At the beginning of my career, my desire to understand was associated with a profound desire to act, with the wish to influence opinion and policy; but, over the years, this motivation has come to be of secondary importance, far behind my desire to understand.
No one is making extraordinary things alone. They might be alone in their bedroom while they're recording or writing, but they didn't actually conjure that thing out of nothing - without influence - without assistance - without anything.
When marketers influence habits, they influence peoples' self-identity. And so when a group or company does something that doesn't correspond to our core values, it feels like a betrayal.
Carol Burnett probably had the biggest influence on me as kid. Although I was very young and watched her a lot in reruns, I was mesmerized by the way she transformed, by her physical comedy and the rolling laughter from the live studio audience. I loved her most as Scarlett O'Hara and her well known Cleaning Lady character.
The Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn't have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions.
I like a lot of modern art. I like Chuck Close a lot. It doesn't necessarily directly influence the work I draw on the page.
There are a couple of teachers I have had without whose influence I would not be as happy with who I am.
I think there's so much negative influence on children in school settings. It becomes learning by rote to pass a test. It's not contextualized.
Trends in fashion, design and pop culture are taking on more global influence, and of course, one thing that's always in style is color.
I learned to be a regional writer by reading people like Flannery O'Connor. She was a huge influence.
We shall have to practise to lead our life on the basis of our needs, not under the influence of our greed.
Curiosity is natural to the soul of man and interesting objects have a powerful influence on our affections.
In totality, I take care not be a bad influence on youngsters.
'Prison Notebooks' gives me a basic understanding of how power can influence people through cultural products and intellectual groups, so they will voluntarily support the hegemony.
Men like me, who merely wish to establish political freedom, will in such circumstances lose all their influence, and others will get influence who may become dangerous to all established interests whatsoever.
It is no exaggeration to say that the English Bible is, next to Shakespeare, the greatest work in English literature, and that it will have much more influence than even Shakespeare upon the written and spoken language of the English race.
Christians who have influence in political life must feel as individuals responsibility in front of their own faith. And the duty of encouraging laws that are not in contradiction with the Commandments comes within the mission of the Church.
I think Henry Miller has had huge influence not because he wrote about sex, but because the memoir or the nonfiction novel has become such a monumental force in American publishing, if not in literature.
But why should I run for office and lose what little influence I have?
A lot of these guys come up and say, 'Man, you were my influence, the way you thrashed the drums.' They don't seem to understand I was thrashing in order to hear what I was playing. It was anger, not enjoyment - and painful.
No, generally I think influence is used as a nice word for plagiarism.
She had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners.
Everything that you read is an influence on everything you write, and you want to draw as many elements into your work as you can.
I think it's silly for anyone to think you could write under the influence, but if they'd like to think that, I'd like to keep the legend alive. Maybe I was under the influence when I wrote Jesus' Son and I just didn't know it.
Sergio Leone was a big influence on me because of the spaghetti westerns.
The staff at the Institute will present an analysis on how asset price fluctuations and subsequent structural adjustments influence sustained economic growth, based on Japan's experience since the second half of the 1980s.
The paintings by Van Gough and Chagall had a big influence on me.
Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.
To this day the Arab influence is evident in southern Italy, northern Africa and, above all, in Spain.
It's the clothes that influence the music I'm going to play.
The most powerful moral influence is example.
It was both necessary and desirable for us to be so strong at sea that no Sea Power could attack us without risk, so that we might be free to protect our oversea interests, independently of the influence and the choice of other Sea Powers.
Things get so sloppy when you're under the influence.
Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.
Grace is the beauty of form under the influence of freedom.
In my opinion, Lenny Bruce was more of an influence on Zappa's satirical lyric's than anyone that I know of.
