Virtue will catch as well as vice by contact; and the public stock of honest, manly principle will daily accumulate. We are not too nicely to scrutinize motives as long as action is irreproachable. It is enough to deal out its infamy to convicted guilt and declared apostasy.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
People are submissive to power, and few of them can be influenced by doctrines of righteousness.
—Frances Greville (c.1724–89) Irish Poet, Socialite
Power lasts ten years; influence not more than a hundred.
—Common Proverb
We are like chameleons, we take our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us.
—John Locke (1632–1704) English Philosopher, Physician
The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret.
—Salvador Dali (1904–89) Spanish Painter
The influential man is the successful man, whether he be rich or poor.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
Though her (Lady Elizabeth Hastings) mien carries much more invitation than command, to behold her is an immediate check to loose behavior; to love her was a liberal education.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
A word or a nod from the good, has more weight than the eloquent speeches of others.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
People exercise an unconscious selection in being influenced.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people’s lives.
—Clint Eastwood (b.1930) American Film Director, Film Producer, Film Actor
A community is like the ones who govern it.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
When men do anything for God, the very least thing, they never know where it will end, nor what amount of work it will do for Him. Love’s secret, therefore, is to be always doing things for God, and not to mind because they are such very little ones.
—Frederick William Faber (1814–63) British Hymn Writer, Theologian
Among the appliances to transform the people, sound and appearances are but trivial influences.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
The words that a father speaks to his children in the privacy of home are not heard by the world, but, as in whispering galleries, they are clearly heard at the end, and by posterity.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Philosopher
Who shall set a limit to the influence of a human being?
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may be, and where ever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light and a power.
—Henry George (1839–97) American Political Economist, Journalist
It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
He who wishes to exert a useful influence must be careful to insult nothing. Let him not be troubled by what seems absurd, but consecrate his energies to the creation of what is good. He must not demolish, but build. He must raise temples where mankind may come and partake of the purest pleasures.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Give me a child and I’ll shape him into anything.
—B. F. Skinner (1904–90) American Psychologist, Author
Those who sleep with dogs will rise with fleas.
—Italian Proverb
At the same time, as social beings, we are moved in the relations with our fellow beings by such feelings as sympathy, pride, hate, need for power, pity, and so on.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Affluence means influence
—Jack London (1876–1916) American Novelist
Men are won, not so much by being blamed, as by being encompassed with love.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
The great must submit to the dominion of prudence and virtue, or none will long submit to the dominion of the great.—This is a feudal tenure which they cannot alter.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
We cannot think or act but the soul of some one who has passed before points the way.—The dead never die.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
The future influences the present just as much as the past.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Let him that would move the world, first move himself.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Others are affected by what I am and say and do. And these others have also these spheres of influence. So that a single act of mine may spread in widening circles through a nation of humanity.
—William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) American Unitarian Theologian, Poet
Our gifts and attainments are not only to be light and warmth in our own dwellings, but are to shine through the window, into the dark night, to guide and cheer bewildered travellers on the road.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
In our society a man is known by the company he owns.
—Gerald F. Lieberman
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