The Buddha didn't. He took his time finding a path to liberation. Than walked its entire length.
Only when he found what he was looking for did he start to teach the Path.

So I'm unsure to which great people this refers.

With Love
Eelco

The full quote is:

“Great people do things before they're ready. They do things before they know they can do it.
Doing what you're afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that- that's what life is.
You might be really good. You might find out something about yourself that's really special and if you're not good, who cares? You tried something. Now you know something about yourself”

― Amy Poehler

So there may be quite some 'great people', when it only depends on having no or little fear....

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Saw the title of the thread and just had to drop in and say 'hi'. You're welcome.
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Eelco wrote:The Buddha didn't. He took his time finding a path to liberation. Than walked its entire length.
Only when he found what he was looking for did he start to teach the Path.

I disagree. He was walking the path LONG before he knew where it would lead, starting with his abdication. Then he followed other ascetics before he realized that following was in err. It was many years before he reached the point of realizing what he was trending towards, but was 'doing it' long before then.

The teaching WAS the end result but that was the climax of the story, not the beginning.