---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Greatness of Soul seems therefore to be…"
description: "\"Greatness of Soul seems therefore to be as it were a crowning ornament of the virtues; it enhances their greatness, and it cannot exist without them. H..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/aristotle-78_greatness_greatness-of-soul-seems-therefore-to-be_2907116.png"
---

#  Greatness of Soul seems therefore to be as it were a…

![“Greatness of Soul seems therefore to be as it were a crowning ornament of the virtues; it enhances their greatness, and it cannot exist without them. Hence it is hard to be truly great-souled, for greatness of soul is impossible without moral nobility.” quote by Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/aristotle-78_greatness_greatness-of-soul-seems-therefore-to-be_2907116.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/aristotle-78_greatness_greatness-of-soul-seems-therefore-to-be_2907116.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/aristotle-78_greatness_greatness-of-soul-seems-therefore-to-be_2907116.png)

> “Greatness of Soul seems therefore to be as it were a crowning ornament of the virtues; it enhances their greatness, and it cannot exist without them. Hence it is hard to be truly great-souled, for greatness of soul is impossible without moral nobility.”

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Greatness of soul is a crowning virtue that depends on moral nobility; without virtue, true greatness cannot exist.

**In simple terms:** Greatness needs moral virtue.

Key Takeaway

Cultivate moral character.

Themes

virtue greatness morality character ethics

Mood

reflective inspirational

Type

philosophical ethical

When to use this quote

- leadership
- personal growth
- education
- community service
- ethical decision‑making

Key Concepts

moral nobility excellence eudaimonia virtue ethics

Questions to Reflect On

- How do you practice moral nobility daily?
- Can greatness exist without external recognition?

A Different Perspective

Virtue alone may not guarantee societal impact without practical action.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Great Souled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-souled-2235687/) [Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) [Greatness Exist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness-exist-1315606/) [Greatness Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness-soul-584241/) [Hard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hard/) [Impossible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impossible/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Moral Nobility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-nobility-4165517/) [Nobility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nobility/) [Ornaments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ornaments/) [Seems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seems/) [Soul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/soul/) [Souled Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/souled-greatness-4165516/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/)

## Related quotes

> [And inasmuch as the great-souled man deserves most, he must be the best of men; for the better a man is the more he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/and-inasmuch-as-the-great-souled-man-deserves-most-he-must-be-the/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [“Fear and greatness cannot exist within the same space.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willie-james/fear-and-greatness-cannot-exist-within-the-same-space/)

[Willie James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willie-james/)

> [All that is good in art is the expression of one soul talking to another, and is precious according to the greatness of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-ruskin/all-that-is-good-in-art-is-the-expression-of-one-soul-talking-to/)

[John Ruskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-ruskin/)

> [He that can heroically endure adversity will bear prosperity with equal greatness of soul; for the mind that cannot be dejected by the former…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-fielding/he-that-can-heroically-endure-adversity-will-bear-prosperity-with-2/)

[Henry Fielding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-fielding/)

> [Greatness of soul consists not so much in soaring high and in pressing forward, as in knowing how to adapt and limit oneself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/greatness-of-soul-consists-not-so-much-in-soaring-high-and-in/)

[Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/)

> [What makes saintliness in my view, as distinguished from ordinary goodness, is a certain quality of magnanimity and greatness of soul that brings life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/what-makes-saintliness-in-my-view-as-distinguished-from-ordinary/)

[Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/)

> [A man who has once perceived, however temporarily and however briefly, what makes greatness of soul, can no longer be happy if he allows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/a-man-who-has-once-perceived-however-temporarily-and-however-briefly/)

[Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/)

> [A solid and substantial greatness of soul looks down with neglect on the censures and applauses of the multitude.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/a-solid-and-substantial-greatness-of-soul-looks-down-with-neglect-on/)

[Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/)

> [Neither genius, fame, nor love show the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/neither-genius-fame-nor-love-show-the-greatness-of-the-soul-only/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [I desire a greatness of soul, an irradiance of mind, a deeper insight, a broader hope.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-jefferies/i-desire-a-greatness-of-soul-an-irradiance-of-mind-a-deeper-insight-a/)

[Richard Jefferies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-jefferies/)

> [The aim of literary ambition is to demonstrate one's greatness of soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-aim-of-literary-ambition-is-to-demonstrate-one-s-greatness-of-soul/)

[Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/)

> [Your shallowness or greatness of the soul shows up in your aura.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harbhajan-singh/your-shallowness-or-greatness-of-the-soul-shows-up-in-your-aura/)

[Harbhajan Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harbhajan-singh/)

> [True greatness of the soul is in loving God and in humility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/true-greatness-of-the-soul-is-in-loving-god-and-in-humility/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [The true greatness of the soul is in loving without expecting anything in return!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-true-greatness-of-the-soul-is-in-loving-without-expecting/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Shame is an ornament to the young; a disgrace to the old.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/shame-is-an-ornament-to-the-young-a-disgrace-to-the-old/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

## More by Aristotle

> [The knowledge of the soul admittedly contributes greatly to the advance of truth in general, and, above all, to our understanding of Nature, for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-knowledge-of-the-soul-admittedly-contributes-greatly-to-the/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [Young men have strong passions and tend to gratify them indiscriminately. Of the bodily desires, it is the sexual by which they are most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/young-men-have-strong-passions-and-tend-to-gratify-them/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [The body is at its best between the ages of thirty and thirty-five; the mind is at its best about the age of forty-nine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-body-is-at-its-best-between-the-ages-of-thirty-and-thirty-five/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [The ensouled is distinguished from the unsouled by its being alive. Now since being alive is spoken of in many ways, even if only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-ensouled-is-distinguished-from-the-unsouled-by-its-being-alive/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [Although it may be difficult in theory to know what is just and equal, the practical difficulty of inducing those to forbear who can,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/although-it-may-be-difficult-in-theory-to-know-what-is-just-and-equal/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [The true forms of government, therefore, are those in which the one, or the few, or the many, govern with a view to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-true-forms-of-government-therefore-are-those-in-which-the-one-or/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [All men by nature desire to know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/all-men-by-nature-desire-to-know/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [All persons ought to endeavor to follow what is right, and not what is established.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/all-persons-ought-to-endeavor-to-follow-what-is-right-and-not-what-is/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Give a man a poisoned fish, you feed him for the rest of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/give-a-man-a-fish-you-feed-him-for-a-day-give-a-man-a-poisoned-fish/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [The man who confers a favour would rather not be repaid in the same coin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-man-who-confers-a-favour-would-rather-not-be-repaid-in-the-same/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [The mother of revolution and crime is poverty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-mother-of-revolution-and-crime-is-poverty/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [Obstinate people can be divided into the opinionated, the ignorant, and the boorish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/obstinate-people-can-be-divided-into-the-opinionated-the-ignorant-and/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/happiness-does-not-consist-in-pastimes-and-amusements-but-in-virtuous/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [To learn is a natural pleasure, not confined to philosophers, but common to all men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/to-learn-is-a-natural-pleasure-not-confined-to-philosophers-but/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

> [Every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/every-virtue-is-a-mean-between-two-extremes-each-of-which-is-a-vice/)

[Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

[Explore all 1,545 Aristotle quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/)

## 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": "Greatness of Soul seems therefore to be as it were a crowning ornament of the virtues; it enhances their greatness, and it cannot exist without them. Hence it is hard to be truly great-souled, for greatness of soul is impossible without moral nobility.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Aristotle"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/greatness-of-soul-seems-therefore-to-be-as-it-were-a-crowning/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Greatness"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/greatness-of-soul-seems-therefore-to-be-as-it-were-a-crowning/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/aristotle-78_greatness_greatness-of-soul-seems-therefore-to-be_2907116.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/aristotle-78_greatness_greatness-of-soul-seems-therefore-to-be_2907116.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/521/aristotle-78_greatness_greatness-of-soul-seems-therefore-to-be_2907116.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Greatness of Soul seems therefore to be as it were a crowning ornament of the virtues; it enhances their…” — Aristotle",
                "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": "Aristotle",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Greatness of Soul seems therefore to...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/greatness-of-soul-seems-therefore-to-be-as-it-were-a-crowning/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/greatness-of-soul-seems-therefore-to-be-as-it-were-a-crowning/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
