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Influence Quotes

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Influence Quotes

“Neuroplasticity contributes to both the constrained and unconstrained aspects of our nature. It renders our brains not only more resourceful, but also more vulnerable to outside influences.”

Brain Influence Aspect Vulnerable Vulnerability Resourceful Neuroplasticity Outside Influences

Author:Norman Doidge

“I don't feel any real animosity towards critics when they write negative things. I think some are more perceptive than others. Some are very knowledgeable about painting. But it isn't something I have any influence over, so there isn't any point in worrying about it.”

Thinking Feels Writing Real Worry Influence Painting Negative Critics Knowledgeable Animosity

Author:Peter Doig

“I sometimes wish I had never had to sell a painting. Every painting you make represents the time it was made and how you were feeling and what your influences were... You are never going to feel that way again, so you can never repeat it.”

Way Feels Made Sometimes Feelings Wish Influence Painting Sells Selling Repeats

Author:Peter Doig

“The first book ever written in an alphabet was the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament. And the most important passage was the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is the most revolutionary sentence ever written. It states: "I am the Lord thy God there is no other." The second prohibits us from making images. Thus, there is a profound rejection of any goddess influence and a ban of representative art.”

“My job the same as carpenter. What kind of house you want to build? What kind of food you want to make? You think your ingredients, your structure. Simple. [Other] Japanese restaurants … mix in some other style of food and call it influence, right? I don't like that. … In Japanese sushi restaurants, a lot of sushi chefs talk too much. 'This fish from there,' 'This very expensive.' Same thing, start singing. And a lot have that fish case in front of them, cannot see what chef do. I'm not going to hide anything, right?”

Thinking Want Kind Jobs House Simple Cases Too Much Influence Style Fronts Singing Structure Fishes Restaurants Expensive Ingredients Chef Make You Think Carpenter Sushi

Author:Masa Takayama

“I'm against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections. But as long as it's doable I'm going to do it.”

People Long Influence Election Wealthy Attempting

Author:Sheldon Adelson

“So, let us, you and I, for the sake of our brother man, individually strive by example and influence to lift the standard of thought and conduct from the low level of selfishness and self-indulgence up to the lofty realms of aspirational thought and self-denial.”

“Bill Gore from Goretex was a very strong influence because he was one of the first larger companies to experiment with freedom in the workplace.”

Firsts Strong Company Influence Bills Experiments Very Strong Workplace Gore

Author:Ricardo Semler

“For although there is not a single aspect of European growth in which the decisive influence of Islamic culture is not traceable, nowhere is it so clear and momentous as in the genesis of that power which constitutes the permanent distinctive force of the modern world, and the supreme source of its victory, natural science and the scientific spirit.”

World Spirit Culture Force Growth Natural Clear Influence Modern Source Victory Aspect Supreme Permanent Islamic Modern World Genesis Distinctive Natural Science Islamic Culture

Author:Robert Briffault

“The intelligence and ability of a colored person are in pretty direct proportion to the amount of white blood he has, and … most of the positions of leadership, influence, and prominence in the Negro race are held not by real Negroes but by Mulattoes, many of whom have very little Negro blood.”

Littles Persons Real Ability White Race Blood Influence Position Amount Direct Proportion Prominence Mulattoes

Book:The Conquest of a Continent

Source: The Conquest of a Continent

“The purifying influence of public confession springs from the fact, that by it the hope in lies is forever swept away, and the soul recovers the noble attitude of simplicity.”

Soul Facts Lying Attitude Forever Influence Honesty Spring Simplicity Noble Confession Swept Away Purifying

Book:Romola

Source: Romola

“Blessed influence of one true loving human soul on another! Not calculable by algebra, not deducible by logic, but mysterious, effectual, mighty as the hidden process by which the tiny seed is quickened, and bursts forth into tall stem and broad leaf, and glowing tasseled flower.”

Love Humans Soul Process Influence Flower Logic Blessed Seeds Tiny Mysterious Tall Broads Stem Leafs Human Soul Glowing Algebra

Book:Delphi Complete Works of George Eliot (Illustrated)

Source: Delphi Complete Works of George Eliot (Illustrated)

“Perhaps there is no time in a summer's day more cheering, than when the warmth of the sun is just beginning to triumph over the freshness of the morning--when there is just a lingering hint of early coolness to keep off languor under the delicious influence of warmth.”

Morning Sun Influence Summer Triumph Warmth Cheer Delicious Hints Freshness Lingering Coolness Warmth Of The Sun

Book:Four Novels of George Eliot

Source: Four Novels of George Eliot

“In order to have a large number of values in common, all the members of the group must have an equable opportunity, to receive and to take from others. There must be a large variety of shared undertakings and experiences. Otherwise, the influences which educate some into masters, educates others into slaves.”

Values Order Opportunity Common Numbers Groups Influence Masters Members Slave Variety Educate Undertakings Large Numbers

Author:John Dewey

“Persuasion is effected through the medium of the hearers, when they shall have been brought to a state of excitement under the influence of speech; for we do not, when influenced by pain or joy, or partiality or dislike, award our decisions in the same way; about which means of persuasion alone, I declare that the system-mongers of the present day busy themselves.”

Way Mean Has Beens States Pain Joy Decision Influence Speech Busy Mediums Excitement Awards Dislike Persuasion Present Day Partiality

Book:Treatise on Rhetoric: Literally Translated from the Greek

Source: Treatise on Rhetoric: Literally Translated from the Greek

“The growing influence of women is the one reassuring thing in our political life.”

Political Growing Influence Reassuring Political Life

Book:The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays: Lady Windermere's Fan; Salome; A Woman of No Importance; An Ideal Husband; The Importance of Being Earnest

Source: The Importance of Being Earnest and Other Plays: Lady Windermere's Fan; Salome; A Woman of No Importance; An Ideal Husband; The Importance of Being Earnest

“Plato says a multitude can never philosophize and hence can never recognize the seriousness of philosophy or who really philosophizes. Attempting to influence the multitude results in forced prostitution.”

Philosophy Results Influence Multitudes Plato Attempting Seriousness Prostitution

Author:Allan Bloom

“All "if" statements about the past are as dubious as prophecies of the future are. It seems fairly plausible that if Alexander or Ghengis Khan had never been born, some other individual would have filled his place and executed the design of the Hellenic or Mongolic expansion; but the Alexanders of philosophy and religion, of science and art, seem less expendable; their impact seems less determined by economic challenges and social pressures; and they seem to have a much wider range of possibilities to influence the direction, shape and texture of civilizations.”

“In civilized life, where the happiness, and indeed almost the existence, of man depends so much upon the opinion of his fellow-men, he is constantly acting a studied part. The bold and peculiar traits of native character are refined away or softened down by the levelling influence of what is termed good-breeding, and he practises so many petty deceptions and affects so many generous sentiments for the purposes of popularity that it is difficult to distinguish his real from his artificial character.”

Source: The Complete Short Stories of Washington Irving: The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Bracebridge Hall, Tales of a Traveler, The Alhambra, Woolfert’s Roost & The Crayon Papers Collections (Illustrated): The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle, Old Christmas, The Voyage, Roscoe, The Widow’s Retinue, An Old Soldier, Mountjoy, Don Juan, Woolfert’s Roost, Tales of The Alhambra and many more

“Anybody with a good sense of humor is one-up on their competition. We respond to somebody who has the ability to make us laugh. It's a bonding influence.”

Ability Laughing Influence Competition Sense Of Humor Good Sense Bonding Good Sense Of Humor

Author:Robert Orben

“Think about one of the most powerful influences on a young child's life - the absence of a father figure. Look back on recent presidents, and you'll find an absent, or weak, or failed father in the lives of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.”

Thinking Looks Children Young Father President Powerful Influence Figures Weak Bills Clinton Absence Barack Most Powerful Absent Johnson Young Children Father Figure

Author:Jeff Greenfield

“The power of free will is developed and confirmed by increasing the number of worthy motives which influence conduct.”

Numbers Influence Worthy Motive Free Will

Book:Aphorisms and Reflections: Conduct, Culture and Religion

Source: Aphorisms and Reflections: Conduct, Culture and Religion

“That's the nub of the thing, you see seriousness of spirit. It doesn't mean heaviness of heart, or a lack of fantasy, but it does mean an awareness of influences that touch our lives, sometimes in ways that seem cruel and unfeeling, and sometimes in ways that open up a glory which can never be forgotten.”

Way Heart Mean Doe Sometimes Seems Spirit Fantasy Our Lives Influence Awareness Glory Forgotten Seriousness Heaviness Unfeeling

Book:Happy Alchemy: On the Pleasures of Music and the Theatre

Source: Happy Alchemy: On the Pleasures of Music and the Theatre

“It is important to understand what I mean by semiosis. All dynamic action, or action of brute force, physical or psychical, either takes place between two subjects, whether they react equally upon each other, or one is agent and the other patient, entirely or partially, or at any rate is a resultant of such actions between pairs. But by "semiosis" I mean, on the contrary, an action, or influence, which is, or involves, a cooperation of three subjects, such as a sign, its object, and its interpretant, this tri-relative influence not being in any way resolvable into actions between pairs.”

Way Mean Two Important Action Three Force Influence Subjects Objects Patient Rate Contrary Agents Pairs Cooperation Relative Brutes Brute Force

Author:Charles Sanders Peirce

“The most powerful influence exercised by the Arabs on general natural physics was that directed to the advances of chemistry ; a science for which this race created a new era.(...) Besides making laudatory mention of that which we owe to the natural science of the Arabs in both the terrestrial and celestial spheres, we must likewise allude to their contributions in separate paths of intellectual development to the general mass of mathematical science.”

“Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that's what we have to change first. We have to change our politics, and come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans.”

Firsts Problem Bigs Together Interest Common Influence Demand Solutions Concern Bitter Partisans Big Problems Common Interests

Author:Barack Obama

“Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work. That's the promise of America - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper.”

Should Ideas Helping Government America Fall Opportunity Belief Nations Hurt Influence Willing Brother Promise Responsible Fundamentals My Brother My Sister Keepers My Sister's Keeper

Author:Barack Obama

“Indeed the influence of music on the development of religion is a subject which would repay a sympathetic study.”

Study Influence Subjects Development Sympathetic

Author:James G. Frazer

“I do not regard the rise of woman as a bad sign. Rather do I fancy that her traditional subordination was itself an artificial and undesirable condition based on Oriental influences. Our virile Teutonic ancestors did not think their wives unworthy to follow them into battle, or scorn to dream of winged Valkyries bearing them to Valhalla.”

Thinking Dream Women Wife Influence Conditions Battle Regard Traditional Fancy Ancestor Artificial Scorn Unworthy Undesirable Subordination Valhalla

Book:Selected Letters 1934-1937

Source: Selected Letters 1934-1937

“The poetical tendency of the present and of the preceding century has been divided in a manner singularly curious. One loud and conspicuous faction of bards, giving way to the corrupt influences of a decaying general culture, seems to have abandoned all the properties of versification and reason in its mad scramble after sensational novelty; whilst the other and quieter school constituting a more logical evolution from the poesy of the Georgian period, demands an accuracy of rhyme and metre unknown even to the polished artists of the age of Pope.”

“I have come to use the pan-Celtic history, which spans from 500 BC to the present, as a creative springboard. The music I am creating is a result of traveling down that road and picking up all manner of themes and influences, which may or may not be overtly Celtic in nature.”

May Use Results Creative Influence Creating Theme Celtic Springboards

Author:Loreena McKennitt

“To succeed in life one needs two things -- influence and a lucky star.”

Needs Two Stars Influence Lucky Succeed Two Things Lucky Star

Author:Leonid Andreyev

“Complex organisms cannot be construed as the sum of their genes, nor do genes alone build particular items of anatomy or behavior by themselves. Most genes influence several aspects of anatomy and behavior as they operate through complex interactions with other genes and their products, and with environmental factors both within and outside the developing organism. We fall into a deep error, not just a harmful oversimplification, when we speak of genes "for" particular items of anatomy or behavior.”

“There is no gene "for" such unambiguous bits of morphology as your left kneecap or your fingernail. [...] Hundreds of genes contribute to the building of most body parts and their action is channeled through a kaleidoscopic series of environmental influences: embryonic and postnatal, internal and external. Parts are not translated genes, and selection doesn't even work directly on parts.”

Body Action Left Bits Influence Building Series Environmental Internals Genes Selection Fingernails Morphology Environmental Influences

Book:The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History

Source: The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History

“The example of America must be the example not merely of peace because it will not fight, but of peace because peace is the healing and elevating influence of the world, and strife is not. There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.”

Men World Needs Doe America Fighting Force Nations Peace Healing Influence Example Proud Convince Strife Elevating

Author:Woodrow Wilson

“One has very little influence upon one's children. Their characters are what they are and one can do nothing to change them.”

Children Littles Character Can Do Influence

Author:Andre Maurois

“I discovered, to my amazement, that all through history there had been resistance ... and bitter, exaggerated, last-stitch resistance ... to every significant technological change that had taken place on earth. Usually the resistance came from those groups who stood to lose influence, status, money...as a result of the change. Although they never advanced this as their reason for resisting it. It was always the good of humanity that rested upon their hearts.”

Heart Reason Earth Lasts Humanity Loses Results Taken Groups Influence Significant Resistance Bitter Technological Resisting Exaggerated Amazement Stitches Technological Change

Author:Isaac Asimov

“A snappy label and a manifesto would have been two of the very last things on my own career want list. That label enabled mainstream science fiction to safely assimilate our dissident influence, such as it was. Cyberpunk could then be embraced and given prizes and patted on the head, and genre science fiction could continue unchanged.”

Want Has Beens Two Lasts Given My Own Fiction Careers Influence Science Fiction Lists Labels Genre Prize Mainstream Dissidents Cyberpunk Manifestos

Author:William Gibson

“Korell is that frequent phenomenon in history : the republic whose ruler has every attribute of the absolute monarch but the name. It therefore enjoyed the usual despotism unrestrained even by those two moderating influences in the legitimate monarchies: regal "honor" and court etiquette.”

Two Names Influence Honor Absolutes Court Enjoyed Phenomenon Republic Attributes Usual Rulers Etiquette Monarchy Despotism Monarchs Regal

Book:Great Tales of the Golden Age of Science Fiction

Source: Great Tales of the Golden Age of Science Fiction

“I attacked those Western playwrights who use their influence and affluence to preach to the world the nihilistic doctrine that life is pointless and irrationally destructive, and that there is nothing we can do about it. Until everyone is fed, clothed, housed and taught, until human beings have equal leisure to contemplate the overwhelming fact of mortality, we should not (I argued) indulge in the luxury of "privileged despair."”

“Does the critic wish to influence the kind of film that costs more than £250,000? It is as if he were to send a postcard to General Motors explaining that he would like them to make a raft next year, or a helicopter, instead of a car.”

Ifs Years Kind Doe Film Next Wish Influence Car Cost Critics Explaining Motor Next Year Helicopters Postcards General Motors

Author:Kenneth Tynan

“A teacher who can show good, or indeed astounding results while he is teaching, is still not on that account a good teacher, for it may be that, while his pupils are under his immediate influence, he raises them to a level which is not natural to them, without developing their own capacities for work at this level, so that they immediately decline again once the teacher leaves the schoolroom.”

May Stills Shows Natural Levels Results Teacher Influence Teaching Capacity Accounts Raises Developing Decline Pupils Good Teacher

Author:Ludwig Wittgenstein

“It is certainly true that whatever a man may do or say, the most significant thing about him is what he thinks; and significant also is how he came to think it, why he continued to think it, or, if he did not continue, what the influences were which caused him to change his mind.”

Ifs Thinking Men Mind May Influence Significant Significant Things

Author:Albert J. Nock

“Let us build a structure of peace in the world in which the weak are as safe as the strong in which each respects the right of the other to live by a different system in which those who would influence others will do so by the strength of their ideas, and not by the force of their arms. Let us accept that high responsibility not as a burden, but gladly gladly because the chance to build such a peace is the noblest endeavor in which a nation can engage.”

World Ideas Different Strong Force Nations Peace Chance Responsibility Accepting Influence Arms Safe Weak Structure Burden Live By Endeavor

Author:Richard M. Nixon

“Curiosity is natural to the soul of man and interesting objects have a powerful influence on our affections. Let these influencing powers actuate, by the permission or disposal of Providence, from selfish or social views, yet in time the mysterious will of Heaven is unfolded, and we behold our conduct, from whatever motives excited, operating to answer the important designs of heaven.”

Men Important Soul Heaven Social Natural Answers Interesting Views Powerful Influence Design Objects Curiosity Affection Excited Selfish Mysterious Motive Providence Permission

Author:Daniel Boone

“When, about fifteen years ago, I walked into Arshile's studio for the first time, the atmosphere was so beautiful that I got a little dizzy and when I came to, I was bright enough to take the hint immediately. If the bookkeepers think it necessary to make sure of where things and people came from, well then, I came from 36 Union Square. I am glad that it is about impossible to get away from his powerful influence.”

“Although I have no objection to accepting the existence of relatively constant psychic contents that survive personal ego, it must always be born in mind that we have no way of knowing what these contents are actually like "as such." All we can observe is their effect on other living people, whose spiritual level and whose personal unconscious crucially influence the way these contents actually manifest themselves.”

People Way Mind Spiritual Born Levels Existence Accepting Knowing Influence Effects Ego Constant Unconscious Manifest Psychics Objections

Author:Wolfgang Pauli

“The mental never influences the physical. It is always the physical that modifies the mental, and when we think that the mind is diseased, it is always an illusion.”

Thinking Mind Influence Illusion Diseased

Author:Claude Bernard

“Capital burns off the nuance in a culture. Foreign investment, global markets, corporate acquisitions, the flow of information through transnational media, the attenuating influence of money that's electronic and sex that's cyberspaced, untouched money and computer-safe sex, the convergence of consumer desire--not that people want the same things, necessarily, but that they want the same range of choices.”

People Want Desire Choices Culture Sex Influence Media Information Safe Computer Flow Investment Consumers Corporate Range Acquisition Nuance Convergence

Book:Underworld: Picador Classic

Source: Underworld: Picador Classic

“I am not even an atheist so much as I am an antitheist; I not only maintain that all religions are versions of the same untruth, but I hold that the influence of churches, and the effect of religious belief is positively harmful. Reviewing the false claims of religion, I do not wish, as some sentimental materialists affect to wish, that they were true. I do not envy believers their faith. I am relieved to think that the whole story is a sinister fairy tale; life would be miserable if what the faithful affirmed was actually the case.”

Source: Letters to a Young Contrarian