Quotessence
Home / Topics / Influence Quotes

Influence Quotes

Browse 5077 quotes about Influence.

Related topics

PeopleThinkingIfsWorldWayMenKnowsMindTryingWantImportantMayGivingPersonsHas BeensDifferentShouldHumansCountryMeanBigsWritingFirstsKindChildrenPoliticalBelieveStatesWellsCharacterActionFeelsArtGovernmentIdeasYearsDoeArtistUseLooksBookMadeCultureHelpingLittlesAbilityTwoHeartInterestNeedsIndividualMotherPowerfulSoulForceLongFeelingsChristianRealStillsWould BeParentReasonStrongTodayHugeAbleCoursesDecisionFactsPlayWholeEffectsFormYoungMatterCertainNationsOpinionSchoolSocialFatherInfluencing PeopleSelfChurchHomeLeadershipMoralSaidTeacherAmericaFilmLeaderTogetherExerciseShowsSometimesI CanMightPositionmore

Influence Quotes

“Man liveth from hour to hour, and knoweth not what may happen; Influences circle him on all sides, and yet must he answer for his actions: For the being that is master of himself, bendeth events to his will, But a slave to selfish passions is the wavering creature of circumstance.”

MenMayHappensActionPassionSidesHoursAnswersInfluenceEventsMastersCircumstancesCreaturesSlaveSelfishCirclesWillpowerWavering
Book:Tupper's Poetical Works: Proverbial Philosophy, A Thousand Lines, Hactenus
Create image

“Throughout his last half-dozen books, for example, Arthur Koestler has been conducting a campaign against his own misunderstanding of Darwinism. He hopes to find some ordering force, constraining evolution to certain directions and overriding the influence of natural selection. [...] Darwinism is not the theory of capricious change that Koestler imagines. Random variation may be the raw material of change, but natural selection builds good design by rejecting most variants while accepting and accumulating the few that improve adaptation to local environments.”

MayHas BeensBookLastsCertainForceNaturalHalfAcceptingEnvironmentImagineInfluenceExampleDesignMaterialsTheoryEvolutionCampaignsLocalsDozenSelectionMisunderstandingAdaptationVariationNatural SelectionArthurRejectingRaw MaterialsConductingDarwinismGood DesignCapricious
Author:Stephen Jay Gould
Create image

“We can now determine, easily and relatively cheaply, the detailed chemical architecture of genes ; and we can trace the products of these genes ( enzymes and proteins ) as they influence the course of embryology . In so doing we have made the astounding discovery that all complex animal phyla - arthropods and vertebrates in particular - have retained, despite their half-billion years of evolutionary independence, an extensive set of common genetic blueprints for building bodies.”

YearsMadeBodyCoursesAnimalCommonHalfInfluenceBuildingParticularProductsDiscoveryIndependenceComplexesDetermineArchitectureBillionsDespiteChemicalsGenesProteinBlueprintsEnzymesVertebratesArthropods
Book:Leonardo's Mountain Of Clams
Create image

“THE NINETEENTH CENTURY SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY WAS DUE PRIMARILY TO A NEW BURST OF RELIGIOUS LIFE EMANATING FROM THE CHRISTIAN IMPULSE. . . . NEVER IN ANY CORRESPONDING LENGTH OF TIME HAD THE CHRISTIAN IMPULSE GIVEN RISE TO SO MANY NEW MOVEMENTS. NEVER HAD IT HAD QUITE SO GREAT AN EFFECT UPON WESTERN EUROPEAN PEOPLES. IT WAS FROM THIS ABOUNDING VIGOR THAT THERE ISSUED THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE WHICH DURING THE NINETEENTH CENTURY SO AUGMENTED THE NUMERICAL STRENGTH AND THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.”

ChristianGivenReligiousChristianityInfluenceEffectsCenturyMovementWesternSpreadDuesImpulseEnterpriseLengthMissionaryNineteenth CenturyVigorCorrespondingReligious Life
Author:Kenneth Scott Latourette
Create image

“The receptive attitude enables one mind to fix itself to another as by spiritual grappling-irons. When you see that every word you utter us taken in, and weighed, and measured by your listener, you cannot free yourself from the influence of his presence. You are compelled to have in your thoughts not only the words you utter, but the man to whom they are spoken. You must not only talk, and talk well, but you must talk to him.”

MenMindWellsSpiritualAttitudeTakenInfluenceHe ManListeningIronListenersCompelledReceptiveFree YourselfGrappling
Author:Charles Dickens
Create image

“It has long been observed, that an atheist has no just reason for endeavouring conversions; and yet none harass those minds which they can influence, with more importunity of solicitation to adopt their opinions. In proportion as they doubt the truth of their own doctrines, they are desirous to gain the attestation of another understanding: and industriously labour to win a proselyte, and eagerly catch at the slightest pretense to dignify their sect with a distinguished name.”

MindLongReasonWinningNamesUnderstandingOpinionDoubtAtheismInfluenceGainsAtheistConversionDoctrineProportionLabourDistinguishedPretenseSectsSolicitation
Book:The Beauties of Samuel Johnson: Consisting of Maxims and Observations, Moral, Critical, and Miscellaneous
Create image

“On reflection, moral judgment in the arts appears rather as a tribute to their power to influence emotion and possibly conduct. And reflecting further on what some critics do today, one sees that a good many have merely shifted the ground of their moralism, transferring their impulse of righteousness to politics and social issues.”

ArtTodaySocialEmotionMoralIssuesInfluenceJudgmentReflectionCriticsImpulseGood ManRighteousnessSocial IssuesReflectingTributeMoral JudgmentMoralism
Book:The Culture We Deserve
Create image

“The power of a free people is often at the disposal of a single and seemingly an unimportant individual; a terrible and truthful power; for such a people feel with one heart, and therefore can lift up their myriad arms for a single blow. And, again, there is no graduated scale for the measurement of the influences of different intellects upon the popular mind. Peter the Hermit held no office, yet what a work he wrought!”

PeopleFeelsMindHeartDifferentIndividualInfluenceArmsTerribleOfficeBlowIntellectScalesLiftsPeterTruthfulMeasurementUnimportantHermits
Book:Morals and Dogma
Create image

“If the Soul sees, after death , what passes on this earth , and watches over the welfare of those it loves, then must its greatest happiness consist in seeing the current of its beneficent influences widening out from age to age, as rivulets widen into rivers, and aiding to shape the destinies of individuals, families, States, the World; and its bitterest punishment, in seeing its evil influences causing mischief and misery , and cursing and afflicting men, long after the frame it dwelt in has become dust, and when both name and memory are forgotten.”

IfsMenWorldLongSoulStatesAgeEarthEvilNamesIndividualMemoriesWatchesDestinySeeingInfluenceShapesRiversMiseryForgottenCurrentsPunishmentDustWelfareAfter DeathMischiefCursing
Book:Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
Create image

“To sow, that others may reap; to work and plant for those that are to occupy the earth when we are dead; to project our influences far into the future, and live beyond our time; to rule as the Kings of Thought, over men who are yet unborn; to bless with the glorious gifts of Truth and Light and Liberty those who will neither know the name of the giver, nor care in what grave his unregarded ashes repose, is the true office of a Mason and the proudest destiny of a man.”

KnowsMenMayLightCareEarthNamesLibertyDestinyInfluenceKingsOfficeProjectsPlantGravesOur TimeGloriousBlessAshesGiverReapReposeUnbornMasons
Book:Morals and Dogma
Create image

“Many [hooligans] discover to their shame that they have scruples; they have roots and, greatest disadvantage of all, they have hope. The fathers superior of the order do not try to influence their children in Satan; they merely shake their heads in sorrow. They know that the apostate must work out his own damnation.”

KnowsTryingChildrenOrderFatherInfluenceSorrowRootsShameWork OutSuperiorsSatanShakesDisadvantagesHaving HopeDamnationScruples
Author:Quentin Crisp
Create image

“In a really equal democracy, every or any section would be represented, not disproportionately, but proportionately. ... Unless they are, there is not equal government, but a government of inequality and privilege: one part of the people rule over the rest: there is a part whose fair and equal share of influence in the representation is withheld from them, contrary to all just government, but, above all, contrary to the principle of democracy, which professes equality as its very root and foundation.”

PeopleGovernmentWould BePrinciplesDemocracyShareInfluenceEqualFairsRootsFoundationPrivilegeContraryInequalityRepresentationSections
Author:John Stuart Mill
Create image

“I had this story from one who had no business to tell it to me, or to any other. I may credit the seductive influence of an old vintage upon the narrator for the beginning of it, and my own skeptical incredulity during the days that followed for the balance of the strange tale.”

MayStoriesMy OwnInfluenceStrangeBalanceCreditTalesSkepticalSeductiveVintageNarratorsIncredulity
Book:TARZAN OF THE APES SERIES - Complete Collection: 25 Novels in One Volume (Illustrated): The Return of Tarzan, The Beasts of Tarzan, The Son of Tarzan, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, Jungle Tales of Tarzan, Tarzan the Untamed, Tarzan and the Golden Lion, Tarzan the Terrible and many more
Create image

“Underneath all his writing there is the settled determination to use certain words, to take certain attitudes, to produce a certain atmosphere; what he is seeing or thinking or feeling has hardly any influence on the way he writes. The reader can reply, ironically, "That's what it means to have a style"; but few people have so much of one, or one so obdurate that you can say of it, "It is a style that no subject can change.”

PeopleThinkingWayWritingMeanUseFeelingsCertainAttitudeSeeingInfluenceSubjectsStyleProduceReaderDeterminationAtmosphere
Author:Randall Jarrell
Create image

“I think that the influence towards suppression of minority views - towards orthodoxy in thinking about public issues - has been more subconscious than unconscious, stemming to a very great extent from the tendency of Americans to conform...not to deviate or depart from an orthodox point of view.”

ThinkingHas BeensJusticeViewsIssuesInfluencePoint Of ViewTendenciesUnconsciousMinoritiesOrthodoxSubconsciousConformOrthodoxySuppressionDeviate
Author:William O. Douglas
Create image

“And thus, in full, there are four classes: the men who feel nothing, and therefore see truly; the men who feel strongly, think weakly, and see untruly (second order of poets); the men who feel strongly, think strongly, and see truly (first order of poets); and the men who, strong as human creatures can be, are yet submitted to influences stronger than they, and see in a sort untruly, because what they see is inconceivably above them. This last is the usual condition of prophetic inspiration.”

ThinkingMenFeelsFirstsHumansInspirationLastsOrderStrongClassFourInfluenceConditionsHe ManPoetCreaturesStrongerUsualProphetic
Book:The Genius of John Ruskin: Selections from His Writings
Create image

“Imitation is for the most part so unconscious that its effects are almost unheeded, but its influence is not the less permanent on that account. It is only when an impressive nature is placed in contact with an impressionable one that the alteration in the character becomes recognizable. Yet even the weakest natures exercise some influence upon those about them. The approximation of feeling, thought, and habit is constant, and the action of example unceasing.”

CharacterFeelingsActionInfluenceEffectsExampleHabitExerciseAccountsConstantContactPermanentUnconsciousImitationImpressiveAlterationsApproximationImpressionable
Book:Happy Homes and the Hearts that Make Them. Or Thrifty People and why They Thrive
Create image

“Many are the lives of men unwritten, which have nevertheless as powerfully influenced civilization and progress as the more fortunate Great whose names are recorded in biography. Even the humblest person, who sets before his fellows an example of industry, sobriety, and upright honesty of purpose in life, has a present as well as a future influence upon the well-being of his country; for his life and character pass unconsciously into the lives of others, and propagate good example for all time to come.”

MenWellsPersonsCountryCharacterPurposeNamesProgressInfluenceHonestyExampleIndustryCivilizationFellowsAll TimeWell BeingFortunatePurpose Of LifeNeverthelessBiographiesSobrietyLives Of OthersGood ExamplesUnwritten
Book:Self-help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct
Create image

“The State is competent to assign duties and draw the line between good and evil only in its immediate sphere. Beyond the limits of things necessary for its well-being, it can only give indirect help to fight the battle of life by promoting the influences which prevail against temptation--religion, education, and the distribution of wealth.”

GivingWellsStatesHelpingFightingEvilLinesWealthInfluenceDutyBattleLimitsDrawsTemptationWell BeingGood And EvilSpheresDistributionPromotingCompetentIndirectDistribution Of WealthBattle Of Life
Book:The History of Freedom (and other Essays)
Create image

“Stoutly as we may affirm that our disasters and vices are chargeable to luck, we never dream of ascribing our meritorious deeds, in the slightest degree to its agency. In such cases we quite unconsciously blink out of sight the magic power of the latter principle, so wondrous and all-controlling in its influence at other times, and coolly appropriate to ourselves not merely the lion's share, but the whole glory of our position.”

MayWholeDreamPrinciplesCasesMagicShareInfluencePositionDegreesGlorySightLuckVicesDeedsDisasterAgencyAppropriateLatterLionsBlinkWondrousMagic Powers
Author:William Matthews
Create image

“Only let us love God, and then nature will compass us about like a cloud of Divine witnesses; and all influences from the earth, and things on the earth, will be ministers of God to do us good. Only let there be God within us, and then every thing outside us will become a godlike help.”

HelpingEarthNatureInfluenceDivineCloudsWitnessGod LoveMinistersCompassGod Within UsGodlike
Book:Enthanasy; Or, Happy Talk Towards the End of Life ...
Create image

“There can be no complete and permanent reform of the civil service until public opinion emancipates congressmen from all control and influence over government patronage. Legislation is required to establish the reform. No proper legislation is to be expected as long as members of Congress are engaged in procuring offices for their constituents.”

LongGovernmentOpinionInfluenceMembersOfficeCongressExpectedReformPermanentEngagedLegislationPublic OpinionConstituentsCongressmanPatronageCivil Service
Author:Rutherford B. Hayes
Create image

“It's probably hard for anyone looking at my landscapes today to realize that I was once regarded as a rebel, a dangerous influence; that I've been told I was on the verge of insanity, that my painting was nothing but meaningless daubs. Lawren Harris, the man most responsible for drawing the Group of Seven together, was accused of something perilously close to treason - his paintings, said his severest critics, were discouraging immigration.”

MenSaidHardTodayTogetherRealizingGroupsInfluenceDangerousHe ManPaintingCriticismResponsibleCriticsSevenDrawingImmigrationLandscapeInsanityRebelMeaninglessAccusedDiscouragingTreasonVerge
Author:A. Y. Jackson
Create image