Quotes from work
The Natural

The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball by Bernard Malamud, and is his debut novel. The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked when he is shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. Most of the story concerns itself with his attempts to return to baseball later in life, when he plays for the fictional New York Knights with his legendary bat "Wonderboy".

“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

“I don't think you can do anything for anyone without giving up something of your own.”
The Natural (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003) p. 149 http://books.google.com/books?id=wCWhegoGUxwC&q=%22I+don't+think+you+can+do+anything+for+anyone+without+giving+up+something+of+your+own%22&pg=PA149#v=onepage. (originally published 1952)