Quotes About Influence

One last thing about past and future—and I have saved the best for last. You can't change the past. You can change the future. Would you rather be influenced by something you can't change, or by something you can?

One of the most compelling, universal human drives is the desire to feel that we make a difference—that because we were here, the world is a better place. Human beings are social animals, and there's something hardwired into us that needs to know that we've had an impact on the world.

The more success we have, the more greatness we step into and the more abundance we experience, the more responsibility we have to the world around us.

A single thoughtful, committed person can change the world. We are all having a ripple effect on others; the question is, what kind of ripple effect, negative or positive, do we want to have?

Every decision you make is a slight edge decision. What you're going to do, how you're going to act, what you're going to read, who you're going to chat with on the phone, what you're going to eat for lunch, who you're going to associate with. How you're going to treat your fellow workers. What you're going to get done today.

Focus on what you hope will happen outside the system to make decisions about what's inside the system.

But the alternative is the "HiPPO" method — the "highest paid person's opinion." That one sucks worse.

I was at a party in Beverly Hills, and everyone in sports was there. Magic Johnson, Wayne Gretzky, Kareem. And I spotted my idol—Hank Aaron! I walked up to him and introduced myself. He said, "I know who you are. You made a great decision going to the USFL." I was shocked. Then he leaned in and whispered, "Tom, you always have to get the money. Get the fucking money. Because they don't care about you." —Tom Ramsey, quarterback, Los Angeles Express

My parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles were all funny, and I felt that energy, that delivery, that timing, that sarcasm. All that stuff seeped into my brain.

Not even generals can stop the rain.

Men with power either trumpet to everyone just how powerful they are, or they use that power effectively by keeping quiet about it, and going about their duties.

private group prayers were the modern equivalent of a backroom cigar.

What Tim [Kreutter] is doing is owning people, training them and owning them. Even if he wants them to do good things, the principle is corrupting. It is the seduction principle.

Walt Disney admired Mussolini and in 1938 quietly hosted Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, a month after Kristallnacht.

I knew what had caused this. It was Roger's sudden desire for children. That bastard's brain waves had infiltrated my scrotum, reconnecting my vas deferens and causing me to impregnate my wife, allowing him to vicariously experience the joys of new fatherhood. I was going to kick his ass the next time I saw him.

That's one of the problems with humans—that we can be talked out of loving something. That we can be talked out of loving something that we do, and we can be talked out of loving ourselves. Easily, unfortunately

That's one of the problems with humans—that we can be talked out of loving something. That we can be talked out of loving something that we do, and we can be talked out of loving ourselves.

The fish rots from the head." Fish rotted all over, cell corruption being nonhierarchical and not caste-driven, but point taken.

That's how the madness of the world tries to colonize you: from the outside in, forcing you to live in its reality. *

H.P. Lovecraft is a self-admitted early influence on Ligotti's work. However, in a kind of metaphysical horror story of its own, Ligotti early on subsumed Lovecraft and left his dry husk behind, having taken what sustenance he needed for his own devices. (Most other writers are, by contrast, consumed by Lovecraft when they attempt to devour him.)

She had a nice laugh, even when she was using it as a weapon against him.

once he was cocooned by its embrace, he would be too indoctrinated to perceive it.

Manusia ingin percaya bahwa mereka hidup dan bertindak berdasarkan kemauan mereka sendiri, namun pada kenyataannya mereka hanya dipaksa oleh keadaan.

La memoria es engañosa porque está coloreada por los acontecimientos de hoy.