Quotes About Influence

But it is often easier to compel a hundred people to do what you could never compel one person to do. The lone man must consult his conscience, that stern and unflattering arbiter. A man in a crowd, though, can turn to the others, as the others turn to one another, each justifying the deed by referring to the next man, or to the force of all the men together. This

We've always supported corrupt regimes abroad if they help us with our global ambitions, so now we're supporting corrupt regimes within.

I think there are two ways in which people are controlled. First of all frighten people and secondly, demoralize them.

If one meets a powerful person--Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates--ask them five questions: "What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?" If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.

.. Ideas are more powerful than guns.

Brains and hard work are of very little avail, Jenkins, unless you know the right people.

Those with established power always see change as a threat to their position.

cryptomnesia (lit. hidden memory) – that although he had lost all conscious recollection of Binet's work, it had none the less borne fruit in his personal unconscious.

Unscrupulous leaders can manipulate this mechanism in whole populations. Adolf Hitler, for example, repeatedly described the Jews as Untermenschen (subhumans) and through the skilful use of propaganda was able to induce enough Germans to project their shadow on to them as to make the Holocaust possible. The

Charismatic individuals, such as Wagner, open the doors of our perceptions, transcend our limitations, and reveal mysteries unknown to us.

This may bear witness to the bulldozing effect of Western dominance, which tends to destroy every indigenous aspect of the cultures with which it comes into contact, but it is not a good argument for the superiority of European music. American popular music has swept the world; but few musicians consider it better than the varieties of music which it has displaced.

The tenth Muse who now governs the periodical press.

What is there that money will not do?

Marvelous is the power which can be exercised, almost unconsciously, over a company, or an individual, or even upon a crowd by one person gifted with good temper, good digestion, good intellects, and good looks.

One's own character inevitably comes to resemble the things one spends most of one's day with.

Gold like the sun, which melts wax, but hardens clay, expands great souls.

He who has gone, so we but cherish his memory, abides with us, more potent, nay, more present than the living man.

You become responsible forever, for what you have tamed.

It was seductive, the machine. Enchanting. He couldn't help but be swayed and impressed.

I had an ex like that. Wasn't happy unless my head was full of her words.

The wealthy are always surrounded by hangers-on science and art are as well.

A grimy fly can soil the entire wall and a small, dirty little act can ruin the entire proceedings.

Money, like vodka, turns a person into an eccentric.

My advantage as a woman and a human being has been in having a mother who believed strongly in women's education. She was an early undergraduate at Oxford, and her own mother was a doctor.