Quotes About Influence

many such episodes it became clear that religion allied too closely to the state leads to the abuse of power. Christian experiments with church-state blending, whether in Geneva under Calvin or in Spain and Latin America under the Inquisition, may have worked for a time but inevitably provoked a backlash against the church, such as that seen in secular Europe today.*

It is difficult, if not impossible, to communicate the message of grace from the corridors of power.

Grace has its own power, even in international politics.

One reason the broader world does not look to Christianity for guidance is that we Christians have not spoken with a credible voice.

Jesus did not mix his spirituality with politics.

Author Stephen Brown notes that a veterinarian can learn a lot about a dog owner he has never met just by observing the dog. What does the world learn about God by watching us his followers

The church works best as a force of resistance, a counterbalance to the consuming power of the state.

A church that lives by power dies by power.

Y el mundo que nos observa, juzga a Dios por aquellos que llevan su nombre. En gran medida, la desilusión con Dios brota de la desilusión con los demás cristianos.

Rather than looking back nostalgically on a time when Christians wielded more power, I suggest another approach: that we regard ourselves as subversives operating within the broader culture.

Lewis had developed a trademark style, slow enough for note taking, loud enough to rouse the dullest listener, straightforward, abundantly furnished with quotations, and lavish in wit.

She's a Boleyn and a Howard,I said frankly.Underneath the great name, we 're all bitches on heat.

The law is what powerful men say it shall be.

Yes, but either way, shamed or not, I shall be Queen of England, and this is the last time you will sit in my presence.

I was taught to be queen by Margaret of Anjou, and perhaps I have taught you how to be queen in turn. This is fortune's wheel indeed. With my forefinger I draw a circle in the air, the sign of fortune's wheel. You can go very high and you can sink very low, but you can rarely turn the wheel at your own bidding.

I am a queen she observes. It is natural that men are going to gather round me, hoping for a smile.

But I warn you that a woman who seeks great power and wealth has to pay a great price, Perhaps you will be a great woman like Melusina, or Yolande, or like me; but you will be like all women; uneasy in the world of men.

Getting a woman into power is not the point—it's getting a good woman into power who thinks and cares about what she does.

Every woman should marry for her own advantage since her husband will represent her, as visible as her front door, for the rest of his life. If she chooses a wastrel she will be avoided by all her neighbors as a poor woman; catch a duke and she will be Your Grace, and everyone will be her friend. She can be pious, she can be learned,she cane be witty and wise and beautiful, but if she is married to a fool she will be that poor Mrs. Fool until the day he dies.

One should never offend more men than one can persuade

He smiled at me, his wolfish smile. 'We are making a new order,' he said, 'a new world. Everything is changing, and here we are, at the very front of the change.' 'If I refuse?' I asked, my voice very thing. He gave me his most cynical smile that left his eyes as cold as wet coals. 'You don't,' he said simply. 'The world's not changed that much yet. Men still rule.

We wait by the door for him to notice us and I think how wonderful it must be to be a man and put your initial on a command and know that at once, such a thing is done. I would send out commands all day just for the pleasure of it.

a powerful woman will always attract slander

If I refuse?" I asked, my voice very thin. He gave me his most cynical smile that left his eyes as cold as wet coals. "You don't," he said simply. "The world's not changed that much yet. Men still rule.