Requiem for Greatness

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Churchill surely would have agreed, for it is the paradox of the unique man that he does not insist on his own uniqueness—only on the uniqueness of the continuing and self-renewing human spirit. In that mood Lady Asquith, a longtime Liberal and friend of Churchill's, spoke in the House of Lords last week. "There can be no leave-taking between Churchill and the people that he served and saved," she said. "Many of us today may be feeling that by his going the scale of things has dwindled, our stature is diminished, that glory has departed from us ... Then I remember the words of his victory broadcast—when he urged us not to fall back into the rut of inertia, confusion and 'the craven fear of being great.' And I knew that the resolve to keep unbroken the pattern of greatness which he had impressed upon the spirit of the nation is the tribute he would ask from us today."