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You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry
Abraham Lincoln
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Interpretation

What this quote means

A person's character can be assessed by their triggers and what they react to emotionally.

This quote by Abraham Lincoln suggests that the true measure of a person's greatness is revealed through their reactions, particularly when faced with anger or provocation. What angers someone can illustrate their values, priorities, and moral compass, providing insight into their character and integrity.

Themes

GreatnessAngerCharacterValuesIntegrity

In practice

Example use cases

During a leadership seminar, one could use this quote to discuss emotional intelligence.

More from Abraham Lincoln

I am like a man so busy in letting rooms in one end of his house, that he can't stop to put out the fire that is burning the other.
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Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.
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Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
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How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
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For it has been said, all that a man hath will he give for his life; and while all contribute of their substance the soldier puts his life at stake, and often yields it up in his country's cause. The highest merit, then is due to the soldier.
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And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.
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