Quotes About Influence

Nearly 70 percent of children's shows contain some violence, whereas 57 percent of nonchildren's shows do (Wilson et al., 2002). Furthermore, a typical hour of children's programming contains 14 different violent incidents, compared with 6 per hour in all other programming.

children could learn new aggressive behaviors as easily from a cartoon-like figure as from a human adult, a result that clearly implicates animated TV shows as an equally unhealthy teacher of aggression.

In one study, preschoolers who watched ordinary violent TV programs during breaks at school displayed more aggressiveness on the playground than did children who viewed nonviolent programs over the same 11-day period (Steuer, Applefield, & Smith, 1971).

the average American child now witnesses more than 10,000 violent crimes (e.g., murder, rape, and assault) each year on television—about 200,000 total violent crimes by the time they are in their teens

Those who view greater amounts of violent television and film portrayals of many kinds tend to engage in higher levels of aggressive behavior.

Most prodigious by far was the growth of the Baptists and the Methodists. Scholars estimate that at the outbreak of the American Revolution there were 494 Baptist congregations in the colonies. By 1795, this number had more than doubled to 1,152, and Baptists were poised to exert an enormous influence on the church of the next century. They proved most powerful in the South and on the ever-expanding frontier,

One of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them: It is a well known fact, that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. Anyone who is capable of getting themselves into a position of power should on no account be allowed to do the job. Another problem with governing people is people.

The major problem— one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

Politics, noun: [Poly 'many' + tics 'blood-sucking parasites']" ?—Larry Hardiman

The room fell silent as everyone considered what living under the rule of an unstable genius might be like. "Would

Perhaps one sentence summed it up best, "The United States and China are locked in a cold tech war, and the winner will end up dominating the twenty-first century.

Politicians take money from the citizenry, funnel much of it to themselves and their friends, and then use the rest of it to buy votes and to grow their power—which involves bigger and bigger government. Once a bureau is created it is never destroyed—like a malignant cancer. And government never invents the next great computer. Never produces. Only consumes." Alyssa

Are you kidding?" said Girdler. "Politicians would sell their daughters to male prisons to hold on to power. As far as I've been able to tell, they're the lowest form of life on the planet." "Lower than pond scum?" asked Heather with a twinkle in her eye. "Comparing them to pond scum is an insult to pond scum," said Girdler emphatically.

the propaganda. The US isn't perfect, by any means, but it's still a bastion of liberty that continues to be a positive force in the world.

The Dictator's Handbook, written by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, and Alastair Smith,

POLITICS (noun): Poly, meaning "many" plus Tics, meaning "blood-sucking parasites." —Larry Hardiman

Upton Sinclair?" "Yes. The quote is something like, 'It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

To bend the entire world to his will. I'm not sure how this will manifest itself, openly or behind the scenes.

And now that Martin was involved, she would actually be meeting a man who had skyrocketed to the top of the business world and was the darling of the media, replacing Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Page, and Mark Zuckerberg before him. Eben Martin was larger than life.

if you have a sandwich at the local deli named after you, you've been somewhat influential. If you have the entire world counting years from the date of your birth, it's safe to say you've had an impact.

Thomas Babington Macaulay,

Contrary to fiction, you can't hypnotize someone to commit armed robbery, or jump off a building, against their will. A person can only be hypnotized to do something they would already be willing to do otherwise. Same with this. We can strengthen a tendency, put a thought into your sleeping head, but it can't contradict how you feel consciously.

Desh believed that dangerous character traits such as megalomania, sadism, and sociopathy tended to be enriched in populations of people who had risen to positions of power and influence. This enrichment was even more pronounced at the top of organizations such as the CIA and the military, to which people with these pathologies tended to gravitate preferentially.

It's difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.'" Altschuler