I think we need some goal posts here to define what we mean by great. If we mean longest then you would probably look to the likes of Molly Blooms soliloquy in Ulyssess, but that doesn't sound right does it? Longest is not what we are after. Some suggestions like nowaypablos Vonnegut: "so it goes". While I like the Slaughter House 5 and how this quote is used within it; does that sentence taken on its own represent the greatest sentence ever written? Personally I don't think so. Are we to take sentences out of context and judge them in isolation from the work which contains them? If not then surely the sentences 'greatness' is at least in part due to the greatness of all the words within that work upon which it relies. EDIT:
Anyway, much to my own annoyance and against my personal sensibilities, the greatest sentence in terms of the impact it has had on Humanity has to be Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Really? I don't feel any particular impact from that sentence at all. Matthew 7:12, perhaps.
I guess if you consider how the concept that God created everything we can see and also what we cannot and you layer on top of this the fact it was accepted as literal truth (and still is by some people today) for hundreds of years then it has to rank as one of the most important sentences. The fact that it doesn't strike you (or indeed myself) as of great importance is understandable given the times we live in but for the many generations that have come before.... Can we really say that a witty Samuel Clemens quip or even a multi-layered David Foster Wallace quote can be said to be in the same league in terms of the impact or importance they have had on the world around us? Matthew 7:12 "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." Is a good one, the problem I have always had with it is its implicit statement that the source of right and wrong is within each of us and overrides and form of more universal law. Which is fine until you meet a psychopath who has a different idea about the whole "do unto others" thing.
I guess we can agree to disagree. Creation myths were old when that line was penned, so it's not like that was even a new idea. >> Which is fine until you meet a psychopath who has a different idea about the whole "do unto others" thing. The golden rule is advice for one's own behaviour. I'd be quite surprised if any psychopath would ever consider themselves bound by it. However, I should treat anyone, even the psychopath, as I would wish to be treated - so the advice holds for me. The golden rule is not something which may be imposed on others!
I guess we can agree to disagree. Creation myths were old when that line was penned, so it's not like that was even a new idea.
While creation myths were old there were various versions of them, especially if you include all the polytheism stuff. The writing of this line was one of the earliest points when civilisation moved to Monotheism on-mass. Genesis 1:1 clearly stated for everyone "One god and he did everything". From that point on that was the agreed 'truth' and it has played a huge part in how the modern world is shaped today, thousands of years after it was written. That has to rate as 'Great' to some degree? I guess it depends on the interpretation of the question.The golden rule is advice for one's own behaviour. I'd be quite surprised if any psychopath would ever consider themselves bound by it. However, I should treat anyone, even the psychopath, as I would wish to be treated - so the advice holds for me. The golden rule is not something which may be imposed on others!
Well said.