The Edge

There's a great movie written by David Mamet called The Edge.  One of the interesting things about the movie is just how impressive the protagonist, played by Anthony Hopkins, is.  He's extremely knowledgable about a vast array of topics, he's a genuinely nice guy, and he's very wise.  In the movie, he ends up lost in the Alaskan wilderness after an airplane crash with a younger, handsomer, but fundamentally weaker companion.

The Anthony Hopkins character, who has many of the qualities of a master Stoic, has a great saying: "What one man can do, another can do".  I've also felt this was a very powerful statement of the possibilities of accomplishing both the large tasks in life, as well as the little things.  I was interested to see that Marcus Aurelius has a similar quote:

If a thing be hard for thee to do, think not that it is beyond man's power.  Rather, consider that whatever is possible to man, and conformable to his nature, is attainable by thee also.

On reflection, this tends to be true but is not universally true.  The hand of fate and opportunity is not the same for all.  You might want to be as rich as Bill Gates, but he was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, with the right ideas.  There's no guarantee that opportunities like that constantly exist.  Still, for most things, I think the advice is sound.  What one man can do, another can do.