--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When a man realizes his littleness, his…" description: "\"When a man realizes his littleness, his greatness can appear.\" — H. G. Wells" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/127/h-g-wells-1122_greatness_when-a-man-realizes-his-littleness-his-g_2186844.png" --- # When a man realizes his littleness, his greatness can… ![“When a man realizes his littleness, his greatness can appear.” quote by H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/127/h-g-wells-1122_greatness_when-a-man-realizes-his-littleness-his-g_2186844.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/127/h-g-wells-1122_greatness_when-a-man-realizes-his-littleness-his-g_2186844.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/127/h-g-wells-1122_greatness_when-a-man-realizes-his-littleness-his-g_2186844.png) > “When a man realizes his littleness, his greatness can appear.” [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Realizing one's smallness can open the mind to greater possibilities and inner greatness. **In simple terms:** Seeing our limits can reveal hidden strengths. Key Takeaway Embrace humility to unlock potential. Themes humility self‑awareness growth Mood contemplative motivational Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal setbacks - career challenges - creative pursuits - educational endeavors Key Concepts existential psychological spiritual Questions to Reflect On - What smallness have you recognized? - How can this awareness shape your goals? A Different Perspective Humility alone may not guarantee success without action. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Greatness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Littleness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/littleness/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Sports](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sports/) ## Related quotes > [Greatness is one of the sensations of littleness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/greatness-is-one-of-the-sensations-of-littleness/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [Big rocks are envy of little sands because little sands can travel with the winds. Every littleness has its own big advantages!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/big-rocks-are-envy-of-little-sands-because-little-sands-can-travel/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Lo, what huge heaps of littleness around!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/lo-what-huge-heaps-of-littleness-around/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [“The theology of littleness is a basic category of Christianity. After all, the tenor of our faith is that God's distinctive greatness is revealed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-cardinal-ratzinger-pope-benedict/the-theology-of-littleness-is-a-basic-category-of-christianity-after/) Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict > [We can easily forgive want of means; but littleness, with means, is disgusting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-therese-de-marguenat-de-courcelles/we-can-easily-forgive-want-of-means-but-littleness-with-means-is/) [Anne-Therese de Marguenat de Courcelles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-therese-de-marguenat-de-courcelles/) > [It is but the littleness of man that seeth no greatness in trifles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-phillips/it-is-but-the-littleness-of-man-that-seeth-no-greatness-in-trifles/) [Wendell Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-phillips/) > [Dont let the littleness in others bring out the littleness in you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jreyes/dont-let-the-littleness-in-others-bring-out-the-littleness-in-you/) JREYES > [All finery is a sign of littleness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-kaspar-lavater/all-finery-is-a-sign-of-littleness/) [Johann Kaspar Lavater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-kaspar-lavater/) > [He who stays not in his littleness, loses his greatness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-francis-de-sales/he-who-stays-not-in-his-littleness-loses-his-greatness/) [Saint Francis de Sales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-francis-de-sales/) > [“However...who said that thing about "the littleness of life that art exaggerates"?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barnes-flaubert/however-who-said-that-thing-about-the-littleness-of-life-that-art/) Barnes Flaubert > [Those who cannot feel the littleness of great things in themselves are apt to overlook the greatness of little things in others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/okakura-kakuzo/those-who-cannot-feel-the-littleness-of-great-things-in-themselves/) [Okakura Kakuzo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/okakura-kakuzo/) > [...greatness sympathises with greatness, and littleness shrinks into itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/greatness-sympathises-with-greatness-and-littleness-shrinks-into/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [Envy is littleness of soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/envy-is-littleness-of-soul/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [What I absorbed from autobiographies was not how to be great so much as the littleness of the great.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miles-franklin/what-i-absorbed-from-autobiographies-was-not-how-to-be-great-so-much/) [Miles Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miles-franklin/) > [Envy is a littleness of soul, which cannot see beyond a certain point, and if it does not occupy the whole space feels itself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/envy-is-a-littleness-of-soul-which-cannot-see-beyond-a-certain-point/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) ## More by H. G. Wells > [... life falls into place only with God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/life-falls-into-place-only-with-god/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [Fools make researches and wise men exploit them - that is our earthly way of dealing with the question, and we thank Heaven for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/fools-make-researches-and-wise-men-exploit-them-that-is-our-earthly/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [The true sweetness of chess, if it ever can be sweet, is to see a victory snatched, by some happy impertinence, out of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/the-true-sweetness-of-chess-if-it-ever-can-be-sweet-is-to-see-a/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [A priest is a man vowed, trained, and consecrated, a man belonging to a special corps, and necessarily with an intense esprit de corps.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/a-priest-is-a-man-vowed-trained-and-consecrated-a-man-belonging-to-a/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [The man who raises a fist has run out of ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/the-man-who-raises-a-fist-has-run-out-of-ideas/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [The choice is: the Universe...or nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/the-choice-is-the-universe-or-nothing/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [ The crisis \[the Great Depression\] discovered a great man in Franklin Roosevelt...None too soon he has carried America forward to the second stage of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/the-crisis-the-great-depression-discovered-a-great-man-in-franklin/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [Non-violence is the policy of the vegetable kingdom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/non-violence-is-the-policy-of-the-vegetable-kingdom/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [For all my desire to be interesting, I have to confess that for most things and people I don't give a damn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/for-all-my-desire-to-be-interesting-i-have-to-confess-that-for-most/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [The Jews looked for a special savior, a messiah, who was to redeem mankind by the agreeable process of restoring the fabulous glories of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/the-jews-looked-for-a-special-savior-a-messiah-who-was-to-redeem/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [“And I have by me, for my comfort, two strange white flowers—shrivelled now, and brown and flat and brittle—to witness that even when mind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/and-i-have-by-me-for-my-comfort-two-strange-white-flowers-shrivelled/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [ \[A novel by Henry James\] is like a church lit but without a congregation to distract you, with every light and line focused on… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/a-novel-by-henry-james-is-like-a-church-lit-but-without-a/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [In England we have come to rely upon a comfortable time-lag of fifty years or a century intervening between the perception that something ought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/in-england-we-have-come-to-rely-upon-a-comfortable-time-lag-of-fifty/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [We must end war before war ends us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/we-must-end-war-before-war-ends-us/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) > [What good is religion if it collapses under calamity?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-g-wells/what-good-is-religion-if-it-collapses-under-calamity/) [H. G. Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) [Explore all 280 H. G. Wells quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-g-wells/) ## 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 [Browse all 7,631 Greatness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greatness/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When a man realizes his littleness, his greatness can appear.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "H. G. 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