We live in a world which is full of misery and ignorance, and the plain duty of each and all of us is to try to make the little corner he can influence somewhat less miserable and somewhat less ignorant than it was before he entered it.
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
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
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
Greatness lies, not in being strong, but in the right using of strength; and strength is not used rightly when it serves only to carry a man above his fellows for his own solitary glory. He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts by the attraction of his own.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
One concept corrupts and confuses the others. I am not speaking of the Evil whose limited sphere is ethics; I am speaking of the infinite.
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) Argentine Writer, Essayist, Poet
There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and useful life.
—Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) African-American Educationist
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
Planets do not govern the soul, or guide the destinies of men, but trifles, lighter than straws, are levers in the building up of character.
—Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–89) English Poet, Writer
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
See that no one puts a stumbling block, or an occasion to fall in his brothers way.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
What little Jack does not learn, big John will never.
—German Proverb
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
Power lasts ten years; influence not more than a hundred.
—Common Proverb
Let him that would move the world, first move himself.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
We perceive and are affected by changes too subtle to be described.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
It is a strange trade that of advocacy. Your intellect, your highest heavenly gift is hung up in the shop window like a loaded pistol for sale.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
All things are nourished together without their injuring one another. The courses of the seasons, and of the sun and moon, are pursued without any collision among them. The smaller energies are like river currents; the greater energies are seen in mighty transformations. It is this which makes heaven and earth so great.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Every thought which genius and piety throw into the world alters the world.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The best efforts of a fine person is felt after we have left their presence.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
No man or woman of the humblest sort can really be strong, gentle and pure and good, without the world being better for it, without somebody being helped and comforted by the very existence of that goodness.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
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
Every life is a profession of faith and exercises an inevitable and silent influence.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
To help the young soul, to add energy, inspire hope, and blow the coals into a useful flame; to redeem defeat by new thought and firm action, this, though not easy, is the work of divine men.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Always so act that the immediate motive of thy will may become a universal rule for all intelligent beings.
—Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) Prussian German Philosopher, Logician
People exercise an unconscious selection in being influenced.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Blessed influence of one true loving human soul on another.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Be a pattern to others, and then all will go well; for as a whole city is infected by the licentious passions and vices of great men, so it is likewise reformed by their moderation.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The life of a faithful Christian man is a guide to paradise.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer