quotations about influence
From the loving example of one family a whole State may become loving, and from its courtesies, courteous; while from the ambition and perverseness of the one man the whole State may be thrown into rebellious disorder. Such is the nature of influence.
CONFUCIUS
The Wisdom of Confucius
The serene, silent beauty of a holy life is the most powerful influence in the world.
CHARLES SPURGEON
attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers
Influence is no respecter of education or experience.
DALE CARNEGIE
How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age
Everything around has an influence on us; indeed, the influence of things is so great, that by familiarity with them they insensibly urge on us principles and feelings which we before abhorred.
LORD BURLEIGH
attributed, Day's Collacon
There is no such thing as a good influence. Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such thing as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him.
OSCAR WILDE
The Picture of Dorian Gray
God, how we get our fingers in each other's clay. That's friendship, each playing the potter to see what shapes we can make of each other.
RAY BRADBURY
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The growth of ideas is an international process, and only those who fully take part in the discussion will be able to exercise a significant influence.
FRIEDRICH HAYEK
Why I Am Not a Conservative
The burning lamp of influence and love fills many a home with light and fragrance.
JAMES ELLIS
attributed, Day's Collacon
Let us be careful what influence we leave behind us; we are, every one of us, doing that every day, every hour, which will survive us, and which will affect for good or for evil those who come after us. There is nothing we are more prone to forget and disregard than our influence upon others; yet there is nothing we should more dread.
HETTY BOWMAN
attributed, Day's Collacon
Every richly-gifted person has received with his own rare gifts the obligation to make them effective in the widest possible circle; if he does not do so, he is hoarding up his treasure, whether it be gold or talents.
MRS. S. MAYO
attributed, Day's Collacon
Influence is simply what results when power is successfully exercised.
RUTH ZIMMERLING
Influence and Power: Variations on a Messy Theme
I hold that a strongly marked personality can influence descendants for generations.
BEATRIX POTTER
Beatrix Potter's Americans: Selected Letters
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.
GEORGE ELIOT
Janet's Repentance
No star ever rose or set without influence somewhere.
OWEN MEREDITH
Lucile
We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.
STEPHEN KING
11/22/63
Influence is the prerogative of great minds.
J. WESLEY
attributed, Day's Collacon
Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter to Lord Stirling, March 5, 1780
Do not say your influence is confined to a narrow sphere; yon little taper is not a sun; yet observe how bright it shines, how far it spreads its rays in the dark night! Hide not then your light, whatever it be, under a bushel; nor keep your talent, because it is a single one, wrapped up in a napkin.
E. WARD
attributed, Day's Collacon
Every word, thought, and deed has its influence upon the destiny of man. Every life, well spent or ill spent, bears with it a long train of consequences, extending through generations yet unborn.
SAMUEL SMILES
attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.
MARK TWAIN
Mark Twain's Notebook