Quotes About Influence

Our destiny is largely in our hands.

In studying the character and works of a great man, it is always desirable to learn in what he is distinguished from others, and what have been the causes if this difference.

For no man who lives at all lives unto himself. He either helps or hinders all who are in anywise connected to him.

Mr. Johnson had just been reading the Lady of the Lake, and at once suggested that my name be Douglass. From that time until now I have been called Frederick Douglass;

The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon.

They were great in their day and generation.

Another advantage I gained in my new master was, he made no pretensions to, or profession of, religion; and this, in my opinion, was truly a great advantage.

Give me the making of a nation's ballads and I care not who has the making of its Laws.

The true aim of everyone who aspires to be a teacher should be, not to impart his own opinions, but to kindle minds.

And she helped transform him into a better public speaker, coaxing him to abandon his high, nasal twang in favor of deeper, more sonorous tones. (A vocal coach had given Jack the same advice, and for a time he spent some minutes each morning barking like a dog to deepen his voice.)

I am the leading strings of the ego and the prompter of its concepts.

All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.

A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends.

Invisible threads are the strongest ties.

Two great European narcotics, alcohol and Christianity.

A politician divides mankind into two classes: tools and enemies.

Admiration for a quality or an art can be so strong that it deters us from striving to possess it.

Some men are born posthumously.

As soon as a religion comes to dominate it has as its opponents all those who would have been its first disciples.

When one has not had a good father, one must create one.

Human history would be nothing but a record of stupidity save for the cunning contributions of the weak

Not he is great who can alter matter, but he who can alter my state of mind.

Dostoevsky,the only psychologist from whom I've anything to learn.

It is invisible hands that torment and bend us the worst