Verified idea · wording is a variant
Letter 274 · 22 October 1882
Great things and small things
The widely shared sentence is a polished variant. The scholarly English translation of letter 274 uses the documented wording shown below.
Popular wording
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”
Documented wording
“For the great doesn’t happen through impulse alone, and is a succession of little things that are brought together.”
Context
What the letter actually discusses
The sentence sits inside an argument that principles matter when they become deeds. Van Gogh then compares learning to working through an iron wall slowly and patiently.
Translation note
For precise attribution, quote the scholarly wording or label the familiar version as a modern variant based on letter 274.
- Author
- Vincent van Gogh
- Document
- Letter 274
- Recipient
- Theo van Gogh
- Place
- The Hague
- Date
- 22 October 1882
Primary source
Read the complete letter in the scholarly edition.
The external link opens Vincent van Gogh: The Letters, published by the Van Gogh Museum and Huygens ING.