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 virtures 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.
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Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the
deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
read more
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the
deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never
so wisely.
I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.
I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.
Influencing people is dangerous. Their acts and thoughts become your illegitimate children. You can't get away from them and Heaven read more
Influencing people is dangerous. Their acts and thoughts become your illegitimate children. You can't get away from them and Heaven knows what they mayn't grow up into.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
If it were in my power, I would be wiser; but a newly felt power
carries me off in read more
If it were in my power, I would be wiser; but a newly felt power
carries me off in spite of myself; love leads me one way, my
understanding another.
[Lat., Si possem sanior essem.
Sed trahit invitam nova vis; aliudque Cupido,
Mens aliud.]
If the nose of Cleopatra had been shorter, the whole face of the
earth would have been changed.
If the nose of Cleopatra had been shorter, the whole face of the
earth would have been changed.
The strongest influences in my life and my work are always whomever I love. Whomever I love and am with read more
The strongest influences in my life and my work are always whomever I love. Whomever I love and am with most of the time, or whomever I remember most vividly. I think that's true of everyone, don't you?
You've got to save your own soul first, and then the souls of
your neighbors if they will let read more
You've got to save your own soul first, and then the souls of
your neighbors if they will let you; and for that reason you must
cultivate, not a spirit of criticism, but the talents that
attract people to the hearing of the Word.
Ah, who could have ever foretold that that little retrousse nose
would change the laws of an empire.
read more
Ah, who could have ever foretold that that little retrousse nose
would change the laws of an empire.
[Fr., Ah, qui jamais autoir pu dire
Que ce petit nez retrousse
Changerait les lois d'un empire.]
