Quotes About Influence

Politics has become infused with narcissism in America.

When you take charge of your own narrative, it gives you a handle on it.

Growing up, I mostly read comic books and sci-fi. Then I discovered the book 'Jane Eyre' by Jane Austen. It introduced me to the world of romance, which I have since never left. Also, the world of the first-person narrative.

Simply put, the Internet undermines the ability of an institution to control its own narrative.

I do love Shirley Jackson, but I don't deserve to be named in connection with her. I remember reading 'The Haunting of Hill House' and having goosebumps for hours. The way she builds narrative pressure in that book is just amazing. I think you could reread it a few times and actually go out of your mind.

I think the biggest thing is voice. Whose voice is it? Who gets to control the narrative?

I had a lot of great bosses - I worked for Gina Prince-Bythewood for two years, I worked for Ava Duvernay as a PA on her first narrative film, and I worked with Mara Brock Akil, so a lot of wonderful role models.

What's important is how the character drives the narrative.

I think there are narratives going on all the time that we think of as tangential - up until they turn out to be deciding factors in our lives.

I feel like progress will be made in the landscape of Latino influence when we get to tell those murky, real, close-to-life narratives.

I was not aware of how much I loved 'Canoa' until I saw it after doing 'Y Tu Mama Tambien' and realized that my voice - over about the story's historical context - that narrator - came from 'Canoa'.

I never understood bands who were only influenced by a narrow era of, say, five years of music.

When you think about the NASCAR brand, it resonates everywhere. They have the No. 1 sports brand.

If you went to school in Nashville, you were aware of all those '60s rockabilly people.

When you start attacking cronyism and people's political interests, it gets nasty.

My mother used to dress me in quite good-taste clothes, and I really wanted things that were sparkly and spangly and trashy and nasty. I don't know if I ever chose fashion; it was just there in me.

I'd love to be a filmmaker and look back and be like, 'Ah, man, we were part of that whole '80s video nasty thing!'

The name Rico Nasty came from Instagram.

I love all of Kate Winslet's characters. And Natalie Portman. If I can have a smidgen of what they've done, that would be awesome.

A nation is blessed when it has godly leaders.

As a former CIA operative, I have seen first-hand that not every nation we buy energy from has America's best interest in mind.

Cinema is a great binding force for a nation.

In this nation, leadership is dollars.

California serves as our nation's cutting edge on many fronts.