Extraordinary Individuals Quotes

Great men are meteors, consuming themselves to light the world

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

Wisdom is what separates average people from extraordinary people.

I'm as interested in exceptional characters as men are.

And meanwhile the sad truth was that not everyone could be extraordinary, not everyone could be extremely cool; because whom would this leave to be ordinary?

Pay any price to stay in the presence of extraordinary people.

Success is uncommon and not to be enjoyed by the common man. I'm looking for uncommon people because we want to be successful, not average.

Nations, like families, have great men only in spite of themselves. They do everything in their power not to have any. And therefore, the great man, in order to exist, must possess a force of attack which is greater than the force of resistance developed by millions of people.

Why be an average person? All the great achievements of history have been made by strong individuals who refused to consult statistics or to listen to those who could prove convincingly that what they wanted to do, and in fact ultimately did do, was completely impossible.

Great men are true men, the men in whom nature has succeeded. They are not extraordinary - they are in the true order. It is the other species of men who are not what they ought to be.

At some point in my life I realized I knew only celebrities, I didn't know any real people. I think it was a master stroke of Fate that in researching the greatest celebrity of them all, I would at last be meeting real people, finding them more extraordinary than celebrities; fascinated by them all and enjoying enduring friendships with some.

The imperative need of this nation at all times is the leadership of Uncommon Men or Women.

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations--these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat.

Great men are but life-sized. Most of them, indeed, are rather short.

Great men are sometimes so even in small things.

Exceptional people deserve special concessions.

The individuals who seem to us most outstanding, who are honored with the name of genius, are those who have proposed to enact the fate of all humanity in their personal existences.

In books, the proportion of exceptional to commonplace people is high; in reality, very low.

There are big men, men of intellect, intellectual men, men of talent and men of action; but the great man is difficult to find, and it needs --apart from discernment --a certain greatness to find him.

It isn't the common man at all who is important: it's the uncommon man.

Geniuses have the shortest biographies.

I could not write about 'ordinary people' because I am not in the least interested in them.

In every age have mighty spirits dwelt unseen with man, biding the hour that needed them.

We need not take refuge in supernatural gods to explain our saints and sages and heroes and statesmen, as if to explain our disbelief that mere unaided human beings could be that good or wise.

In general, I'm always interested in characters who have kind of extreme aspects to them, who are in some ways larger than typical people.