If I'm half as good as everybody said I am, I'm far too good to be wasting time with ordinary people. But I seem to be spending my life with ordinary people, who are the best people in the world.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the value of appreciating ordinary people despite one's greatness.
Stan Lee expresses a duality in his view of self-worth and the people around him. While he acknowledges a certain level of greatness that others attribute to him, he ultimately finds fulfillment and worth in the company of 'ordinary' people, recognizing them as the most valuable in the world. This observation highlights the importance of connection and relatability over status.
In practice
A motivational speech about valuing relationships over status.
To be honest, when I was writing these stories a million years ago, I never thought about movies at all one way or another. It would have seemed almost miraculous for these things to be movies someday. To me, they were just comic books that I hoped would sell so I could keep my job.
I wanted them to be diverse. The whole underlying principle of the X-Men was to try to be an anti-bigotry story to show there's good in every person.
America is made of different races and different religions, but we're all co-travelers on the spaceship Earth and must respect and help each other along the way.
My mother was the greatest mother in the world. She thought I was the greatest thing on two feet. I'd come home with a little composition I had written at school, and she'd look at it and say, 'It's wonderful! You're another Shakespeare!' I always assumed I could do anything. It really is amazing how much that has to do with your attitude.
For years, kids have been asking me what's the greatest superpower. I always say luck. If you're lucky, everything works. I've been lucky.
Sooner or later, if man is ever to be worthy of his destiny, we must fill our hearts with tolerance.
My hope for all of us is that 'the miles we go before we sleep' will be filled with all the feelings that come from deep caring--delight , sadness, joy, wisdom--and that in all the endings of our life, we will be able to see the new beginnings.
...We can work it out. Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.
The beginning and the end are never really the journey of discovery for me. It is the middle that remains a puzzle until well into the writing. That's how life is most of the time, isn't it? You know where you are and where you hope to wind up. It's the getting there that's challenging.
Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.
To live your life in the fear of losing it is to lose the point of life.
Most of us fear reaching the end of our life regretting moments when we didn't speak up, say I love you, or say I'm sorry.
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