- Goa quote: “The great are ordinary people who act in a great way.”

“Great books are great teachers; they are showing us every day what ordinary people are capable of. These books come out of ignorant, inquiring humanity. They are usually the first announcements for success in learning. Most of them were written for, and addressed to, ordinary people.”

Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899–1977) philosopher and university president

Great Books: The Foundation of a Liberal Education (1954)

“It is the quality of a great soul to scorn great things and to prefer that which is ordinary rather than that which is too great.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XXXIX: On Noble Aspirations

“There is, I believe, a great deal to be learned from faith traditions – from the ordinary people who practice them today; from their sacred texts and writings and artefacts; and from their histories.”

Yakoub Islam

"Oh, God! It’s Religion!" (22 August 2011). 
Captain Jul's Mission Blog (2011 - 2013)
Context: There is, I believe, a great deal to be learned from faith traditions – from the ordinary people who practice them today; from their sacred texts and writings and artefacts; and from their histories. Faith traditions present a rich and diverse vein of human experience, and I am convinced that — as with other humanities — a serious interest in them is a cultural education in itself.

“The game of power is played remorselessly by men who have not the slightest knowledge of, or interest in, the way ordinary people live, and the ordinary people are too terrified to protest.”

Pierre Stephen Robert Payne (1911–1983) British lecturer, novelist, historian, poet and biographer

A Vision of the Uncorrupted Society, p. 279 (See also: Niccolò Machiavelli..)
The Corrupt Society - From Ancient Greece To Present-Day America (1975)

“The English are a dumb people. They can do great acts, but not describe them.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

Bk. III, ch. 5.
1840s, Past and Present (1843)

“There are those people who are acting irresponsibly … and spreading their gospel of fear and hate and not doing anything to help the ordinary people put bread on their table for their families.”

Epeli Ganilau (1951) Fijian politician

Remarks made at the launch of the Navua branch of the NAP, 4 June 2005

“There are no great men, there are only great challenges, which ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.”

William Frederick Halsey, Jr. (1882–1959) United States admiral

Quoted in the Congressional Record, 11 December 1971 http://books.google.com/books?id=ltuwtwQcKHwC&q=%22There+are+no+great+men+there+are%22+%22only+great+challenges+which+ordinary+men+like+you+and+me+are++forced+by+circumstances+to+meet%22&pg=PA46480#v=onepage.

“Great thoughts reduced to practice become great acts.”

William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English writer

"On the Knowledge of Character"
Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Essays/TableHazIV.htm (1821-1822)

“The great requisite … for the prosperous management of ordinary business is the want of imagination.”

William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English writer

"On Thought and Action" http://books.google.com/books?id=9NU3AAAAYAAJ&q=%22The+great+requisite%22+%22for+the+prosperous+management+of+ordinary+business+is+the+want+of+imagination%22&pg=PA241#v=onepage
Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Essays/TableHazIV.htm (1821-1822)

“Selfish people are in a way terribly capable of great loves.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald book This Side of Paradise

Source: This Side of Paradise

“The great are ordinary people who act in a great way.”

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