Quotes About Influence

We are all puppets in the hands of Fate, and seldom see the strings that move us.

The democratic process will always favor small, well-organized groups at the expense of large, diffuse groups. It's not just how many people care one way or the other; it's how much they care. Two percent who care deeply about something

As former Fed governor Kevin Warsh has said, "Economics, and the conduct of monetary policy, after all, is not physics.

At first glance, the most suspicious thing about polling is that the opinions of so few can tell us about the opinions of so many.

Language does control how you think, and if you don't have a word for it, you won't think of it.

I wonder if your mother was frightened by Peter Pan before you were born?

His voice dropped the words like icy pebbles into the stream of her mind...

The ongoing, concerted effort he put into guiding Risa through her childhood had an unexpected and gratifying reward in his dealings with the women he saw from time to time. He

any schmoozer can light a candle.

COLD WORDS FREEZE PEOPLE, AND HOT WORDS SCORCH THEM, AND BITTER WORDS MAKE THEM BITTER, AND WRATHFUL WORDS MAKE THEM WRATHFUL. KIND WORDS . . . SOOTHE, QUIET, AND COMFORT THE HEARER. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

The pretty girl is always right.

Sometimes in your life you just meet someone or hear something that nudges you on the right path. And that becomes the best advice. It could just be a bit of commonsense said in a way that resonates with something in you. It's nothing new, but because it connects with you it holds meaning for you.

Stupid people go to college butsmart people own them....

A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness

When mother-cow is chewing grass its young ones watch its mouth

In the end I began to understand. There is such a thing as absolute power over narrative. Those who secure this privilege for themselves can arrange stories about others pretty much where, and as, they like. Just as in corrupt, totalitarian regimes, those who exercise power over others can do anything.

It is the story that owns and directs us. It is the thing that makes us different from cattle; it is the mark on the face that sets one people apart from their neighbors.

stories are not always innocent;...they can be used to put you in the wrong crowd, in the party of the man who has come to dispossess you.

The fly that no one to advise it follows the corpse into the grave.

In such a regime, I say you died a good death if your life had inspired someone to come forward and shoot your murderer in the chest - without asking to be paid.

In the end I began to understand. There is such a thing as absolute power over narrative. Those who secure this privilege for themselves can arrange stories about others pretty much where, and as, they like. Just as in corrupt, totalitarian regimes, those who exercise power over others can do anything. They can bring out crowds of demonstrators whenever they need them.

Who ever planted an iroko tree - the greatest tree in the forest? You may collect all the iroko seeds in the world, open the soil and put them there. It will be in vain. The great tree chooses where to grow and we find it there, so it is with greatness in men.

The writer cannot expect to be excused from the task of re-education and re-generation that must be done. In fact, he should march right in front.

In such a regime, I say you died a good death if your life had inspired someone to come forward and shoot your murdered in the chest - without asking to be paid.