“People can do great things. However, there are some things they just CAN'T do. I, for instance, have not been able to transform myself into a Popsicle, despite years of effort.”

—  Brandon Sanderson , Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Source: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "People can do great things. However, there are some things they just CAN'T do. I, for instance, have not been able to t…" by Brandon Sanderson?
Brandon Sanderson photo
Brandon Sanderson 313
American fantasy writer 1975

Related quotes

Donald J. Trump photo

“I would love to be able to be the one that made peace with Israel and the Palestinians. I would love that, that would be such a great achievement. Because nobody's been able to do it. … I've had a lot of, actually, great Israeli businesspeople tell me, you can't do that, it's impossible. I disagree, I think you can make peace. I think people are tired now of being shot, killed. At some point, when do they come? I think we can do that. I have reason to believe I can do that.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2010s, 2016, November, New York Times Interview (November 23, 2016)

Francis Escudero photo

“It would be best to show our people that we can deliver rather than make promises that we can't keep. There is just one thing that I will do however, and that is to bring the voice and the vote of our people to the Senate.”

Francis Escudero (1969) Filipino politician

Tony Lopez, "The natural successor to President Arroyo?", BizNews Asia, 11-18 June 2007, p. 26, ISSN 1655-7263.
2007

Napoleon Hill photo

“If you can't do great things, do small things in a great way.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author
Ellen DeGeneres photo

“You have to have funny faces and words, you can't just have words. It is a powerful thing, and I think that's why it's hard for people to imagine that women can do that, be that powerful.”

Ellen DeGeneres (1958) American stand-up comedian, television host, and actress

Ellen DeGeneres, US Magazine, January 1995

Hazel Blears photo

“Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of people have died — and that is a tragedy — I still believe that it was the right thing to do.”

Hazel Blears (1956) British politician

Regarding the decision to invade Iraq. "Monbiot meets... Hazel Blears," http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/video/2009/apr/25/monbiot-meets-hazel-blears The Guardian (2009-05-05)

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Warren Buffett photo

“No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.”

Warren Buffett (1930) American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

“There are some things people can do to change and some things they cannot do — character can be formed, but temperament is given. And the strong who cannot bend are just as much to be pitied as the weak who cannot stiffen.”

Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986) American journalist

“Confusing ‘Character’ with ‘Temperament’”
Clearing the Ground (1986)
Context: The core in the mystery of what we call personality resides in the individual mix between character and temperament. The most successful personalities are those who achieve the best balance between the strict demands of character and the lenient tolerance of temperament. This balance is the supreme test of genuine leadership, separating the savior from the fanatic.
The human Jesus is, to my mind, the ultimate paradigm of such psychic equilibrium. He was absolutely hard on himself and absolutely tender toward others. He maintained the highest criteria of conduct for himself but was not priggish or censorious or self-righteous about those who were weaker and frailer. Most persons of strength cannot accept or tolerate weakness in others. They are blind to the virtues they do not possess themselves and are fiercely judgmental on one scale of values alone. Jesus was unique, even among religious leaders, in combining the utmost of principle with the utmost of compassion for those unable to meet his standards.
We need to understand temperament better than we do and to recognize its symbiotic relationship to character. There are some things people can do to change and some things they cannot do — character can be formed, but temperament is given. And the strong who cannot bend are just as much to be pitied as the weak who cannot stiffen.

“All the great people and great things in life are failures. It is in doing what we cannot do but must try to do that humans rise to their exalted fulfillment. Maglie had tried to do with an old man’s arm and back what a young man might not have been able to do as well. Of such failures is greatness made.”

Arnold Hano (1922) American writer

On Sal Maglie's departure from Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, from A Day in the Bleachers https://books.google.com/books?id=iJqHg1sitk0C&pg=PA114 (1955) by Hano, p. 114
Other Topics

Related topics