Greatness and equality

In his inimitably paradoxical style, Chesterton notes that “One of the actual and certain consequences of the idea that all men are equal is immediately to produce very great men . . . . This has been hidden from us of late by a foolish worship of sinister and exceptional men, men without comradeship, or any infectious virtue. This type of Caesar does exist. There is a great man who makes everyone feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great.”