Quotes About Influence

There is scarcely anything in this world which can more turn or bend hither and thither the ways of men than music," said Calvin.

tyrants always set about shaping history after their liking.

never get into a pissing match with folks who buy ink by the barrel

President Johnson no longer trusted Cronkite and his CBS ilk. At a March 1967 dinner party, he told reporters that CBS and NBC were "controlled by the Vietcong.

Words could kill, sometimes, he thought then. Words could change everything. Lourdes

Everybody has a 'gripping stranger' in their lives, Andy, a stranger who unwittingly possesses a bizarre hold over you. Maybe it's the kid in cut-offs who mows your lawn or the woman wearing White Shoulders who stamps your book at the library—a stranger who, if you were to come home and find a message from them on your answering machine saying 'Drop everything. I love you. Come away with me now to Florida,' you'd follow them.

Books turn people into isolated individuals, and once that's happened, the road only grows rockier. Books wire you to want to be Steve McQueen, but the world wants you to be [email protected].

It was pivotal in making you but you don't remember it. Or do you? Do we understand the events that make us who we are? Do we understand the factors that make us do the things we do?

Death without the possibility of ever changing the world is the same as a life that never was.

Imagine you're a forty-year-old, Richard, Hamilton said to me around this time, while working as a salesman at a Radio Shack in Lynn Valley,and suddenly somebody comes up to you saying, 'Hi, I'd like you to meet Kevin. Kevin is eighteen and will be making all of your career decisions for you.' I'd be flipped out. Wouldn't you? But that's what life is all about - some eighteen-year-old kid making your big decisions for you that stick for a lifetime. He shuddered.

I think that emotions affect you as much as x-rays and vitamins and car crashes.

After playing Halo 2 for 3 hours, I went out and mowed down a Red Cross blood bank, raped anything with a pulse, and trashed the local mall. Then I toasted the gods of destruction with a goblet of blood stolen from a Girl Guide's body.

The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be so much more powerful than he will ever be.

I think we live in this world, but we don't change the world.

If life were fattening, Walter Cronkite would weigh 500 pounds.

Grasping Armstrong by the throat came ultimately from R. B. Rutledge, though shaking him was Black's idea, and shaking him like a "rag" was Herndon and Weik's.

All power structures, by their very nature, eventually get taken over by psychopaths. Almost all governments in the world have been taken over by gifted psychopaths who have a great command of human psychology and use normal people to their advantage. This race of pathological deviants can't feel compassion, they have no conscience. They have an insatiable need for power—and they rule the world.

Gideon," he said, "think for a minute about the qualities that a leader—even a co-leader—is required to have. He's a team player. He's good at inspiring others. He's able to hide his true feelings, put up a false front when necessary. He projects confidence at all times—even if he doesn't feel confident. He can't be a freelancer. And he's certainly not a loner. Now, tell me: do any of these qualities describe you?

Zero-sum games deal with resources that neither increase nor decrease in amount—they only shift from one player to the other. Given your present frame of mind, were you to speak now, I'm afraid you might say something rash. I would feel it incumbent to offer a rejoinder. As a result of this exchange, you would be mortified and humiliated, which—as dictated by the rules of game theory—would increase my influence and status at your expense.

their relationship had a spiritual dimension. Think about that for a moment. Language is power. Prentiss was like a spiritual guide. She gave Jennie power—and Jennie used it.

jennie confirmed my suspicions that television advertising is directed mainly at people with the iq of a pongid

She wondered how a guy like Drayton could generate a turnout this big and enthusiastic. There was something about him a certain type of person loved, it seemed. She just couldn't see it.

The rich will always be with us.' There is no answer, except to make sure we wealthy are not allowed to use our money as a tool of oppression and subversion of democracy.

Jennie quickly began to use language to mislead us. Or to manage a situation more to her liking.