Quotes About Influence

Experience leaves a mark, regardless of the reasons and principles behind it.

I am lucky to have had an attentive, curious and loving dad and heart-smart, down-to-earth, gifted mother. They changed the outlooks of their own lives and have never forgotten the people and organizations that helped them dream bigger than their circumstances should have allowed.

People in America are not ignorant of Christianity. They've heard the message, seen our churches on every corner, they flick by our Christian TV shows, they see our fish symbols on the backs of our cars. They've seen so much of pop Christian culture that they have a programmed response to us: Ignore, ignore, ignore. What's needed is a change of parameters—something that will alter their emotional response.

If people around me aren't moved by my Christ or my church, then I must be doing a miserable job of representing them both.

Our only hope is to follow the example of Jesus and get back out there, winning people over with ridiculous love

It's not magic; it's hard work by vested people who share a vision for God's kingdom in their city. An influential church is nothing more than a bunch of believers who get in the game and live on mission.

Tassi was eventually found guilty of the rape of a virgin. He was held in prison for eight months and exiled from Rome for five years, but as he was close to the Pope and his nephew, this was never enforced. The trial didn't seem to have affected his career: he was commissioned to paint murals in the Pallavicini-Rospigliosi

I guess there were two types of people in the world, those who sat around a fire, staring into the flames, and those who started the fire. Seth and I started the fire, and then we danced around it.

As awful as it sounds, money is power, and power is magnetic.

Katie nosed at the carpet and then gave it a good chew. When it proved recalcitrant enough that she couldn't pull it up, she growled. "Who's a fierce little girl?" I asked her. "Who's going to kick butt and take names and help her big sister get into all kinds of trouble someday?" Devon snorted. "Sometimes, I think the term bad influence was invented specifically with you in mind.

Jameson was close to me now. Too close. Every one of the Hawthorne boys was magnetic. Larger than life. They had an effect on people—and Jameson was very good at using that to get what he wanted. He wants something from me now.

The fact that you don't hate him for this breaks my heart. And if we weren't leaving because of what they'd done to you, we'd be leaving because the pack has twisted you enough to make you think that it's okay for someone to treat you that way.

Someone told me once that fortunes like this one–at a certain point, it's not about the money, because you couldn't spend billions if you tried It's about the power." I looked down. "And I just don't think anyone should have power like that, certainly not me.

There were people out there who might live or die because of me, futures good or bad might be realized because of my choices. What right did I even have to be the one making them?

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

They'd been sculpted by Tobias Hawthorne, formed and forged by the billionaire's hands. They were extraordinary, and for the first time in their lives, they weren't living under the weight of his expectations.

You want power-either because you've already had a taste of it and want more, or because you've been made to feel powerless for too long.

there was one thing I'd learned about deceased billionaire Tobias Hawthorne, it was that he was capable of orchestrating nearly anything, manipulating nearly anyone. He'd loved puzzles and riddles and games.

When you were a kid," he continued, his voice even and low, "Your mother taught you to observe people. She also taught you not to get attached.

Everything you said or did was a data point you put out there in the world.

Tell her," I said, "that I am my mother's daughter.

Emilia stared at me for three or four more seconds, then gave up on pumping me for information. "We should go," she decided with the force of a monarch declaring law. "I have Latin first period. The Aeneid waits for no man.

Life is full of drowning people, reading and willing to drown you, too.

but at the end of the day, even if you thought that you'd manipulated our grandfather into this, I guarantee that he'd be the one manipulating you.