Quotes About Influence

Either way, the vulnerable human ego is protected. Protected from the corrupting influence of praise. Protected from the corrosive effects of shame.

I got letters saying, I detest everything about you, and I got letters saying, You have written my bible. Imagine if I'd tried to create a definition of myself based on any of these reactions. I didn't try. And

Even as a child, Alma innately comprehended that there were two types of silent men in the world: one type was meek and deferential; the other type was Dick Yancey. His eyes were a pair of slowly circling sharks, and as he stared at Alma now, those eyes were clearly saying: Bring the rum.

Her thoughts were a cloud of contagion that did her no good.

She smiled sweetly at everyone and always acted like a total cooperator—but then she shaped her own world exactly to her liking while nobody was looking.

You know, you seem like a completely different person, now that you're with this new boyfriend. You used to look like your husband, but now you look like David. You even dress like him and talk like him. You know how some people look like their dogs? I think maybe you always look like your men.

If you know anything about the friendships of young girls, you will know that there is always one person playing the part of the handmaiden, anyhow. Celia demanded

For a group of nationalist intellectuals much later in history to have sat down and decided that Dante's Italian would now be the official language of Italy would be very much as if a group of Oxford dons had sat down one day in the early nineteenth century and decided that—from this point forward—everybody in England was going to speak pure Shakespeare.

I believe that our planet is inhabited not only by animals and plants and bacteria and viruses, but also by ideas. Ideas are a disembodied, energetic life-form. They are completely separate from us, but capable of interacting with us

Sometimes it's just true that other people have better ideas for your life than you do.

If the person of most consequence in the world has chosen to prefer us over all others, then we become accustomed to having what we wish for. Wasn't that the case with you, as well? How can we not feel that we are strong—people like you and me?

Maybe you remember...what a powerful impact the word fuck used to have in our society--back before everybody and thier children started saying it 10 times a day before breakfast

believe that we are surrounded by a host of unseen friends and loved ones, now passed away, who exert an influence upon our lives, and who never abandon us.

Those who survived the world shaped it--even as the world, simultaneously, shaped them.

In my opinion, too much attention to weather makes for instability of character.

Making a living is nothing, the great difficulty is making a point, making a difference - with words.

When you enter a room, all eyes turn to you. You blaze like a torch, lighting the darkest corners, brightening even those who thought they were already well lit. You bring joy and mirth and leave behind a glow that gives hope to those you left. And you, Mr. Makepeace? Are you one of those who thought themselves well lit? I am as dark as a pit. Now he was glad her back was turned. Even your torch will have difficulty lighting my depths.

There are people who stick in one's memory much more clearly after a brief acquaintance than others whom one sees day after day after a long period.

Imagine, Dracula a pawn in the hands of the infidel. I wasted no time there-I learned everything I could about them, so that I might surpass them all. That was when I vowed to make history, not to be its victim.

The strange thing, you know, is that Stalin openly admired Ivan the Terrible. Two leaders who were willing to crush and kill their own people-to do anything necessary- in order to consolidate their power...Can you imagine a world in which Stalin could live for five hundred years...or perhaps forever?

Tan diferente parece la ladera de una colina turca de la pendiente de un prado magiar? Claro que no, pero la diferencia es imposible de borrar del ojo cuando la historia te informa desde la mente.

Politics isn't about reality, it's about what you can make people believe is real.

It all boils down to money and power and to hell with the meadow that's flattened while the elephants and donkeys dance for dollars.

My father was right: you could make anybody amazing just by insisting they were.