Quotes About Influence

Revolutionary men with principles were not really different from the rest. They used their cleverness to get, in return for principles, what other men buy with their money.

Yet all of these accumulated contributions paled before a larger one: he demonstrated how one could assert one's will on the world at the very time when everything seemed to be growing beyond control and beyond comprehension.

he had become the patriarch of horseflesh.

Part of Walt's secret was that in insisting on quality from individuals of whom it had never been required, he inspired commitment.

every time he forces himself to think before acting, it's her voice in his head telling him to slow down. He wants to tell her, but she's always so busy in the medical jet—and you don't just go to somebody and say, I'm a better person because you're in my head.

Tools are neither demonic nor divine. It's all about who wields them.

Monster only had the power that you gave them

It's strange how we always want other people to feel what we feel. It must be a basic human drive. Misery loves company, right? Or when you see a movie that you love, don't you want to drag all your friends to see it as well? Because it's only good the second time if it's the first time for somebody else—as if their experience somehow resonates inside of you.

You'll find in life, Caden, that many decisions are made by morons in high places.

In a population of hundreds of millions, such a small number of people is a mere drop in the bucket... but enough drops can make any bucket overflow

History is written by the victors--and when there is no victors, it all winds up in the corporate shredders.

To name her is to sink her," he told me. "That which we name takes greater weight than the sea it displaces. Ask any shipwreck.

You don't just go to somebody and say, 'I'm a better person because you're in my head.

People are vessels," Jeri had said to her. "They hold whatever's poured into them." And apparently Greyson had drained them and refilled them with something far more palatable.

It's a big question. Where do you begin to change the world?

I mean, it's like we all get our raw materials from our families?but it's up to us whether we build bridges or bombs.

How frustrating it is to have so much power, yet be so impotent to wield it when it counts.

They will find whatever button will make you dance, and dance you will, no matter how hideous the tune.

One could say, Ayn, that he has cast himself as Atlas. Which means the slightest shrug can shake the world.

there are some who seek celebrity to change the world, and others who seek it to ensnare the world.

The Admiral's using us, he says to the kids around him. Don't you see that? Most of the kids just shrug, but Hayden's there, and he never misses an opportunity to add his peculiar wisdom to a situation. I'd rather be used whole than in pieces, Hayden says.

The sad truth about humanity, Risa was quick to realize, is that people believe what they are told. Maybe not the first time, but by the hundredth time, the craziest of ideas just becomes a given.

a true leader never puts his ego ahead of his assets.

I believed, in my arrogance, that I had a keen grasp of the big picture that others lacked. But of course, I was just as limited as anyone else. When I gleaned the president and his cabinet, it shook the world – but the world was already shaking just fine without me.