What Makes A Great Man?

[Morkul]

Actually no. I was watching an episode of "Enterprise" that took place in the Mirror Universe. Alt-Archer was looking up the files on his counterpart and was quite dismayed that his counterpart was considered a great man so he says "A great man is not a peacemaker, a great man is a conqueror!".

So i got a little curious to see what people would say about it.



And I do actually disagree with that Yoda quote. When you actually think of it, you will find out that some people would not have been great if it weren't for the opportunity to be a hero of some sort if there had been no war. Three names come to mind, Sergeant Alvin York, Audie Murphy, and MacArthur would not have been heroes if it weren't for the world wars they were in, for example.

Boudicca, Brian Boru and William Wallace would fall into that category as well...

 

[Croesus]

What is it that makes a great man?

Is a great man a conqueror?

Or is a great man a peace maker?

Or does he combine elements of both when it's appropriate to do so?

As others have said, a great man is not necessarily either choice above, but is someone who, when given the opportunity, has a significant impact on the world. I would add one other requirement - that his choices are what caused the impact.

Example: Abraham Lincoln is often credited with saving the Union during the American Civil War. The war's outcome wasn't simply something that happened due to the impersonal currents of history, but in large measure due to his specific choices. Great men (women) make history, are not made by history.

 

[Umbran]

And I do actually disagree with that Yoda quote. When you actually think of it, you will find out that some people would not have been great if it weren't for the opportunity to be a hero of some sort if there had been no war.

It seems to me that Yoda's saying that greatness is not created by war. War is a time and place of great stress and striving, where both the best and worst of a person can be revealed, but those highs and lows exist in the person without the war.