmith/) > [Anger represents a certain power, when a great mind, prevented from executing its own generous desires, is moved by it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pietro-aretino/anger-represents-a-certain-power-when-a-great-mind-prevented-from/) [Pietro Aretino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pietro-aretino/) > [One of the marks of a truly great mind, I had discovered, is the ability to feign stupidity on demand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-bradley/one-of-the-marks-of-a-truly-great-mind-i-had-discovered-is-the/) [Alan Bradley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-bradley/) > [This is a great mind at work examining itself. This is where literature comes from.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katharine-weber/this-is-a-great-mind-at-work-examining-itself-this-is-where/) [Katharine Weber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katharine-weber/) > [A great mind is one that can forget or look beyond itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/a-great-mind-is-one-that-can-forget-or-look-beyond-itself/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [To a great mind, nothing is little,' remarked Holmes, sententiously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/to-a-great-mind-nothing-is-little-remarked-holmes-sententiously/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [We know you have a great mind and all, Mother, but you don’t have much sense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-l-engle/we-know-you-have-a-great-mind-and-all-mother-but-you-don-t-have-much/) [Madeleine L'Engle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-l-engle/) > [The secret pleasure of a generous act Is the great mind's great bribe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/the-secret-pleasure-of-a-generous-act-is-the-great-mind-s-great-bribe/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [Sometimes getting away from school is the best thing that can happen to a great mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-robinson/sometimes-getting-away-from-school-is-the-best-thing-that-can-happen/) [Ken Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-robinson/) > [If you would stand well with a great mind, leave him with a favorable impression of yourself; if with a little mind, leave him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/if-you-would-stand-well-with-a-great-mind-leave-him-with-a-favorable/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [Great minds contain ideas, science,numbers and reasons; but as great as my mind is,it contains only you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/great-minds-contain-ideas-science-numbers-and-reasons-but-as-great-as/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A great mind will neither give an affront nor bear it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-home-lord-kames/a-great-mind-will-neither-give-an-affront-nor-bear-it/) [Henry Home, Lord Kames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-home-lord-kames/) > [No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/no-great-mind-has-ever-existed-without-a-touch-of-madness/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) ## More by Anna Letitia Barbauld > [The best way for women to acquire knowledge is from conversation with a father, a brother, or a friend, in the way of family…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/the-best-way-for-women-to-acquire-knowledge-is-from-conversation-with/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [if an author would have us feel a strong degree of compassion, his characters must not be too perfect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/if-an-author-would-have-us-feel-a-strong-degree-of-compassion-his/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [Society than solitude is worse, And man to man is still the greatest curse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/society-than-solitude-is-worse-and-man-to-man-is-still-the-greatest/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [Children have almost an intuitive discernment between the maxims you bring forward for their use, and those by which you direct your own conduct.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/children-have-almost-an-intuitive-discernment-between-the-maxims-you/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [It is to hope, though hope were lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/it-is-to-hope-though-hope-were-lost/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [we should contract our ideas of education, and expect no more from it than it is able to perform.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/we-should-contract-our-ideas-of-education-and-expect-no-more-from-it/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [it is, in truth, the most absurd of all suppositions, that a human being can be educated, or even nourished and brought up, without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/it-is-in-truth-the-most-absurd-of-all-suppositions-that-a-human-being/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [And when midst fallen London, they survey The stone where Alexander's ashes lay, Shall own with humbled pride the lesson must By Time's slow…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/and-when-midst-fallen-london-they-survey-the-stone-where-alexander-s/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [So fades a summer cloud away; So sinks the gale when storms are o'er; So gently shuts the eye of day; So dies a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/so-fades-a-summer-cloud-away-so-sinks-the-gale-when-storms-are-o-er/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [The well taught philosophic mind To all compassion gives; Casts round the world an equal eye, And feels for all that lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/the-well-taught-philosophic-mind-to-all-compassion-gives-casts-round/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [Eternity.—Thy name Or glad, or fearful, we pronounce, as thoughts Wandering in darkness shape thee. Thou strange being, Which art and must be, yet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/eternity-thy-name-or-glad-or-fearful-we-pronounce-as-thoughts/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [Let us confess a truth, humiliating to human pride; - a very small part only of the opinions of the coolest philosopher are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/let-us-confess-a-truth-humiliating-to-human-pride-a-very-small-part/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [The world has little to bestow Where two fond hearts in equal love are joined.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/the-world-has-little-to-bestow-where-two-fond-hearts-in-equal-love/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [Man is the nobler growth our realms supply, And souls are ripened in our northern sky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/man-is-the-nobler-growth-our-realms-supply-and-souls-are-ripened-in/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) > [We neither laugh alone, nor weep alone, why then should we pray alone?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/we-neither-laugh-alone-nor-weep-alone-why-then-should-we-pray-alone/) [Anna Letitia Barbauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) [Explore all 40 Anna Letitia Barbauld quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/) ## More Characteristic quotes > [A second characteristic of the process which for me is the good life, is that it involves an increasingly tendency to live fully in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rogers/a-second-characteristic-of-the-process-which-for-me-is-the-good-life/) [Carl Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rogers/) > [“Facebook also has a fundamental characteristic that has proven key to its appeal in country after country—you only see friends there.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-kirkpatrick/facebook-also-has-a-fundamental-characteristic-that-has-proven-key-to/) [David Kirkpatrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-kirkpatrick/) > [I think it would be just to say the most essential characteristic of mind is memory, using this word in its broadest sense to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/i-think-it-would-be-just-to-say-the-most-essential-characteristic-of/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [Pride is tough. You go to high school, and its 'pride,' 'courage;' it's all these types of words that we use to motivate us.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/troy-polamalu/pride-is-tough-you-go-to-high-school-and-its-pride-courage-it-s-all/) [Troy Polamalu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/troy-polamalu/) > [But it would be absolutely mistaken to regard a wealth of theoretical knowledge as characteristic proof for the qualities and abilities of a leader.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/but-it-would-be-absolutely-mistaken-to-regard-a-wealth-of-theoretical/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [On the contrary, the characteristic element of the present situation is that economic questions have finally and irrevocably invaded the domain of public life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-henderson/on-the-contrary-the-characteristic-element-of-the-present-situation/) [Arthur Henderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-henderson/) > [“But they will not be, primarily because the most salient characteristic of the victim-prone person is the conviction that he or she is watched…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-cheney/but-they-will-not-be-primarily-because-the-most-salient/) Margaret Cheney > [One characteristic that I hope I never relinquish is an intense curiosity about the world around me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valerie-plame/one-characteristic-that-i-hope-i-never-relinquish-is-an-intense/) [Valerie Plame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valerie-plame/) > [Benevolence is the characteristic element of humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/confucius/benevolence-is-the-characteristic-element-of-humanity/) [Confucius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/confucius/) > [“Insanity is my dominant characteristic. - Christina McCall”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bernhardt/insanity-is-my-dominant-characteristic-christina-mccall/) [William Bernhardt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bernhardt/) > [“Mr. Harrison was certainly different from other people…and that is the essential characteristic of a crank, as everybody knows.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-m-montgomery/mr-harrison-was-certainly-different-from-other-people-and-that-is-the/) [L.M. Montgomery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-m-montgomery/) > [The ability to make love frivolously is the chief characteristic which distinguishes human beings from the beasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heywood-broun/the-ability-to-make-love-frivolously-is-the-chief-characteristic/) [Heywood Broun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heywood-broun/) > [“D is for depth of processing. Our fundamental characteristic is that we observe and reflect before we act. We process everything more, whether we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elaine-n-aron/d-is-for-depth-of-processing-our-fundamental-characteristic-is-that/) [Elaine N. Aron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elaine-n-aron/) > [I'm a typically lazy person. It is sort of characteristic of actors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/liev-schreiber/i-m-a-typically-lazy-person-it-is-sort-of-characteristic-of-actors/) [Liev Schreiber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/liev-schreiber/) > [The most obvious characteristic of science is its application: the fact that, as a consequence of science, one has a power to do things.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-p-feynman/the-most-obvious-characteristic-of-science-is-its-application-the/) [Richard P. Feynman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-p-feynman/) Browse all 111 Characteristic quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The most characteristic mark of a great mind is to choose some one important object, and pursue it for life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Anna Letitia Barbauld" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/the-most-characteristic-mark-of-a-great-mind-is-to-choose-some-one/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Characteristic" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/the-most-characteristic-mark-of-a-great-mind-is-to-choose-some-one/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/181/anna-letitia-barbauld-16166_characteristic_the-most-characteristic-mark-of-a-great_2098462.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/181/anna-letitia-barbauld-16166_characteristic_the-most-characteristic-mark-of-a-great_2098462.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/181/anna-letitia-barbauld-16166_characteristic_the-most-characteristic-mark-of-a-great_2098462.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The most characteristic mark of a great mind is to choose some one important object, and pursue it for life.” — Anna Letitia Barbauld", "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": "Anna Letitia Barbauld", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-letitia-barbauld/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The most characteristic mark of a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/the-most-characteristic-mark-of-a-great-mind-is-to-choose-some-one/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-letitia-barbauld/the-most-characteristic-mark-of-a-great-mind-is-to-choose-some-one/#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 } } ] } ```