Being Ordinary Quotes

When I look at narcissism through the vulnerability lens, I see the shame-based fear of being ordinary. I see the fear of never feeling extraordinary enough to be noticed, to be lovable, to belong, or to cultivate a sense of purpose.

He was ordinary in a world that loved the extraordinary.

The first step toward becoming extraordinary is, of course, to stop being ordinary.

I'm just a normal guy.

I'm not good enough to be a saint and not bad enough to be interesting.

What's wrong with being a boring kind of guy?

I hope what people see in me is that I'm a normal guy, and that people who look as I do can do normal things.

I don't want to be Usain Bolt.

People expect you to be this weird cartoon sometimes when you're a musician. I hate that. I hate standing out. I hate people looking at me. I just want to be part of the crowd.

What makes me unique is that I'm normal.

I'm just a normal schmo like anyone else.

I don't matter here, Shane. I feel like I just don't matter. Stupid, right?" "No," he said. He sounded so gentle it broke her heart. "It's how most people feel most of the time, Claire. You've grown up being special, and this is how most people live their lives...on their own, unnoticed. And they get used to that feeling. It's just new for you.

I used to think I was ordinary and just like everybody else, and I am, but there is something about being in a band. It's not for everyone.

We must be willing to be completely ordinary people, which means accepting ourselves as we are without trying to become greater, purer, more spiritual, more insightful. If we can accept our imperfections as they are, quite ordinarily, then we can use them as part of the path. But if we try to get rid of our imperfections, then they will be enemies, obstacles on the road to our ‘self-improvement’.

Sometimes you get caught up in what's going on around you. The reality is that you are just a regular person. At some point, the career will be over, the bright lights turn off. That can come back to haunt you if you're not just a regular guy.

Most people are happy being average. Most are happy being faceless in a sea of faces.

But, she knew, you didn’t have to marry your soulmate, and you didn’t even have to marry an Interesting. You didn’t always need to be the dazzler, the firecracker, the one who cracked everyone up, or made everyone want to sleep with you, or be the one who wrote and starred in the play that got the standing ovation. You could cease to be obsessed with the idea of being interesting.

It's tough at the top. It's tough at the bottom. But in between you could use them for horse-shoes.