Quotes About Influence

I was in about in the 8th grade when I started recording R&B, so much of what was on was the Motown sound, and The Beatles had pretty much come over and taken America by storm.

Dave Cockrum's work at Marvel and DC defined my childhood and inspired me to be a comic book creator. Without Dave, there is no New 'X-Men' resurgence, there is no Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, Lilandra, Star Jammers, or the Imperial Guard. His influence on generations of fans cannot be measured.

Increasingly, I'll see commercials and every fast food chain has the new spicy fries or spicy this or spicy that and I feel like that is popping up more and more. Humbly I do think 'Hot Ones' is at the center of that storm in a lot of ways. So yeah I think that we've helped take hot sauce and move it into a more mainstream place for sure.

Lance Storm taught me everything that I know.

You know, another jazz drummer, Ed Thigpen, who played with Oscar Peterson way back - it was the first time I ever heard rivets in a cymbal. And then I heard that Chico Hamilton had them too, and I went, 'Oh, that's it. I'm taking that for my sound.' And it worked well on 'Riders On The Storm,' so that's one thing.

Who were the fools who spread the story that brute force cannot kill ideas? Nothing is easier. And once they are dead they are no more than corpses.

Meeting kids who feel inspired by my story, it means so much to me.

2Pac made me want to rap, he made me want to speak my ghetto story and not be ashamed of it.

Shakespeare is still Shakespeare because story rules.

I went to film school to make films just because you're in control of the story.

Without a doubt my mother was an inspiration for my writing. This is true in many ways, but mostly because she is a wonderful storyteller, without even knowing it.

I want to be seen as a good storyteller. I'm a manipulator as well.

It's the same old story. Nothing in this world happens unless white folks says it happens. And therein lies the problem of being a professional black storyteller - writer, musician, filmmaker.

Rowling is a luminous storyteller. I love her sense of humor and the intricate wizarding world she built around Hogwarts. I think all writers aspire to be like her, to capture readers like she does. But I didn't think about 'Harry Potter' when I wrote 'The Bone Season.'

My father was a GP; my mother was a teacher and amateur actress. My father was a bit of a storyteller, but the acting influence must have been from her - yes, put it down to my mother.

I love Carpenter, I love Craven - these are all the classics - the Romeros of the world, but I think the biggest influence on me as a storyteller and as a filmmaker is actually Steven Spielberg. I love that even though Steven isn't known for being a horror director, he started out his career making scary movies.

As a younger person, I was obsessed with Ray Bradbury, and I think his stories did more to shape me as a storyteller than anybody else - even though, when I read them now, a lot of them seem overly sentimental. But that's probably the writer that I've thought about the most, even though I don't necessarily like a lot of his work.

I owe my whole career as a storyteller to my father. He was an actor/director/producer and teacher.

People expect me to be, first and foremost, a storyteller. I lead by telling stories.

When Slick Rick first hit the scene, I had to practice that British accent. There's no other storyteller like this man.

Because if we the storytellers don't do this, then the bad people will win.

I love storytellers. When I was growing up, my inspirations were watching Eddie Murphy, Dennis Wolfberg, and Louie Anderson. These guys were great at telling stories, and I made that my own style, talking about things that happened to me and trying to make them funny.

I learned from the best storytellers in the world: Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Ne-Yo, Michael Jordan, Vin Diesel, RuPaul.

I grew up listening to the 60's and 70's... storytellers and poets.