One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.

President Bush is an intelligent man. He is not going to declare an economic war against Iraq . […] I admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country. I know you need funds. We understand that, and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we have no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts like your border disagreement with Kuwait .

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

If a man for whatever reason has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.

His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth traveled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.

It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.

It all starts with a choice that is consistent with our journey in life — with who we really are. Each of us is given a multitude of gifts at birth. We all possess extraordinary talents and capabilities. There are no exceptions. Our gifts are unique to us.

Our first choice is to live our life as our authentic self, as the person we really are deep down inside. When we do that, we can access a grand library of all that is possible for us—the journeys through life that are right for us. This allows us to make choices that flow from who we are and what we can be. That’s when life works. That’s when a positive outlook can make all the difference in the world.

Don’t try to paddle up raging rapids, then give up on positive thought because it doesn’t seem to be working for you. First, discover who you really are, so you can make choices that will align you with the current on a smooth river. Go with the flow of your unique life and you’ll get in the zone of fulfillment. It all starts with a choice. Now might be a good time to make that choice.

He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.