"Character makes an overpowering present, a cheerful, determined hour, which fortifies all the company by making them see that much is possible and excellent that was not thought of. Character dulls the impression of particular events... The great man is not convulsible or tormentable. He is so much that events pass over him without much impression. People say sometimes, "see what I have overcome; see how cheerful I am; see how completely I have triumphed over these black events." Not if they still remind me of the black events, they have not conquered... The true conquest is the causing the black event to fade and disappear as an early cloud of insignificant result in a history so large and advancing."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Circles

Interesting thought. Yet, I wonder, by this standard, simple indifference or another not-so-positive character quality can be misconstrued as 'greatness'...