Men like you and me (almost)

During his lifetime Picasso produced 50,000 works of art (1885 paintings included).
Michelangelo worked for 4 years on the Sistine Chapel.
Vincent Van Gogh spent all his money (sent by his brother Theo every month) on paint and canvas. He lived on bread, tea and tobacco for months on end. Apart from the absinthe, that is.
Cezanne, one of the founders of modern art, was for most of his life, ridiculed by his friends, his family and by art critics for painting the way he did. He was quite old before he could have his first solo exhibition. None of this stopped him from painting religiously every day.
Very early in his career, Robert De Niro was to play the role of a corpse in a movie. De Niro drank only water on the sets, kept only to himself, didn’t laugh or chat with anyone during the breaks. So on the day when the camera was finally turned on him he had a deathly pallor on his face. The scene was supposed to last only for a few moments.
Alexander fought his first battle when he was 18, by the time he died at 33, he was already the greatest conqueror the world had ever known.
Newton, with a brain no larger than yours or mine, discovered (allegedly from a fallen apple) the laws of gravity and motion and the fact that both laws kept the planets in motion. This was, and remains, probably the biggest leap the human mind has ever taken. This same 3 pounds of grey matter also helped him create the theory of colour, find the speed of sound, develop calculus and build the first reflecting telescope. (In 1693 it also gave him a nervous breakdown).
Napoleon, exiled in the island of Elba, swore he’d march to Paris and take over France without firing a single bullet. In three weeks, he reached Paris and was crowned the Emperor of France for the second time. Without firing a single bullet.
In almost all respects these guys were just like us. One nose, one mouth, one liver, one brain, a pair each of eyes, ears, legs, arms, lungs and kidneys, a circulatory system, a nervous system, a digestive tract, 206 bones, 639 muscles….
Yet, if we’re sent to the corner shop to buy a loaf of bread we’re likely to screw up.