Ordinary Extraordinary Quotes & Sayings

[ The Finest Hours] reminded me a lot of a film I did called Unstoppable in that you have a driving thriller aspect of the film and it's not all that complicated of a story and there's a simple elegance to it. I liked that. It is also driven by a really strong romance and ordinary men doing extraordinary things. I love that. — Chris Pine

Ordinary people with commitments can make an extraordinary impact in their world — John Maxwell Hamilton

[Ritual] dwells in an invisible reality and gives this reality a vocabulary, props, costume, gesture, scenery. Ritual makes things separate, sets them apart from ordinary affairs and thoughts. Rituals need not be solemn, but they are formalized, stylized, extraordinary, and artificial. In the name of ritual, we can do anything. We can do astonishing acts. In the end, ritual gives us assurance about the unification of things. — Barbara Myerhoff

An All-American is an ordinary person with an extraordinary desire to excel. You don't get to the top of the mountain by just dreaming. It's nice to dream. But it's the work ethic and pride that makes you get to that mountain top and that level of success. — Dick Vitale

Doing anything worthwhile will present challenges, but everyone who achieves their goal is an ordinary person who becomes extraordinary. — Joanne Van Leerdam

The first step toward becoming extraordinary is, of course, to stop being ordinary. — Seth Godin

To be old is to be part of a huge and ordinary multitude ... the reason why old age was venerated in the past was because it was extraordinary. — Ronald Blythe

Don't wait for extraordinary circumstance to do good; try to use ordinary situations. — Charles Francis Richter

The history of the human race is the history of ordinary people who have overcome their fears and accomplished extraordinary things. — Brian Tracy

Ordinary men with extraordinary power
Common men with uncommon results
Usual men with unusual anointing
Unschooled mortal men with immortal vision
Weak men with mighty deeds
-Insight for Fruitful Living — Ikechukwu Joseph

The ordinary man with extraordinary power is the chief danger for mankind - not the fiend or the sadist. — Erich Fromm

It sometime is so amazing to know, how the most ordinary day turns so extraordinary, in a flash of second. And depending on harshness of a sudden jolt of reality, sometime one has no option but to still be hopeful, listen to the heartbeat, still dream grand, still dream impossible; and keep one's inner self illuminated forever. After all, dream only turns into reality, if one is genuinely passionate and truthful to it. What a waste of life it would be otherwise. — Smishra

There's ordinary people out there doing extraordinary things. — Neal Shusterman

I wanted to look at them because I feel, internally, that I am an ordinary person who has had an extraordinary life. — Sidney Poitier

Your path is your own, but you must walk side by side with others, with compassion and generosity as your beacons. If anything is required it is this: fearlessness in your examination of life and death; Willingness to continually grow; and openness to the possibility that the ordinary is extraordinary, and that your joys and your sorrows have meaning and mystery — Elizabeth Lesser

The lesser your achievements the lesser your critics.
The greater your achievements the greater your critics.
Ordinary achievements attract ordinary admirers.
Extraordinary achievements attract extraordinary admirers. — Matshona Dhliwayo

Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself. — William Martin

In the middle of all the ordinary--something extraordinary shows up. — KariAnne Wood

The driven, passionate ones give their best on ordinary days and that is why they are extraordinary. — Twinkle Khanna

As soon as it is seen, the extraordinary starts becoming ordinary! — Mehmet Murat Ildan

Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people. — Harry Emerson Fosdick

I'd say that what I do is like a crack in the mirror. If you go back over the books from Carrie on up, what you see is an observation of ordinary middle-class American life as it's lived at the time that particular book was written. In every life you get to a point where you have to deal with something that's inexplicable to you, whether it's the doctor saying you have cancer or a prank phone call. So whether you talk about ghosts or vampires or Nazi war criminals living down the block, we're still talking about the same thing, which is an intrusion of the extraordinary into ordinary life and how we deal with it. What that shows about our character and our interactions with others and the society we live in interests me a lot more than monsters and vampires and ghouls and ghosts. — Stephen King

Sometimes that which seems ordinary is really most extraordinary of all. — M.P. Kozlowsky

Realism sets itself at work to consider characters and events which are apparently the most ordinary and uninteresting, in order to extract from these their full value and true meaning. It would apprehend in all particulars the connection between the familiar and the extraordinary, and the seen and unseen of human nature. — George Parsons Lathrop

Some people may find material chores irksome; they would prefer to use their time to talk and be with others. They haven't yet realized that the thousand and one small things that have to be done each day, the cycle of dirtying and cleaning, were given by God to enable us to communicate through matter. . . . We are all called to do, not extraordinary things, but very ordinary things, with an extraordinary love that flows from the heart of God.

. . . A community which has a sense of work done well, quietly and lovingly, humbly and without fuss, can become a community where the presence of God is profoundly lived. . . . So the community will take on a whole contemplative dimension. — Jean Vanier

The worst misfortune that can happen to an ordinary man is to have an extraordinary father. — Austin O'Malley

Make the difficult choices and adopt the discipline regime required of a person who has set their mind to succeed, kiss mediocrity goodbye and translate an ordinary life to the extraordinary. It takes personal commitment of time and resources, and a sacrifice of non-essential pleasures to move towards success. — Archibald Marwizi

When ordinary people pray, extraordinary things can happen. — Brian Houston

I'm not studying the heroes who lead navies - and armies - and win wars. I'm studying ordinary people who you wouldn't expect to be heroic, but who, when there's a crisis, show extraordinary bravery and self-sacrifice. Like Jenna Geidel, who gave her life vaccinating people during the Pandemic. And the fishermen and retired boat owners and weekend sailors who rescued the British Army from Dunkirk. And Wells Crowther, the twenty-four-year-old equities trader who worked in the World Trade Center. When it was hit by terrorists, he could have gotten out, but instead he went back and saved ten people, and died. I'm going to observe six different sets of heroes in six different situations to try to determine what qualities they have in common. — Connie Willis

We cannot afford the luxury of self pity. Our top priority now is to get on with the building process. My personal peace has come through helping boys and girls reach beyond the ordinary and strive for the extraordinary. We must teach our children to weather the hurricanes of life, pick up the pieces, and rebuild. We must impress upon our children that even when troubles rise to seven-point- one on life's Richter scale, they must be anchored so deeply that, though they sway, they will not topple — Mamie Till

The cinema should be human and be part of people's lives; it should focus on ordinary existences in sometimes extraordinary situations and places. That is what really motivates me. — Claire Denis

But now, all are tied up to the ordinary standing rule of the written word and must not expect any such extraordinary revelations from God. The way we now have to know the will of God concerning us in difficult cases is to search and study the Scriptures, and where we find no particular rule to guide us in this or that particular case, there we are to apply general rules and govern ourselves according to the analogy and proportion they bear towards each other. — John Flavel

She squeezed my hand, and I drew a shaky breath, marveling at the fact that while on an ordinary leave in an ordinary place, I'd somehow fallen in love with an extraordinary girl named Savannaah Lynn Curtis. — Nicholas Sparks

A good life happens when you stop and are grateful for the ordinary moments that so many of us just steamroll over to try to find those extraordinary moments. — Brene Brown

Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course ... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret ... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige". — Christopher Priest

Systems permit ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results predictably. — Michael Gerber

The ideal politician is an ordinary representative of his class with extraordinary abilities. — Rick Perlstein

I'm drawn to stories about ordinary people who get tangled up in an extraordinary event or idea or emotion. I'm not saying I don't love films about super-people or super-doctors, but my preference is for stories about how we get through this life, what it is to be human, because I'm always struggling with it myself. — Sophie Okonedo

Organizations exist to enable ordinary people to do extraordinary things. — Theodore Levitt

People always related to President Bush, but in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War, his numbers collapsed because people didn't feel like he handled those properly. Obama is the inverse. He was elected because he was an extraordinary guy, but the fact that he isn't ordinary has turned out to be politically damaging. — Nicolle Wallace

There are no heroes, Tian Haoli. Grand Secretary Shi was both courageous and cowardly, capable and foolish. Wang Xiuchu was both an opportunistic survivor and a man of greatness of spirit. I'm mostly selfish and vain, but sometimes even I surprise myself. We're all just ordinary men - well, I'm an ordinary demon - faced with extraordinary choices. In those moments, sometimes heroic ideals demand that we become their avatars. — Ken Liu

We often don't realize that the extraordinary is to be found in the lives of ordinary people. — Paulo Coelho

Struggles and challenges are ordinary, it's how you deal with them that can make you extraordinary. — Shan Fazelbhoy

I am an ordinary person who has been blessed with extraordinary opportunities and experiences. Today is one of those experiences. — Sonia Sotomayor

All errors are just ordinary, what extraordinary sin can you commit? All the sins have been committed already. You cannot find a new sin - it is very difficult, it is almost impossible to be original about sin. For millions of years people have committed everything that can be committed.
To be thrown in hell for your sins. Now this is too much! you can throw a man into hell for five years, ten years, twenty years, fifty years. If a man has lived for seventy years you can throw him there for seventy years.and that is if you only believe in one life. It is good that they believe in one life. — Osho

The extraordinary lies in the path of ordinary people. — Paulo Coelho

Creativity is the ability to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary. — Dewitt Jones

I always feel the desire to look for the extraordinary in ordinary things; to suggest, not to impose, to leave always a slight touch of mystery in my paintings. — Balthus

Life at times, gives the most unexpected and shocking outcome for the most ordinary person, leading to extraordinary tales. — Arvind Parashar

The interesting thing about Hain is that he's not a very interesting character. He's not fabulously clever. He's not a great policeman. He's not hugely charismatic. I'd describe him as a kind-of Chekhovian character. He's an ordinary bloke, to whom extraordinary things have happened. Which is quite hard to play, I have to say. — Robbie Coltraine

Ordinary daily life, which so many people thought had no flash or filigree, was to Bibi at all times extraordinary; so much magic and wonder were at work in the world, so much mystery in its depths, that she didn't want - and couldn't cope with - any more than what it offered to anyone who was willing to see. After — Dean Koontz

As you take a few minutes each day to quiet your mind, you will discover a nice benefit: your everyday, "ordinary" life will begin to seem far more extraordinary. Little things that
previously went unnoticed will begin to please you. You'll be more easily satisfied, and happier all around. Rather than focusing on what's wrong with your life, you'll find yourself thinking about and more fully enjoying what's right with your life. The world won't change, but your perception of it will. You'll start to notice the
little acts of kindness and caring from other people rather than the negativity and anger. — Jack Canfield

Great leadership makes ordinary people into extraordinary people. — Jeffrey Fry

Wisdom is what separates average people from extraordinary people. — Andy Andrews

Reviewers claimed that she could see a way through any emotional conflict; more often than not, they mentioned the purity of her heart. But they were wrong. It was the impurity in her heart that made her successful. She was an ordinary woman who'd made extraordinary mistakes. She understood every nuance of need and loss. — Kristin Hannah

As the German expression has it, the last judgement is the youngest day, and it is a day surpassing all days. Not that judgement is reserved for the end of time. On the contrary, justice won't wait; it is to be done at every instant, to be realized all the time, and studied also (it is to be learned). Every just act (are there any?) makes of its day the last day or - as Kafka said - the very last: a dat no longer situated in the ordinary succession of days but one that makes of the most commonplace ordinary, the extraordinary. He who has been the contemporary of the camps if forever a survivor: death will not make him die. — Maurice Blanchot

Everything has the potential to be extraordinary, whether an old photograph, a book or a life. If you find it ordinary, you simply need to take a closer look. — Claire Cameron

Peace can only be found in what your extraordinary imagination has defined as an ordinary life. — Shannon L. Alder

We can begin a discussion of artmaking by noting that from very early (as long ago as 200,000 years), humans have been naturally attracted to the extraordinary as a dimension of experience and that at some point they seem also to have been moved to make the ordinary extraordinary-that is, to shape or elaborate everyday, mundane reality and thereby transform it into something special, different from the everyday. — Ellen Dissanayake

Raising the ordinary to extraordinary — E.L. James

There are no extraordinary men ... just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with. — William Halsey

Ordinary performers have giant TVs. Extraordinary performers have huge libraries. — Robin Sharma

Tiberius, be extra-ordinary. I don't mean extraordinary, I mean to go out of your way to always be ordinary in life. No need to drive one of those million-dollar cars or think your shit don't stink. — Rachel Blaufeld

God does not want a church filled with white-robed saints. He does not want a church filled with theological authorities or cultured clergyman. He wants a church filled with ordinary men and women who exemplify the extraordinary integrity, temperament, wholeness, compassion, individuality, boldness, righteousness, earnestness, love, forgiveness, selflessness, and faithfulness of Jesus Christ! — Ray Stedman

You enter the extraordinary by way of the ordinary — Frederick Buechner

When I'm playing a character like Jonathan in Ripley's Game I want to be in the moment when he's feeling pain; this very ordinary person who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances. — Dougray Scott

You may change cause people wanna see you like you are ordinary , But you fight so hard for changing cause someone saw you extraordinary — Walaa WalkademAgmal

We should learn how to differentiate between ordinary and extraordinary persons . Not losing the precious ones ! — Walaa WalkademAgmal

Day after day, ordinary people become heroes through extraordinary and selfless actions to help their neighbors. — Sylvia Mathews Burwell

Extraordinary people are ordinary people with extraordinary passion. — Amit Kalantri

Because Jesus was strong for me, I am free to be weak;
because Jesus won for me, I am free to lose;
because Jesus was someone, I am free to be no one;
because Jesus was extraordinary, I am free to be ordinary;
because Jesus succeeded for me, I am free to fail. — Tullian Tchividjian

Joy comes to us in moments - ordinary moments. We risk missing out on joy when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary. Scarcity culture may keep us afraid of living small, ordinary lives, but when you talk to people who have survived great losses, it is clear that joy is not a constant. — Brene Brown

It takes strength to be proud of yourself and to accept yourself when you know that you have something out of the ordinary about you. — Abigail Tarttelin

You don't need to have extraordinary effort to achieve extraordinary results. You just need to do the ordinary, everyday things exceptionally well. — Warren Buffett

My stories are not Christianized at all. I don't even have any Christians in my stories. What they are, are stories about ordinary people going through extraordinary circumstances in which I'm exploring truth. How light overcomes darkness in a way that's unmistakable to anyone who has any kind of faith. — Ted Dekker

For seventy-five years I've made ladies dresses. That means that for seventy-five years I have made women happy. For seventy-five years I have made mature women spin around in front of the mirror like young girls. For seventy-five years I have made young girls look in the mirror and for the first time see a woman staring back at them. I have made young men's eyes pop out. I've made old men's eyes pop out. Because the right dress does that. It makes ordinary women feel extraordinary. — Jane L Rosen

For me, Savannah's resistance to change was its saving grace. The city looked inward, sealed off from the noises and distractions of the world at large. It grew inward, too, and in such a way that its people flourished like hothouse plants tended by an indulgent gardener. The ordinary became extraordinary. Eccentrics thrived. Every nuance and quirk of personality achieved greater brilliance in that lush enclosure than would have been possible anywhere else in the world. — John Berendt

The world is a place where the extraordinary can sit just beside the ordinary with the thinnest of boundaries; that even in environments inhospitable to man, all sort of entities might thrive. — Jodi Picoult

It's like I am inside this ethereal sphere wherein exists no logic, no reasoning, no typicality, no explanations, no realism, no comparisons, nothing ordinary, and no normalcy. And then if you are to understand me, you have to step into my realm and leave all of those things behind. I'm not typical. I'm not ordinary. And I'm not normal. And I never will be . So I don't see the point of waking up in the morning and wishing to be so. — C. JoyBell C.

We're all so busy chasing the extraordinary that we forget to stop and be grateful for the ordinary. — Brene Brown

I know for myself how the fruits of the gospel of Jesus Christ can transform lives from the ordinary and dreary to the extraordinary and sublime. — Dieter F. Uchtdorf

And this is what was fascinating to me about 'The Help'; they were ordinary people who did extraordinary things. — Viola Davis

For all our guessing and speculating, there were a few things we all agree on. Things we knew to be fact.
The drug was never meant to get out.
Ordinary people were never supposed to develop extraordinary powers.
Divines weren't supposed to take over the world.
But they did. — Violet Cross

The man I picture in my mind is someone ordinary like me. Maybe he's wearing glasses, maybe he's not so handsome, but it's how he loves me that's extraordinary.
It doesn't matter how many people there are in a room. He knows when I'm there and he'll find me right away, because I'm his heart and you always have to know where your heartbeat's coming from. — Marian Tee

Ordinary people who faithfully, diligently, and consistently do simple things that are right before God will bring forth extraordinary results. — David A. Bednar

He came face-to-face with the rude paradox fame had dealt him: The secret of his extraordinary art had been his ability to observe human interaction anonymously, thereby gaining insight into the emotions on display in ordinary life
it was his ability to become a fly-on-the-wall that made him famous, and fame had destroyed his ability to become a fly-on-the-wall. — C.R. Strahan

God does extraordinary things with ordinary people. — Kimberly M. Hartfield

In the mind of an ordinary, 1+1 = 2; but, in the mind of an extraordinary, 1+ 1 = 10. — Joey Lawsin

People look for greatness only in the extraordinary and completely overlook the wonder of the ordinary. — Ann Tatlock

Drop the idea of being Extraordinary! It's keeping you mediocre. To be Ordinary is the most extraordinary thing in the world. The Ordinary person has light in his eyes; he has become extraordinary but he has no idea of it. — Rajneesh

Ordinary people with commitment can make an extraordinary impact on the their world. — John C. Maxwell

The only difference between an extraordinary life and an ordinary one is the extraordinary pleasures you find in ordinary things. — Veronique Vienne

I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances. — Nelson Mandela

Participation in the collective life of the polis both restrains the extraordinary individual and enlarges the ordinary individual, allowing him to participate in the extraordinary. An individual can achieve participatory excellence via the accomplishments of the polis and need not always be caught up in the agnostic struggle to outdo his peers. — Rebecca Goldstein

All truth is very ordinary. It is peoples' fantasies of what is true that is so extraordinary. — Brian Perkins

Do not try to be special. If you are simply ordinary, more ordinary than others, you will become extraordinary. — Jaggi Vasudev

It never failed to amaze me how the most ordinary day could be catapulted into the extraordinary in the blink of an eye. — Jodi Picoult

Heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary. — Gerard Way

With these vast advantages, ordinary and extraordinary, one would have supposed the North would have been content, and would have at least respected the security and tranquility of such obedient and profitable brethren; but such is not human nature. — Robert Toombs

There are no extra people alive today. Every single one of us is here for a reason, a special purpose - a mission. Yes, build a beautiful life for yourself and those you love. Yes, be happy and have a lot of fun. And yes, become successful, on your own terms rather than on those suggested to you by society. But - above all else - be significant. Make your life matter. Be of use. And be of service to as many people as possible. This is how each of us can shift from the realm of the ordinary into the heights of the extraordinary. And walk among the best who have ever lived. It — Robin S. Sharma