Quotes About Influence

A scientific body to which had been confided the government of society would soon end by devoting itself no longer to science at all, but to quite another affair; and that affair, as in the case of all established powers, would be its own eternal perpetuation by rendering the society confided to its care ever more stupid and consequently more in need of its government and direction.

Nothing is more dangerous for man's private morality than the habit of command. The best man, the most intelligent, disinterested, generous, pure, will infallibly and always be spoiled at this trade. Two sentiments inherent in power never fail to produce this demoralization; they are: contempt for the masses and the over-estimation of one's own merits.

The State, for its own preservation, must necessarily be powerful as regards foreign affairs; but if it is so as regards foreign affairs, it will infallibly be so as regards home affairs.

You know what kind of person it takes to run for President? Not normal. They could start out okay, but by the time they reach that level they've sold their soul to the devil so many times and stomped the guts out of enough people that they are definitely not like you and me, not even close.

No people come into possession of a culture without having paid a heavy price for it.

Sometimes a minute can be a mighty powerful thing.

Man inherits the capacity for loyalty, but not the use to which he shall put it. The persons and causes (if any) to which he shall devote himself are suggested to him, often, indeed, imposed upon him, by education and environment. Nevertheless, they are his by choice, not by hereditary compulsion. And his choice may be bad. He may unselfishly devote himself to what is petty or vile, as he may to what is generous and noble.

The constant pressure of custom; the effects of imitation, of education, and of habit; the incalculable influence of man on man, produce a working uniformity of conviction more effectually than the gallows and the stake, though without the cruelty, and with far more than the wisdom that have usually been vouchsafed to official persecutors.

The sole advantage of power is that you can do more good.

Begin with another's to end with your own.

He that communicates his secret to another makes himself that other's slave.

Nous n'y connaissons pas encore de remède au mal que produit une phrase.

The modern god,--the only god in whom faith is preserved,--money, is here, in all its power, manifested in a single countenance.

You are a woman, and you can certainly win a priest to your interests.

Ambitious men ought to follow curved lines, the shortest road in politics.

A wife is to her husband just what her husband has made her.

There are no principles, only events; there are no laws, only circumstances: a superior man espouses events and circumstances the better to influence them. If fixed principles and laws really existed, countries wouldn't change them as often as we change shirts. One man can't be expected to show more sense than an entire nation.

Men are like that, they can resist sound argument, yet yield to a glance.

Good tea is eloquent enough, it turns out, to change a person's mind.

Los grandes hombres, sólo con existir, emiten una luz que ilumina a quienes están a su alrededor, y cuando esta luz se apaga proyecta una sombra pesada, irremediablemente.

One of the things you lost sight of when you lived in the city was the sense of how much power an individual had.

I started out thinking I'd just have to look the part to get by, and before I knew it the poison had seeped in and changed me inside.

That's what it's like when you're creating things. On the one hand, it really seems like you're keeping it all moving on your own, and you can tell yourself that you've got inspiration raining down on you, but ultimately you can't make anything happen on your own. I

Se anche solo per un istante pensavo di essere strana, gli occhi di mia madre mi guardavano da sopra gli occhiali, e come due puntine da disegno mi fissavano saldamente al mio posto nel mondo.