Quotes About Influence

The truth of Voltaire's observation offers itself perpetually," he told Bellini, that every man in Europe "must be either the hammer or the anvil.

A prophet is always much wider than his followers, much more liberal than those who label themselves with his name.

He is careful of what he reads, for that is what he will write. He is careful of what he learns, for that is what he will know.

Chess, for all its strategic complexity, isn't a great model for decision-making in life, where most of our decisions involve hidden information and a much greater influence of luck.

John Maynard Keynes, one of the most influential economists of the twentieth century, summed up this phenomenon well when he said, "Worldly wisdom teaches that it is better for reputation to fail conventionally than to succeed unconventionally." Succeeding unconventionally carries with it the risk of experiencing failure as a result of veering from the status quo.

The way our lives turn out is the result of two things: the influence of skill and the influence of luck.

Luck exerts its influence between your decision and which of the possible paths you end up on. It is the element you have no control over that determines which of the possible outcomes you actually observe in the short run.

When we have a negative opinion about the person delivering the message, we close our minds to what they are saying and miss a lot of learning opportunities because of it. Likewise, when we have a positive opinion of the messenger, we tend to accept the message without much vetting. Both are bad.

Small changes in how much you notice the luck that you would otherwise overlook will have a big influence on the way your life turns out. Those small changes act like compounding interest that pays big dividends on your future decision-making.

In every domain, the outcome tail is wagging the decision dog.

Whether it is a football game, a protest, or just about anything else, our pre-existing beliefs influence the way we experience the world. That those beliefs aren't formed in a particularly orderly way leads to all sorts of mischief in our decision-making.

Quand je lis Proust ou Mauriac, je ne crois pas qu'ils évoquent le temps où mon père était enfant. Son cadre à lui c'est le Moyen Âge.

Sentiment d'être composée de multiples morceaux de femmes; il y a en moi de la Dalida, Yourcenar, Beauvoir, Colette, etc... même Sand.

Gone with the Wind" are just as decisive as the Oedipus complex

Ils se sentaient toutefois le droit de faire la leçon aux imprévoyants ou de menacer l'enfant que sa mère envoyait exprès aux courses à sa place en fin de semaine, sans argent : « Dis à ta mère qu'elle tâche de me payer, sinon je ne la servirai plus. » Ils ne sont plus ici du bord le plus humilié.

Est-ce que le prince Charles était réel pour moi ? Dîner royal, musique. Je pensais que cette « entente cordiale » du vieux monde serait peut-être un jour balayée par d'autres forces. Je songeais à l'URSS, à la Chine. Peut-être étions-nous semblables hier soir à ces gens de 1913 ou de 1938, dans ces mêmes salons dorés.

As a creative person, you just put something out into the consciousness of the society you live in.

Positive Emotional Attractor

The world has its way with us long before we're born.

There are values embedded in the technology we use, and as we scroll and tap we often unthinkingly adopt these priorities as our own.

If it is true that you are what you eat, it may just as accurately be said that you are what you listen to. STEVEN HALPERN

How would you behave if you knew you were a God or Goddess? How would you treat yourself, how would you treat others? What kind of consciousness would you hold about your smallest actions if you knew their effects influenced the rest of creation? If your awakenings could bring joy to the multitudes? What kind of mindfulness would that inspire?

Issues of power, control, energy fuels, and political strength have become key themes in our current events. We have come a long way from iron spearheads to nuclear warheads, yet the disease of power used for control and domination has remained.

Every day is irreplaceable, so don't ruin yours by allowing the negative moods of others to pull you into their frame of mind.