“Without heroes, we're all plain people, and don't know how far we can go.”

The Natural (1952) p. 154 http://books.google.com/books?id=wCWhegoGUxwC&q=%22Without+heroes+we're+all+plain+people+and+don't+know+how+far+we+can+go%22&pg=PA148#v=onepage

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 "Without heroes, we're all plain people, and don't know how far we can go." by Bernard Malamud?
Bernard Malamud photo
Bernard Malamud 19
American author 1914–1986

Related quotes

Jean Cocteau photo

“Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far.”

Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, boxing manager and filmmaker

Variant translation: Tact in audacity consists in knowing how far we may go too far.
Le Coq et l’Arlequin (1918)

Doris Lessing photo
Curtis Mayfield photo

“He says don't worry, worry, worry, worry.But they don't know,
There can be no show.
And if there's a hell below,
We're all gonna go, go, go, go, go.”

Curtis Mayfield (1942–1999) American singer, songwriter, and record producer

(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, from Curtis (1970).
Song lyrics

Karen Blixen photo
Heinrich Böll photo

“One ought to go too far, in order to know how far one can go.”

Heinrich Böll (1917–1985) German author, novelist, and short story writer

Sie muss also zu weit gehen, um herauszufinden, wie weit sie gehen darf.
"Die Freiheit der Kunst", speech delivered at Wuppertal on September 24, 1966; cited from Cultura 21 magazine http://www.cultura21.de/magazin/denkanstosse/d20050930a.html, September 30, 2005. Translation: Walter Laqueur Germany Today: A Personal Report (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985) p. 130.

Ann Brashares photo
Haruki Murakami photo

“No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves. That's all.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

Source: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories

Ronald Reagan photo

“We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.”

Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)

The third and fourth sentences are a paraphrase of a sentence by G. K. Chesterton: "I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act." Generally Speaking, "On Holland' (1928).
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985), First Inaugural address (1981)
Context: It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope. We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.

Philip Reeve photo

Related topics