Was he great because of his superior brainpower and intellect? No one can say for sure, but at least in this one instance we can say that what he did was just plain stupid. One single shot could have ended his return to power in France. We can say with great certainty, however, that he had heart. He had a purpose that he believed in with all of his heart - to bring the Holy Roman Empire to it’s end, which in fact did happen in 1806.
If we were to extend this investigation to other great men and women of history, we would most likely find the great thinkers and artists of all time, from Da Vinci, Einstein and Stephen Hawking (well at least he had the guts to admit he was wrong), to Mozart, Lizt (there is a only a handful of people in the world that can play his original pieces, and yet he loved the subtle music of his friend Chopin) and Chopin, to Renoir, Monet, and Rembrandt - they all had the same thing in common.
They all, let’s just say, had heart. Some were probably a little loopy as well; that always helps. They had a purpose that went far beyond intellect; something so intangible that it could only be attributed to the heart. The sum total of the interior man.
Stay original. Have heart.
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