Jack Kerouac influenced me quite a bit as a writer… in the Arab sense that the enemy of my enemy was my friend.

We like to think about how smart we are. But I think talent as a writer is hard-wired in, it’s all there, at least the basic elements of it. You can’t change it any more than you can choose whether to be right handed or left handed.

Language is a weapon of politicians, but language is a weapon in much of human affairs.

I come here tonight as a sister, blessed with a brother who is my mentor, my protector and my lifelong friend. And I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president.

The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature, usually crushed to earth by the cold facts and dry criticisms of the sober hour.

You can never really live anyone else’s life, not even your child’s. The influence you exert is through your own life, and what you’ve become yourself.

I’m a singer, a writer and an actress – when I find something that I feel good enough about doing.

Married or single, you sisters possess distinctive capabilities and special intuition you have received as gifts from God. We brethren cannot duplicate your unique influence.

When our governments want to sell us a course of action, they do it by making sure it’s the only thing on the agenda, the only thing everyone’s talking about. And they pre-load the ensuing discussion with highly selected images, devious and prejudicial language, dubious linkages, weak or false ‚intelligence‘ and selected ‚leaks.‘

If I had a talent, it was for looking askew at everything, possibly more than my contemporaries. But I had to really push myself to be a writer.

The time has come for all evangelists to practice full financial disclosure. The world is watching how we walk and how we talk. We must have the highest standards of morality, ethics and integrity if we are to continue to have influence.

Neil Young is my hero, and such a great example. You know what that guy has been doing for the past 40 years? Making music. That’s what that guy does. Sometimes you pay attention, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes he hands it to you, sometimes he keeps it to himself. He’s a good man with a beautiful family and wonderful life.

A cloudy day or a little sunshine have as great an influence on many constitutions as the most recent blessings or misfortunes.

Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.

People may hear your words, but they feel your attitude.

I guess, taking away all the theatrics or the costuming and the outer layers of what I do, I’m a writer… I write.

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

My relationship to power and authority is that I’m all for it. People need somebody to watch over them. Ninety-five percent of the people in the world need to be told what to do and how to behave.

Our enemy, the devil, wants to control us, and his target is our will. The main way he tries to influence our will is through lying to us.

I like being a writer.

As far as I’m concerned, I’m a writer who’s writing books, and therefore, I don’t want to die. You’d miss the end of the book wouldn’t you? You can’t die with an unfinished book.

A man can’t be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

I believe that God has put gifts and talents and ability on the inside of every one of us. When you develop that and you believe in yourself and you believe that you’re a person of influence and a person of purpose, I believe you can rise up out of any situation.

Power is not sufficient evidence of truth.

Any writer, I suppose, feels that the world into which he was born is nothing less than a conspiracy against the cultivation of his talent.

Richard Nixon was a criminally insane Monster – Bill Clinton is a black-hearted Swine of a friend.

You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.

You need a certain amount of nerve to be a writer.

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.

A song has to take on character, shape, body and influence people to an extent that they use it for their own devices. It must affect them not just as a song, but as a lifestyle.

I think members of the legislature, people who have to run for office, know the connection between money and influence on what laws get passed.

In Hollywood, they think they know it all. You, as a writer, are essentially an outsider. Novelists and short-story writers, especially.

The writer’s greed is appalling. He wants, or seems to want, everything and practically everybody, in another sense, and at the same time, he needs no one at all.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.

Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.

If people think nature is their friend, then they sure don’t need an enemy.

If you want to become fully mature in the Lord, you must learn to love truth. Otherwise, you will always leave open a door of deception for the enemy to take what is meant to be yours.

There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and useful life.

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.

If you leave the smallest corner of your head vacant for a moment, other people’s opinions will rush in from all quarters.

Power is poison. Its effect on Presidents had always been tragic.

I have certain guys who I looked up to. Jordan, Kobe, those guys. Passing that on to doing my part to kind of keep that influence of basketball where it should be is kind of why I play the game.

I’ve been writing since I was really young, so I considered myself a writer for a really long time.

My style influences my music and everything around me.

Humans cannot avoid trying to influence others. Everything we say or do is examined and interpreted by others for clues as to our intentions.

Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.

I’m a writer, not a professional runner. It’s fun and it helps me write. I need powerful concentration.

Madonna, I think, is the greatest visual musical artist that we’ve ever had. If you look at her photo log, the photographers that she was able to work with throughout her career framed her in the proper way. It was the proper context. It was that visual that made sure that everything was gonna cut through in a certain way.

When the external factors over which one has no control in a way start to become negative, it starts to affect our creative juices.

Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince’s part to pardon.

He who has great power should use it lightly.

I think the personal relationships I established mattered in terms of what I was able to get done. And I did bring women’s issues to the center of our foreign policy.

The unsuccessful person is burdened by learning, and prefers to walk down familiar paths. Their distaste for learning stunts their growth and limits their influence.

I like Italian movies. I was frequently there in the ’60s, in Rome and the vicinity. It was a great period in life. I was very influenced by their stuff.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

I am not a consecutive writer.

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

Whenever the speech is corrupted so is the mind.

If I’m going to get you to do stuff, I need to lead you. I can’t just order you to do it.

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.