To a lackey no man can be great, for a lackey has his own conception of greatness.
 Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (1869). copy citation

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Author Leo Tolstoy
Source War and Peace
Topic greatness conception
Date 1869
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2600/2600-h/2600-h.htm

Context

“And only that feeling placed him on that highest human pedestal from which he, the commander in chief, devoted all his powers not to slaying and destroying men but to saving and showing pity on them. That simple, modest, and therefore truly great, figure could not be cast in the false mold of a European hero—the supposed ruler of men—that history has invented. To a lackey no man can be great, for a lackey has his own conception of greatness. CHAPTER VI The fifth of November was the first day of what is called the battle of Krásnoe. Toward evening—after much disputing and many mistakes made by generals who did not go to their proper places, and after adjutants had been sent about with counterorders—when it had become plain that the enemy was everywhere in flight and that there could and would be no battle, Kutúzov left Krásnoe and went to Dóbroe whither his headquarters had that day been transferred.” source