631 Influence Quotes

One truth stands firm. All that happens in world history rests on something spiritual. If the spiritual is strong, it creates world history. If it is weak, it suffers world history.

It's the movies that have really been running things in America ever since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look how you feel about it.

Roman influence seeds itself, sprouting mighty oaks right through the modern forest of computers, digital disks, microviruses and space satellites.

I have made more friends for American culture than the State Department. Certainly I have made fewer enemies, but that isn't very difficult.

Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it tries to stir up friendly feeling?

It was only when I realized how actors have the power to move people that I decided to pursue acting as a career.

Experience has shown that the trade of the East is the key to national wealth and influence.

The first step - especially for young people with energy and drive and talent, but not money - the first step to controlling your world is to control your culture. To model and demonstrate the kind of world you demand to live in. To write the books. Make the music. Shoot the films. Paint the art.

You have no idea what a long-legged gal can do without doing anything.

We are far more liable to catch the vices than the virtues of our associates.

Bad company is as instructive as licentiousness. One makes up for the loss of one's innocence with the loss of one's prejudices.

In order to influence a child, one must be careful not to be that child's parent or grandparent.

Man cannot be uplifted; he must be seduced into virtue.

I love the tradition of Dickens, where even the most minor walk-on characters are twitching and particular and alive.

Writers, especially when they act in a body and with one direction, have great influence on the public mind.

For though ours is a godless age, it is the very opposite of irreligious. The true believer is everywhere on the march, and both by converting and antagonizing he is shaping the world in his own image. And whether we are to line up with him or against him, it is well that we should know all we can concerning his nature and potentialities.

The technique of a mass movement aims to infect people with a malady and then offer the movement as a cure.

Modern man lives under the illusion that he knows what he wants, while he actually wants what he is supposed to want.

I have lived and slept in the same bed with English countesses and Prussian farm women... no woman has excited passions among women more than I have.

In the middle of the sixteenth century, Spain was the incubus of Europe. Gloomy and portentous, she chilled the world with her baneful shadow.

Let the famous not denounce fame. Far from being empty and meaningless, it fills those it touches with divine power.

Jimi Hendrix is very important. He's my idol. He sort of epitomizes, from his presentation on stage, the whole works of a rock star. There's no way you can compare him. You either have the magic or you don't. There's no way you can work up to it. There's nobody who can take his place.

My method is to take the utmost trouble to find the right thing to say, and then to say it with the utmost levity.

My meetings with [Ahmed Chalabi] were very brief. I mean, I think I met with him at the State of the Union and just kind of working through the rope line, and he might have come with a group of leaders. But I haven't had any extensive conversations with him.

Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence.

Picasso once remarked I do not care who it is that has or does influence me as long as it is not myself.

Television is a great leveler. You always end up sounding like the people who ask the questions.

Our power is not so much in us as through us.

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.

A young painter who cannot liberate himself from the influence of past generations is digging his own grave.

The real leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the way.

A charming fellow, and so clever: he models himself on me.

Historical reasoning is not a type of reasoning that, within the framework of its own functions, can pass judgment on the world. While pretending to judge it, it really tries to determine its course. Essentially a part of events, it directs them and is simultaneously pedagogic and all-conquering.

Without any censorship, in the West fashionable trends of thought and ideas are carefully separated from those which are not fashionable; nothing is forbidden, but what is not fashionable will hardly ever find its way into periodicals or books or be heard in colleges. Legally your researchers are free, but they are conditioned by the fashion of the day. There is no open violence such as in the East; however, a selection dictated by fashion and the need to match mass standards frequently prevent independent-minded people from giving their contribution to public life. There is a dangerous tendency to form a herd, shutting off successful development.

Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath Preluded those melodious bursts that fill The spacious times of great Elizabeth With sounds that echo still.

I have recently re-read much of Chekhov and it's a humbling experience. I don't even claim Chekhov as an influence because he influenced all of us. Like Shakespeare his writing shed the most perfect light - there's no striving in it, no personality. Well, of course, wouldn't I love to do that!

How should I avoid to be her slave, Whose subtle art invisibly can wreath My fetters of the very air I breath?

I stuffed their mouths with gold.

People's lives are a direct reflection of the expectations of their peer group.: Your life experience will never far exceed the expectations of your peers, because to stay connected to them there is an unconscious contract that says we're going to be within this range of each other. Now, on the other hand, if for some reason your friends have a higher expectation for life than you do, just to stay on the team you've got to raise your standard. And that's the beauty of life. (from Unleash the Power Within) [1]

The tenth Muse who now governs the periodical press.

Audrey was meek, gentle and ethereal, understated both in her life and in her work. She walked among us with a light pace, as if she didn't want to be noticed. I regret losing her as a friend, as a role model, and as a companion to my youthful dreams.

This girl, singlehanded, may make bosoms a thing of the past.

Unica regla de agradar: coger el apetito picado con el hambre con que quedo.

This isn't just some phenomenon of the Internet - to liken Barack Obama to the flash-in-the-pan Dean campaign does him a disservice. There is something happening with this guy, and I don't think he should be given short shrift.

It is difficult to overstate the extent to which Russell's thought dominated twentieth century analytic philosophy: virtually every strand in its development either originated with him or was transformed by being transmitted through him. Analytic philosophy itself owes its existence more to Russell than to any other philosopher.

You can lead people to truth, but you can't make them understand it: the story of my youth, as seen from the present.

When I watch a puppet show, I'm not watching the puppets -- I'm trying to see who's pulling the strings.

The US government and American Jewry are virtually interchangeable.

The influence of years of touring with Yanni is apparent in the richness of Joseph's sound, but his musical voice is his own.

That first novel of mine, Non-Stop, is directly attributable to Heinlein. His 'Common Sense' seemed to me such a good story, but bereft of any human feelings. I thought long about that story, and then I thought how wonderful it would be to write about a spaceship in which people have been imprisoned for generations and to put in something of the human feeling. So that novel is directly attributable to Heinlein. I thought, in my youthful arrogance, that I could do it better - I didn't! I thought I could do it differently, and I think I did do it differently. And I suppose that on the whole, I've concentrated on doing things differently ever since.

I always loved Pat Benatar.

There ain't a note that I play on stage that can't be traced back directly to my mother and father.

Influence: 'Never doubt the power of suggestion. Never doubt the powerful influence you can have on someone weaker than yourself. If you have moral courage and strength then it is your responsibility to help others with that influence through your example. Given the right friends and environment, even the weakest in integrity and character will try harder.'

Influence: 'As you grow older you will realize something very important. And that is, you have more influence on people's lives than you may first imagine. People feed off of their friends and associates for guidance and support. So what I am getting to here is that before you deem a person as 'bad' be sure that your sphere of influence or rejection does not help tip them over the edge of becoming your perception.'

Influence: 'If you study the Parable of the Sower, its surface suggests that people are much like a field that needs to be sowed with the seeds of good examples; carefully cultivated, weeded and tended to in order to produce a worthy crop. Ask yourselves what seeds do you sow in others? Do you cultivate and weed that the sprouts of goodness have a chance to grow. Don't make the mistake of sowing seeds of doubt and mistrust. Again, give people a chance and you will become a living part of their success.'

Tact: 'People can be divided from their ignorance more easily by gentle strikes on a wedge than with blunt hammering at their toughest seams. Sometimes the best use of intelligence is to simply not let others know your thoughts.'

The screen was just a white sheet. They had this flickering machine. That was the first time I saw this angel with a white face and these beautiful eyes. I knew this was something special. It was the first time I saw him. He wore a flat pancake of a hat, and I just couldn't believe the man's grace.

There are days when I get caught up in being the most notorious convict of all time. In that frame of mind I get off on all the publicity, and I'm pleased when some fool writes and offers to 'off some pigs' for me. I've had girls come to visit me with their babies in their arms and say, 'Charlie, I'd do anything in the world for you. I'm raising my baby in your image.' Those letters and visits used to delight me, but that's just my individual sickness. What sickness is it that keeps sending me kids and followers? It's your world out there that does it. I don't solicit my mail or ask anyone to come and visit me. Yet the mail continues to arrive and your pretty little flowers of innocence keep showing up at the gate.

When I see my best friend coming I do not say to myself 'How am I going to manage propagandizing him?'

I look back at bands like the Small Faces, the Yardbirds, Free, the Byrds -- what came out of those bands? If you look at the family trees of some of the British Invasion groups, a lot of those guys wound up in the most successful groups of the '70s. So you do find a lot of super-groups in that era. In a sense, Led Zeppelin was that.

The Beatles were my first love. My friend John Zimmer's oldest brother was kicked out of his house, and his parents put all of his stuff in the basement, where it was getting destroyed by flood waters. He had about fifteen Beatles records. So I stole the whole stack -- lovingly put paper towels between each of them. For over a year I listened to nothing but the Beatles. It was my music school.

'I'm so in the world of Nina Simone, Etta James, Billie Holiday and Eartha Kitt, one of the original bad girls.'

'I don't know what it was, but as a child I just gravitated toward the blues; it was an instinct of mine. When I got older, this is the music that soothed me, and singing it was a release.'

Christopher Reeve turned his focus away from his paralysis and began figuring out how he could live afresh. Reeve decided that a lot of people might like to hear his story. Instead of limiting the communication of his story to letters, books and videos subject to edit, Reeve chose the lecture circuit. That meant showing up in public, allowing the public to gawk at his incapacity, talking about his condition and sharing lessons learned. Thus, Christopher Reeve has become Superman for real.

He was a great influence on me. I don't know what happened to him. I think he failed and went to America.

'Not everybody gets a mic this big. I feel I should use it in as positive a way as I can.'

We loved the doctrine for the teacher's sake.

Samuel L. Jackson : No I can't stop yellin', 'cause that's how I talk! Ain't never seeeeen my movies!? Juice! That was a good one! Deep Blue Sea! They ate me! A FUCKING SHARK ATE ME! DRINK, BITCH! (after the white men take a sip)Jurassic park...

'As athletes, we understand the importance of being a positive role model.'

Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her, And tempted her out of her gloom.

It was astonishing how often his name and work came up. To somebody outside CBS it is probably hard to believe...Time and again I heard someone say, 'Ed wouldn't have done it that way.'

Great let me call him, for he conquered me.

Example is the best lesson there is.

That's my idol, Elvis Presley. If you went to my house, you'd see pictures all over of Elvis. He's just the greatest entertainer that ever lived. And I think it's because he had such presence. When Elvis walked into a room, Elvis Presley was in the fucking room. I don't give a fuck who was in the room with him, Bogart, Marilyn Monroe...

If there was no Elvis Presley, they're would have been no Cliff Richard. I'm sure of that.

A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man's music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis.

'Elvis was a brilliant artist. As a musicologist - and I consider myself one - there was always a great deal of respect for Elvis, especially during his Sun sessions. As a black people, we all knew that. (In fact), Eminem is the new Elvis because, number one, he had the respect for black music that Elvis had.

'The voice is so melodious, and - of course, by accident, this glorious voice and musical sensibility was combined with this beautiful, sexual man and this very unconscious - or unselfconscious stage movements. Presley's registration, the breadth of his tone, listening to some of his records, you'd think you were listening to an opera singer. But:it's an opera singer with a deep connection to the blues.'

'It is when Guralnick shows how young Elvis made his way through this cultural briar patch, that we get what we need. He got voluptuous phrasing and ecstatic self-confidence from gospel, wit and menace from the blues, homespun sincerity from country and, from what we can now call gay theatrics, he got glamour and self-parody. He played the outlaw and the good son. How he flirts with his audiences, first being casual, fervent, sneering, then inviting us to laugh at, or with him. ?As you desire me?, he is saying, ?so shall I be?. Was he a great performer? Yes and yes again. He galvanized rock-and-roll and made you feel the fun and the risk and all the contradictions. That's self-invention, and that's entertainment.'

'Elvis' early vocals, was a witches' brew of gospel swoops, falsetto shrieks, growls, howls, and scat...an anthem to human cockiness, to the healing, transcendent powers of the life-force...'

'I was always mesmerized by strong, pure, beautiful voices, (and) Elvis' voice, the emotion in it, was unbelievable; I'd never heard anything like it, and I was listening to my parents' records, like 'Heartbreak Hotel' and all the '50 s stuff, the real raw Elvis...and that's how I gravitated into Patsy Cline, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.'

'I was about 10 years old, the first time I heard Elvis Presley's voice, pouring from my father's car radio, in East St. Louis, Illinois; I can't recall the song, whether it was a ballad or a rocker (but), what I remember is how his voice, that smoldering rumble of a voice, made my skin tingle; I don't know why, but I just loved his voice, his sound just did something to me'

'Elvis loved gospel music, he was raised on it, and he really did know what he was talking about; we would jam with him for an hour, and he had a feel for it and was 'tickled' to have four 'church sisters' backing him up; he was singing Gospel all the time, (in fact), almost anything he did had that flavour. You can't get away from what your roots are.'

'In the collective memory of his fans, he reigns as the sleek musical genius who soaked up the multiple influences of America's vernacular music -gospel, country swing, rhythm 'n' blues-, and made them his own; Bob Dylan, one of pop's favorite poets, put it best: Elvis, he said, was 'the incendiary atomic musical firebrand loner who conquered the western world.'

'When at last I made my journey to the land of the blues, I never dreamt for one minute that I'd actually become friends with the guys who were my mentors, heroes and my cultural icons. (Witherspoon's) voice held a great mysticism for me, like when I first heard the voice of Elvis Presley-you knew it was coming from the source'

'Elvis was one of the prime architects of rock and roll music. As such, he influenced several generations both musically and socially. The urgency in Presley's voice is just one part of the equation, and the ease with which he swings tells the rest of the story. Equal parts balladeer and rockabilly king, Elvis played both sides of the fence. He was both tender-love-man and hard-hitting rebel. As this collection proves, his genius was in the way he made it work'

Till then these sound opinions have taken firm root in you, and you have gained a measure of strength for your security, I counsel you to be cautious in associating with the uninstructed. Else whatever impressions you receive upon the tablets of your mind in the School will day by day melt and disappear, like wax in the sun. Withdraw then somewhere far from the sun, while you have these waxen sentiments. (107)

That man is an Euclidian point: position without substance.

Yes. Especially during the last phase of the war. Kaltenbrunner had more influence with Hitler - in practice, Kaltenbrunner was worse than Himmler.

The way in which I depict people was now influenced very strongly by my third wife..and her sister.The beautiful,shapely architectonically structured bodies of those two girls,replaced the soft Saxon bodies.

His remains the finest palette in France and nobody in our country has possessed at once such calm and pathos, such shimmering color. We all paint in him.

He was one of those men who comes in a door and make any woman with them look guilty.