“Bad things do happen in the world, like war, natural disasters, disease. But out of those situations always arise stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” PeopleWorldWarStoriesHappensNaturalSituationDiseaseOrdinaryExtraordinaryDisasterAriseBad ThingsOrdinary PeopleExtraordinary ThingsNatural DisasterOrdinary Things Author:Daryn Kagan
“I think a repressive regime always fears people who are awakened - particularly ordinary people. If they are awakened, I think governments all over the world feel uncomfortable about that; they want to be in control. They want to be the ones telling people: "This is what we have done in history" but when people begin to say, "No this is what we have done in history" it's a different thing.” PeopleIfsThinkingWorldWantFeelsDifferentDoneGovernmentOrdinaryUncomfortableDifferent ThingsRegimesOrdinary PeopleAwakened Author:Ngugi wa Thiong'o
“We tend to overlook the fact that a mature clean energy economy in fact will give an opportunity to ordinary people to earn more money as clean energy workers/entrepreneurs - and save more money, through conservation and energy efficiency.” PeopleGivingFactsOpportunityEnergyEconomyOrdinaryEntrepreneurCleanWorkersMatureMore MoneyEfficiencyConservationOrdinary PeopleClean EnergyEnergy Efficiency Author:Van Jones
“In the texts, and as His Holiness the Dalai Lama reminds us, we should check the person's behavior not when they're sitting on a big throne, but behind the scenes. How do they treat ordinary people - not the big sponsors - but just ordinary people who are of no particular importance to them.” PeopleShouldPersonsBigsBehindsParticularSceneBehaviorOrdinarySittingTreatsImportanceChecksHolinessThronesOrdinary PeopleBehind The ScenesSponsorsLamaDalai Author:Tenzin Palmo
“If you listen to the talk shows, which are rabid right-wing, and very interesting, an important fact about the United States, they reach a huge audience. And they're very uniform. So right wing, I don't think you can even find an analog in your, but they reach a mass audience, and their view is that the corporations are liberal. Their appeal to the population is, "the country is run by liberals, they own the corporations, they run the government, they own the media, and they don't care about us ordinary people."” PeopleIfsThinkingImportantCountryStatesFactsShowsGovernmentCareRunningInterestingUnitedViewsUnited StatesAudienceMediaHugeMassOrdinaryWingsPopulationDon't CareAppealsCorporationsUniformsOrdinary PeopleVery InterestingRight WingTalk ShowsAnalog Author:Noam Chomsky
“I think that ordinary people who are placed in extraordinary circumstances find themselves pushed beyond their limits, and learn new truths about themselves.” PeopleThinkingCircumstancesLimitsOrdinaryExtraordinaryOrdinary People Author:Jodi Picoult
“We were talking to shop owners or ordinary people who were living in these buildings now. A lot of the Olympic Villages were turned into housing.” PeopleTalkingBuildingOrdinaryShopsOwnersVillageOrdinary PeopleHousing Author:Gary Hustwit
“We have these traditional political parties that are less and less responsive to the needs of ordinary people, so people are in search of their own values.” PeopleNeedsPoliticalValuesPartyOrdinaryTraditionalPolitical PartiesOrdinary People Author:Edward Snowden
“During those days when you're exhausted and during those days when you're frustrated, during those days when you're being attacked by your own people for doing what you think is right, remember you're part of a progression that goes back a long time of ordinary people who are doing their best to make it a better world.” PeopleThinkingWorldLongRememberLong TimeOrdinaryFrustratedExhaustedOrdinary PeopleProgressionRemember YouRemembers You Author:Cleve Jones
“Anais Nin shows an occasional grace in writing, but her work is quite foreign to me, precisely because she wants so much to be feminine and not feminist. And then she is so gaga before so many men. She talks about men I know in France, men who were less than nothing, and she considers them kings, extraordinary people.” PeopleKnowsMenWantWritingShowsGraceKingsExtraordinaryFeministFranceFeminineOrdinary PeopleOccasionalGaga Author:Simone de Beauvoir
“We should assume that we all have a lot in common. Speak as if our views are the only sensible ones. This resonates with ordinary people, as long as we speak ordinary language and don't come across as elitists.” PeopleIfsShouldLongSpeakLanguageViewsCommonOrdinaryAssumingSensibleOrdinary PeopleElitist Author:Michael Yates
“The things [Pope Francis] has done in a short period of time: the fact that he does not live in a huge papal mansion and just dropped by in the dining room where ordinary people have meals. You think of his background, where he didn't use limousines in South America, that he used public transport.” PeopleThinkingDoeDoneFactsUseAmericaUsedRoomsHugePeriodsOrdinarySouthBackgroundsMealsPopeOrdinary PeopleTransportMansionsDiningSouth AmericaDining RoomsLimousines Author:Desmond Tutu
“Initially, QE contributed to a pretty significant increase in inequality. It raised asset prices, which are owned primarily by the wealthy, while having relatively small if any positive impacts on bank lending, employment, wages or economic growth, so ordinary people haven't had much help. By the third round of QE in 2012-2014, the effects had likely muted quite a bit. There were probably not big impacts on asset prices from QE and the positive effects on employment growth might have strengthened somewhat.” PeopleIfsHelpingBigsMightBitsGrowthEconomicEffectsHavensOrdinaryThirdsIncreaseImpactRaisedRoundsSignificantEmploymentInequalityWealthyAssetsWagesOrdinary PeopleEconomic GrowthLendingPositive ImpactHaving StrengthBig Impact Author:Gerald Epstein
“Ordinary people like you and me can achieve very little on their own. We need to build support. Even if you are a thought leader and have some good ideas on how to make the world better, and even if you write five or ten books - that won't have much effect unless you have people who are willing to support your ideas.” PeopleIfsWorldNeedsWritingLittlesBookIdeasLeaderSupportFiveAchieveEffectsWillingLike YouTenOrdinaryGood IdeasOrdinary People Author:Thomas Pogge
“Expectations are usually predicated on the idea that the everyday things that happen to ordinary people shouldn't happen to you. People hold the idea of being ordinary in absolute contempt, so when they face an illness, poverty, or any kind of catastrophe, they say, "I can't believe this happened to me." And who did you think it was going to happen to - the woman across the street? It makes them think, "I must be on the wrong path." But what if something you thought was bad was the best thing that ever happened to you? What if that was part of your path?” PeopleIfsThinkingBelieveKindI CanIdeasHappensFacesPovertyPathHappenedStreetsOrdinaryExpectationsAbsolutesEverydayIllnessBest ThingsWhat IfContemptCatastropheOrdinary PeopleWrong PathEveryday Things Author:Caroline Myss
“I started as a community organizer. Every one of my campaigns was premised on getting new people involved. And if there's a theme in my public career it's that if ordinary people get involved then good things happen. So I want to see the Democratic Party move in that direction. And what that means is that we aren't just micro-targeting to eke out presidential victories; it means that we're showing up in places where right now we're not winning a lot.” PeopleIfsWantMeanHappensMovingWinningCommunityPartyCareersVictoryInvolvedRight NowOrdinaryGood ThingsDemocraticCampaignsThings HappenPresidentialThemeOrdinary PeopleGet InvolvedDemocratic PartyShowing UpOrganizer Author:Barack Obama
“In a democracy in the 20th and 21st century, if you can't base your fiction upon ordinary people and the issues that engage them, then you are reduced to writing about spectacular unreal people. You know, James Bond or something, and you cook up adventures.” PeopleIfsKnowsWritingFictionDemocracyIssuesCenturyAdventureOrdinaryCooks21st CenturyOrdinary PeopleSpectacularUnreal Author:John Updike
“In Burma, economic engagement enriches the regime, as the economy is controlled by the regime. Economic engagement benefits this elite, not ordinary people. The money is spent on the military, stolen by the elite.” PeopleEconomyEconomicMilitaryBenefitsOrdinaryControlledEngagementRegimesElitesStolenOrdinary PeopleBurma Author:Zoya Phan
“In 'The Way Back' survivors were all ordinary people, and that's the whole point, that's who I felt these people should be, and they shouldn't be that hero that stands out.” PeopleHeroSurvivorStanding OutOrdinary People Author:Peter Weir
“When you start to meet with ordinary people you understand that a Russian person, really any person from Russia, a Tatar, a Mordvin, a Chechen, a Dagestani, they are very open people, even a little naive. But there's one defining trait that probably all peoples have, although it comes out especially strongly in us. That's a drive toward fairness. It's one of the dominating, I think, traits in the mentality of a person from Russia, a Russian person.” PeopleThinkingMentalityTraitsFairnessOrdinary PeopleDominating Author:Vladimir Putin
“Apart from a commendable determination to discomfit Trump and members of his inner circle (select military figures excepted, at least for now), journalism remains pretty much what it was prior to November 8th of last year: personalities built up only to be torn down; fads and novelties discovered, celebrated, then mocked; "extraordinary" stories of ordinary people granted 15 seconds of fame only to once again be consigned to oblivion - all served with a side dish of that day's quota of suffering, devastation, and carnage. These remain journalism's stock-in-trade.” PeopleSufferingMilitaryPersonalityFameDeterminationExtraordinaryJournalismGrantedTornOblivionOrdinary PeopleSelectNovemberCarnageCommendable Author:Andrew Bacevich
“China after Olympics will progress very slowly. But the demands for freedom - on the part of ordinary people but also party members - won't be as easy to contain.” PeopleEasyPartyProgressOrdinary People Author:Liu Xiaobo
“The ideals and the values of the United States inspired the entire world. I don't think any of us can say that our standing in the world now, the way children around the world look at the United States, is the same. And part of what we need to do is to send a message to the world that we are going to invest in issues like education, we are going to invest in issues that relate to how ordinary people are able to live out their dreams. And that is something that I'm going to be committed to as president of the United States.” PeopleThinkingWorldChildrenDreamValuesPresidentInspiredCommittedOrdinary People Author:Barack Obama
“The average age of the Jazz audience is increasing rapidly. Rapidly enough to suggest that there is no replacement among young people. Young people aren't starting to listen to Jazz and carrying it along in their lives with them. Jazz is becoming more like Classical music in terms of its relationship to the audience. And just a Classical music is grappling with the problem of audience development, so is Jazz grappling with this problem. I believe, deeply that Jazz is still a very vital music that has much to say to ordinary people. But it has to be systematic about getting out the message.” PeopleBelieveEnoughProblemAgeI BelieveTermAudienceMusic IsJazzOrdinary PeopleClassical Music Author:Terry Teachout
“The expense of getting into space is the rocket launch, the rocket itself. Rocket's right now, commercial rockets cost probably somewhere between $50, or $120, or $150 million per launch. And those are all expendable. That is, you've got to buy a new rocket for each launch. So, that really is the critical part. If there was some kind of really, a revolutionary breakthrough and the price of rockets fell by an order of magnitude, I mean, just imagine what that would do as far as getting access to more ordinary people.” PeopleKindMeanImagineRevolutionaryOrdinary PeopleBreakthrough Author:Leroy Chiao
“And poets, in my view, and I think the view of most people, do speak God's language - it's better, it's finer, it's language on a higher plane than ordinary people speak in their daily lives.” PeopleThinkingSpeakLanguageViewsPoetHigherOrdinaryPlanesDaily LifeOrdinary People Author:Stephen King
“Ordinary people who are just kind of just going about their lives are transformed into heroes because they have the courage to put their voices out there. And I think that's a powerful message in this time of political strife.” PeopleThinkingKindPoliticalPowerfulHeroOrdinary People Author:Viola Davis
“I find flying interesting in that it's a very intimate experience. You're so close, physically, to one or two other people and you eat, sleep, do everything together. I've met the most extraordinary people on planes, some of whom I've stayed in touch with, some I haven't. Even if you're beside someone who ignores you for eight hours, there's a physicality you wouldn't put up with from anyone other than someone you knew well. You're in it together, even if you never say a word to one another.” PeopleTogetherHoursSleepInterestingExtraordinaryFlyingIntimateOrdinary People Author:Mira Calix
“My job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives. My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. But if you look at the track record America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that. And that I think is going to be an important task.” PeopleThinkingWorldChildrenImportantSometimesReasonMistakeEnemyExtraordinaryTrackCommunicateMaking MistakesPartnershipOrdinary PeopleBetter Life Author:Barack Obama
“The struggle of ordinary people for a decent living, for security, is as old as the republic, but it's taken on a new and urgent edge. Instead of shared prosperity our political system has now produced a winner-take-all economy.” PeoplePoliticalStruggleEconomyTakenSecurityProsperityDecentOrdinary People Author:Bill Moyers
“I am talking about ordinary people making the link between their communities being treated as disposable and the assumption that the environments they depend on are disposable as well. What gives me hope is the kind of bridgework I'm seeing between social movements on the one hand, and young writers and artists on the other, all intent on opposing such pitiless, short-term thinking.” PeopleThinkingGivingKindArtistCommunityEnvironmentAssumptionOrdinary People Author:Rob Nixon
“When you've got a economy in which 40 percent of economic growth is happening in the financial sector, that turns out that was all an illusion, that it wasn't growth based on real products and services, but just a bunch of paper shuffling and a house of cards, then what's gonna emerge, at some point, is a sense of resentment, a sense that the system's rigged, and it's not working for ordinary people. And it's not fulfilling the basic American dream.” PeopleRealDreamHouseGrowthEconomyEconomicIllusionFinancialResentmentAmerican DreamFulfillingOrdinary PeopleEconomic Growth Author:Barack Obama
“Part of the people here are interested in the same thing that Putin is interested in: Putin wants to have America as an enemy. Part of Americans want to have Russia as an enemy. It's advantageous. The other part of the people are just ordinary people. And these people project onto big objects the kind of relations that they have with small objects in their everyday lives.” PeopleKindEnemyRelationEverydayEveryday LifeOrdinary People Author:Mikhail Khodorkovsky
“The growing gap between rich and poor, the seeming lack of concern for the health and well-being of ordinary people, the obscene salaries made by CEOs who are increasing profits by moving their plants to places where labor is cheap - that's where the problem is, not in schools, colleges and universities.” PeopleProblemSchoolMovingPoorRichCollegeConcernLaborPlantCeoOrdinary PeopleRich And PoorObscene Author:Joan Wallach Scott
“I think it's deeply important for us to know, especially when we come from the outside, how "ordinary people" think and feel and what their expectations are and what their concerns are. Also what's in their imaginations, what's in their minds, even what their rumors are and what their gossip is.” PeopleThinkingMindImportantImaginationExpectationsConcernGossipOrdinary PeopleRumor Author:Jon Lee Anderson
“I believe Tunisia and Egypt should look to Turkey and see what not to do. Turkey seems to be a secular and democratic country but it is only a show. We are losing the effectiveness of democratic institutions like parliament and judiciary. They now are turning into tools for the benefit of a president-ordering system. A democratic government is possible only on a comprehensive democratic base surrounded by the participatory action of ordinary people.” PeopleBelieveCountryActionI BelieveLosingDemocraticSecularOrdinary PeopleJudiciary Author:Burhan Sonmez
“I have an abiding interest in how ordinary people produce knowledge, and what it means for individuals to know the world. I thought I'd be a theoretical physicist because I love physicists' views of the world - I find general relativity and quantum theory thrilling - but I have always felt uneasy with the idea of an Ultimate Truth. One of the functions of science is to help us instrumentally; it helps us to build things like microchips and GPS satellites. But another function of science in the modern world is to help us feel "at home in the universe".” PeopleWorldMeanHelpingHomeUniverseIndividualInterestModernUltimatePhysicistOrdinary PeopleTheoreticalUneasyQuantum Theory Author:Margaret Wertheim
“The study of foodways - the intersection of food and culture - addresses a central issue in the humanities: how we connect the great dramas of history with the lives of ordinary people.” PeopleHumanityCultureStudyDramaOrdinary People Author:Marcie Cohen Ferris
“What society doesn't realize is that in the past, ordinary people respected learning. They respected books, and they don't now, or not very much. That whole respect for serious literature and learning has disappeared.” PeopleBookWholePastLiteratureRealizingSeriousOrdinaryOrdinary People Author:Doris Lessing
“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” HeartFunnyLastsPoliticalDesireHouseWhiteDemocracyLandElectionFolksGloriousVotingSatireWhite HouseScholarPresidencyOrdinary PeopleMoronDemocracies HaveGreat DayVoting And DemocracyDumb PeopleHearts DesireVoting Day Author:H. L. Mencken
“If ordinary people complain that I speak too much of myself, I complain that they do not even think of themselves.” PeopleIfsThinkingSpeakToo MuchOrdinaryComplainingOrdinary People Author:Michel de Montaigne
“Ordinary people who have lots of good ideas want more than a suggestion box, and they need a union to represent that thinking.” PeopleThinkingWantNeedsIdeasOrdinaryUnionsBoxesGood IdeasSuggestionsOrdinary PeopleSuggestion Boxes Author:Frances O'Grady
“You hear the best stories from ordinary people. That sense of immediacy is more real to me than a lot of writerly, literary-type crafted stories. I want that immediacy when I read a novel.” PeopleWantRealStoriesNovelTypeOrdinaryOrdinary PeopleImmediacy Author:Chuck Palahniuk
“Literature is the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people, and saying with ordinary words something extraordinary.” PeopleArtLiteratureOrdinaryExtraordinaryDiscoveringOrdinary PeopleDiscovering Something Author:Boris Pasternak
“The challenge for Muslims in America is to respect the fears of ordinary people while resisting the exploitation of those fears by political parties, lobbies and sectors of the media. To meet this challenge, Muslims must reassess their own involvement, behavior and contributions in American society.” PeopleAmericaPoliticalChallengesPartyMediaBehaviorOrdinaryContributionExploitationPolitical PartiesOrdinary PeopleInvolvementResistingAmerican Society Author:Tariq Ramadan
“The Constitution was made for ordinary people.” PeopleMadeOrdinaryConstitutionOrdinary People Author:Pat Robertson
“I've discovered I've got this preoccupation with ordinary people pursued by large forces.” PeopleForceOrdinaryOrdinary PeoplePursuedPreoccupation Author:Steven Spielberg
“It's amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions.” PeopleIfsThinkingInspirationalSuccessCan DoLearningOrdinaryCommitmentDeterminationNotionOpennessOrdinary PeopleAmazementPreconceived NotionsPreconceived Ideas Author:Ben Stein
“Anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.” PeopleLawChoicesGivenChanceSecretDemocracyOrdinaryPoliceTyrannyDictatorshipDictatorOrdinary PeopleRule Of LawSecret Police Author:Tony Blair
“By creating an urgent crisis that can only be solved by those fluent in a language too complex for ordinary people to understand, the Wall Street crowd has turned the vast majority of Americans into non-participants in their own political future.” PeoplePoliticalLanguageStreetsWallCreatingOrdinaryCrisisMajorityComplexesCrowdsOrdinary PeopleUrgentParticipantsFluent Author:Matt Taibbi