“I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by those who struggle to make one small difference after another.”

—  Ellen Goodman

Attributed

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am…" by Ellen Goodman?
Ellen Goodman photo
Ellen Goodman 21
American journalist and writer 1941

Related quotes

Margaret Cho photo

“I have to watch the news and movies about the people who I am not, then translate my struggle in order to make it palatable for those people who don't have to march but are sympathetic to my voice.”

Margaret Cho (1968) American stand-up comedian

From Her Books, I Have Chosen To Stay And Fight, ACTIVISM

Booker T. Washington photo

“The longer I live and the more experience I have of the world, the more I am convinced that, after all, the one thing that is most worth living for-and dying for, if need be-is the opportunity of making someone else more happy.”

Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American educator, author, orator, and advisor
Newton Lee photo

“I am never content with what I have [accomplished]. Jimmy reminded me of those less fortunate than I, people out there who are struggling just to survive.”

Newton Lee American computer scientist

Disney Consumer Products News (Summer 1998)

Paulo Coelho photo

“I am here to tell you that there are people who have never been defeated. They are the ones who never fought.”

Paulo Coelho book Manuscript Found in Accra

Manuscript Found in Accra (2012), The Defeated Ones

Howard Zinn photo

“We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”

Howard Zinn (1922–2010) author and historian
George Raymond Richard Martin photo

“My own heroes are the dreamers, those men and women who tried to make the world a better place than when they found it, whether in small ways or great ones. Some succeeded, some failed, most had mixed results… but it is the effort that's heroic, as I see it. Win or lose, I admire those who fight the good fight.”

George Raymond Richard Martin (1948) American writer, screenwriter and television producer

Talking about Busted Flush the Wild Cards novel, Interview on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2008/12/interview-with-george-r-r-martin-and.html (December 2008)
Context: With great power comes great responsibility, Stan Lee once wrote. Spidey's credo articulates the basic premise of every superhero universe, including ours. But Lord Acton wrote that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The tension between those two truths is where the drama comes in. My own heroes are the dreamers, those men and women who tried to make the world a better place than when they found it, whether in small ways or great ones. Some succeeded, some failed, most had mixed results... but it is the effort that's heroic, as I see it. Win or lose, I admire those who fight the good fight.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón photo

“Never trust anyone, Daniel, especially the people you admire. Those are the ones who will make you suffer the worst blows.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

Paul Bourget photo

“Even after making up one's mind to the sacrifices I had decided upon, there is always left a trace of envy for those who have triumphed in the melancholy struggle for literary supremacy.”

Paul Bourget (1852–1935) French writer

The Age for Love

Norman Mailer photo

“I am convinced the most unfortunate people are those who would make an art of love. It sours other effort. Of all artists, they are certainly the most wretched.”

Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film maker, actor and political candidate

Source: The Man Who Studied Yoga (1956), Ch. 5

“My dearest wish is the liberation of Namibia, for whose freedom I am quite prepared to give my life. I am conscious that I may never see the fulfilment of this hope within my own lifetime. I am more conscious for the many, many failures to achieve or accomplish what I might have achieved, as well as my failures to convince people, to win over support for our struggle within this country and elsewhere. I am deeply conscious of my failures to love, to show more patience when people have shown an inability to grasp our situation or have responded with stubborn aggression or anger. My constant reproach to myself is, if I had been more loving, perhaps Bishop X would have responded or Archbishop Y might have been more positive. But the very failing has its lessons to teach my brother and sister Namibians who will come after me and who will carry forward the struggle, learning from my mistakes. God can use my failures as well as my successes. This is a cause for great hope. "When I am weakest then am strongest!"”

Colin Winter (1928–1981) Bishop of Damaraland noted for opposing apartheid; exiled Bishop of Namibia; Irish-British Anglican bishop

God can turn my failures into triumphs: this is the mystery of the Cross.
The Breaking Process http://www.getcited.org/pub/103428837, London: SCM Press Ltd., 1981, p. 99. ISBN 0334001390

Related topics