Quotes About Influence

The networks at their worst (were) at once greedy and timid.

Events," wrote George Ball, paraphrasing Emerson "are in the saddle, and ride mankind.

he sensed that his own reticence would make it easier to restrain others.

Dean Rusk was a man without a shadow.

Newspapers might have as much to do in shaping the course of public events as politicians

David Halberstam quoted Lyndon Johnson saying of a staffer: "I want him to kiss my ass in Macy's window at high noon and tell me it smells like roses.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

People are more easily led than driven.

Marx wrote his dissertation on Epicurus, and he was familiar with Greek thought. Aristotle, as you will see, provides a frequent anchor for his arguments.

a button that elites can press to open the door to the masses

Volcker, Reagan, Thatcher, and Deng Xaioping all took minority arguments that had long been in circulation and made them majoritarian (though in no case without a protracted struggle).

Celebrity means that I can affect people in a positive way.

Led Zeppelin created their music from a diet of Bert Jansch, Memphis Minnie, John Fahey, Billy Fury, Phil Spector, Richard 'Rabbit' Brown, Moby Grape, Manitas De Plata and Om Kalsoum. Those who came afterwards were content with a diet of Led Zeppelin, which is not the same thing at all.

David Herbert Donald

It was probably the President's quiet influence that caused Grant to give up his plan, ardently urged on him by Sherman, to avoid the political atmosphere in Washington by having his headquarters in the West; instead, he set up his command near the Army of the Potomac

Honor is a contagion deep as fear

I was always struck by how Picasso had no interest in music.

The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny.

Nothing appears more surprizing to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers.

The victory is not gained by the men at arms, who manage the pike and the sword; but by the trumpeters, drummers, and musicians of the army.

Nature is always too strong for principle.

Governments too steady and uniform, as they are seldom free, so are they, in the judgment of some attended with another sensible inconvenience: they abate the active powers of men; depress courage, invention, and genius; and produce a universal lethary in the people.

The victory is not gained by the men at arms, who manage the pike and the sword; but by the trumpeters

Nothing is more surprising than the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.