Nobody, they say, is a hero to his valet. Of course; for a man must be a hero to understand a hero. The valet, I dare say, has great respect for some person of his own stamp.

The close-up view does not automatically give you the truest view. Someone who only sees a person’s small daily business will read that person as small, because recognising something large requires having some of it yourself. Familiarity explains only what the familiar eye is equipped to see. This runs in both directions: people dismiss what they have no capacity for, and admire what matches their own scale.

Notice when you are shrinking someone by pointing at their ordinary habits. Ask what you would have to understand in order to see the part of them you keep discounting.