# Do the greatest ever realize their greatness? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-greatest-ever-realize-their-greatness/644624 "2012-12-20T13:16:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-greatest-ever-realize-their-greatness/644624/41 "2012-12-23T22:57:03Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Umm, what? [Bobby Fischer was a virulent anti-Semite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer#Anti-semitic_statements) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-greatest-ever-realize-their-greatness/644624/42 "2012-12-23T23:56:14Z")
> [@DarkFire](#): > > A guy like Wayne Gretzky played with much older kids when he was young, outclassing them. I’m sure he realized from that time on that he had a unique talent. > Once he signed with the Oilers and they built their entire team around him, I’m sure he figured he was special. And well..if you’re good enough to score about 1000 more points total than the 2nd best on the scoring list? Yeah, then you know you’re the best ever. Yeah, and the OP’s examples were rather poor. As artists, there’s really no objective criteria to base a judgement on, and I’m sure there are lots of people who would dispute the OP’s choices (IIRC Gary Oldman was “voted” best in a poll here a while back). With most athletes, you have statistics to compare one against others. I don’t think it can be disputed that, _for a time_, Tiger Woods was the best golfer, for example. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-greatest-ever-realize-their-greatness/644624/43 "2012-12-26T02:39:55Z")
I was curious on the time and the context where Les Miserables takes place and found a cite that mentioned a bit that is relevant here, regarding Victor Hugo: > **[Curricular Resources](https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum)** > [@](#): > > Indeed even Hugo himself noted his own grandeur. His son Charles brought these words from his exiled father: > > > [@](#): > > > > I find it consolation that I am regarded as more than a writer of verse by my fellow countrymen. To them I am a national institution embodying in my one person all the best that is France.[sup]7[/sup] > > “Ego Hugo,” the motto he wrote for his own family crest is not one of his exaggerations. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-greatest-ever-realize-their-greatness/644624/44 "2012-12-26T04:54:59Z")
> [@Oedipus](#): > > Same goes for Day-Lewis. I know he doesn’t like to spend time in the Hollywood limelight, but does he honestly realize how insane his method acting is? I’m sure he knows he’s a good actor, but does he honestly realize that he is, most like, the greatest actor ever? If not the greatest, at least top 5? And one of the greatest actors who realize their greatness - Daniel Day-Lewis portrayed one the the greatest Presidents who realized their greatness - Abraham Lincoln. The scene where Lincoln asks two young men “Do you think we choose the times into which we are born? Or do we fit the times we are born into?” comes to mind. After they answer his inimitable question, Lincoln walks out of the room and one of them stands up from his chair and looks at Lincoln leaving the room as though realizing that he had just spoken with Greatness. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-greatest-ever-realize-their-greatness/644624/45 "2012-12-26T16:34:24Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > [Bobby Fischer was a virulent anti-Semite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer#Anti-semitic_statements) He was also Jewish. Yes, he was a Jewish neo-Nazi anti-semite. Truly a nut case. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-the-greatest-ever-realize-their-greatness/644624.md?page=2)