Quotes About Influence

A lot of the things I did - it's not going to sound anything but egotistical - if I'm lucky and I did the right thing, they will be at Zara way before I can get them in the store, and I don't like that.

One of my favorite movie characters is Mother Sister from Spike Lee's 'Do The Right Thing.' It is such a beautiful name, and she is such a beautiful character, Mother Sister, the all-seeing eye over the block.

Yes, America must do the right thing, but to provide moral leadership, America must do it in the right way, too.

I think anyone who doesn't say that they'd like people to think that they're doing the right thing is wrong. I mean, I'd like it to be that way, but I've never allowed it to influence my actions.

I grew up with a pretty tough mom. She was a self-appointed neighborhood watchdog, and if she saw that any of the local boys were up to no good, she would scold them on the spot. Although she is only 5 feet 2, she was famous in our neighborhood for intimidating men three times her size and getting them to do the right thing.

I was concerned about doing the right thing when I was a kid. I suppose as a child, you're a massive egomaniac, and you think that everything you do is going to affect the world.

'Do the Right Thing' has been a big influence on me. I saw it when it first came out in 1989. I was about 18, and it blew me away on many levels - I had never seen anything like it before.

Mum worked as a secretary for Orson Welles for what sounded like a very miserable year. Her brother was the actor Jeremy Brett, who became famous for playing Sherlock Holmes. He was an absolutely lovely man. Very exciting and glamorous, he'd always make me feel amazing and full of confidence, like I'd picked the right thing to do in life.

You are a role model to people. You gotta make sure you're doing the right thing.

You always gotta do the right thing: you never know who's watching.

There is that definition of leadership that says, 'Leadership is convincing people to do things that they otherwise wouldn't have done because you've made them believe it's the right thing to do.' And a great speech can do that.

My biggest challenger was my mom. Every time I didn't do the right thing, I'd have to see her face.

The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret.

I think 'Family Guy' and 'American Dad' have definitely staked out their own style and territory, and now the accusations are coming that 'The Simpsons' is taking jokes from 'Family Guy.' And I can tell you, that ain't the case.

I know for a fact, obviously, because my kids grew up watching the show, that there are some things they are introduced to from 'The Simpsons', and then later in life they see the thing we're parodying. My kids had not seen 'Casablanca,' and we'd done parodies of 'Casablanca.'

I wouldn't be surprised if some day, they put the Simpsons in the Smithsonian. It's become part of our culture, those characters.

Clearly when there is a character based on you on 'South Park' or 'The Simpsons,' that is something that sticks with you for the rest of your career. But I'm fine with that.

Anybody in animation today would be lying if they said they weren't somehow influenced by 'The Simpsons' to a certain degree. Except for the shows that go out of their way to look as far from 'The Simpsons' as possible.

'The Simpsons' is like Charlie Parker or Marlon Brando or Richard Pryor: Comedy couldn't go back to the way it was after 'The Simpsons' came out.

Before I was 12 years old, I had no interest in music; I was just into football. Then I heard Don McLean's 'Vincent' come on at the end of an episode of 'The Simpsons.' You know when you hear something and you don't understand why you like it, you just do? That's how I felt. I just thought, 'I want to be able to write songs like that.'

'Monty Python' and 'The Simpsons' have ruined comedy for writers for the rest of our lives.

I grew up watching 'The Office' and 'Father Ted' and all the British things at that time - 'The Royle Family' - and the American ones like 'Friends,' 'Frasier' and 'The Simpsons.'

They're naughty, all those writers - they mess around with people. I know James Gandolfini got a bit fed up on 'The Sopranos': if he said anything in front of a writer, told them a story from his life, it could make its way into the script.

If you see the Sopranos, you're not going to be speaking in the Shakespearean English.