Noble qualities make noblemen: a single one of them is worth more than a multitude of mediocre ones... How much more ought a great man see that the qualities of his soul are as great as possible... in a hero everything should be great and majestic, so that all his deeds, nay, all his words, should be pervaded by a transcendent majesty.
Baltasar Gracián, 1647 (tr. Joseph Jacobs, 1892)
Real distinction comes from a few great qualities, not from a large collection of ordinary ones. A single genuinely noble trait, courage, integrity, depth of judgment, outweighs a whole crowd of mediocre competences, and it is what actually marks a person as exceptional. So the effort worth making is not to be broadly average at many things but to develop the qualities of your character to the greatest height you can reach, because it is the height of the best traits, not the breadth of the middling ones, that defines you. The image is of making everything about yourself as great as possible, so your deeds and even your words carry the weight of that greatness. Concentrate on cultivating a few truly high qualities rather than accumulating many small ones, because one great thing counts for more than a multitude of small ones.
Practice
- Cultivate a few qualities to real height rather than many to mediocrity; one great trait outweighs a crowd of ordinary ones (maxim 292's larger person).
- Build the qualities of character highest of all; it is the height of your best, not the breadth of your average, that marks you.
- Let the great quality pervade the work; when a real strength is genuinely high, it shows in your deeds and even your words.
Use this when
- Use this in deciding where to invest your development; depth in a few noble qualities beats breadth across many middling ones.
- Use it in judging people; look for the one or two great qualities, which count for more than a long list of competences.
Ignore this when
- Don't neglect necessary competence entirely; the counsel prizes the great quality, it does not excuse being useless at the basics (maxim 232 keeps the practical floor).
- Don't mistake a single flashy talent for a noble quality; the trait that counts is one of real character and depth, not mere showiness (maxim 297's integrity).
A picture of it
Spread thin across a dozen competences, none of them remarkable, a professional wonders why he never quite stands out, until he sees that distinction comes from height, not breadth. He stops trying to be adequate at everything and pours himself into the one quality where he has real depth, his judgment, developing it until it becomes genuinely exceptional. That single great quality does more for his standing than the dozen mediocre ones ever did, pervading his work and marking him as someone worth listening to. One noble quality, brought to its full height, outweighed the whole crowd of middling ones he had been so busy maintaining.
One great quality outweighs a crowd of mediocre ones. Build the height of your best, not the breadth of your average, and let it pervade everything.