Greig, of course, was being deliberately provocative one fine summer's day, some 27 years back, when he suggested West Indies, once forced on the back foot, were liable to "grovel".
Everyone knows what happened next. Few West Indians, on meeting Greig today, would let the former England captain forget that ill-fated remark or the one-sided contest which followed.
Hussain, more measured in word and deed, could not be accused of planting his boot quite so firmly in his mouth when he suggested, before the current Test series against South Africa, that his opponents were "ripe for the taking".
Those words, taken in context, were qualified by a series of warnings of how good the touring side could be -- "it only takes a week or two weeks for some of these very good players, like Herschelle Gibbs, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher or Graeme Smith, to find form" -- and how green England's young bowlers remained.
Within days, Hussain had resigned, impetuously it seemed, as England captain.
DENTED SELF-CONFIDENCE
His team had escaped with a losing draw in the opener at Edgbaston but Hussain, his pride and self-confidence dented by Michael Vaughan's success as one-day captain and his equilibrium upset by Smith's broad bat, had lost the stomach for a fight.
If England end the series with one lost captain and four lost tests out of five, Hussain, out of context or not, might just be remembered as much for those famous last words as for his other contributions.
He would not be the only man to munch furiously on South African humble pie at the moment.
Smith has been handing out record-sized slices ever since landing in England, that so-called graveyard for aspiring foreign bats.
Having made a South African record 277 in the first Test, he made 259 in the second and is now averaging 207 for the series.
There is room, however, for sympathy for some of the men who have dared to doubt him.
One-time South Africa coach Bob Woolmer, surely, was not being particularly outrageous in suggesting that 22
Many would have agreed with that assessment, a few months back. Former South African great Barry Richards concedes he was among them.
TECHNICAL CRITICISM
There was also plenty of room for technical criticism as well.
Smith, a buffalo of a man, plays with a strong bottom hand, dragging the bat across the line from off to leg.
For most, it would be judged as a potentially fatal flaw and an invitation for a stream of lbw appeals, particularly in English seaming conditions.
Some men, however, are born to break rules.
If they weren't, we would never have heard of golfers Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer or, indeed, Smith's fellow South African batsman Graeme Pollock, who succeeded despite limited footwork.
That did not stop him ending his career with the second highest Test average behind Don Bradman.
A consensus is rapidly forming that what makes Smith special, apart from his relentless concentration, is his eyes.
Richards, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said Smith was "less than aesthetic" in style but added: "In my opinion, no batsman during my time or since has watched the ball so closely and for such long periods... If you hit the edge you have really earned it."
Former England captain Mike Brearley made a similar point in the Observer.
Smith picks up his bat with a closed face, "contrary to all coaching books", but he also "watches the ball on to the bat with a more hawk-eyed ferocity than anyone else. Most people blink, or shift away, in the instant before hitting the ball.
"Smith's eyes are avidly open throughout. What's more, he keeps his head absolutely steady."
Better bowlers than England's will surely adopt a rigorous line outside off stump to try to counter Smith's leg-side bent.
In the meantime, however, he will probably continue to hit out joyfully, and with equal ferocity, at all those stone and pie throwers who dare to stand in his way.
