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.
You May Also Like / View all maxioms
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.]
Our life's a flying shadow, God the pole,
The needle pointing to Him is our soul.
Our life's a flying shadow, God the pole,
The needle pointing to Him is our soul.
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.]
Lay ye down the golden chain
From Heaven, and pull at its inferior links
Both Goddesses and read more
Lay ye down the golden chain
From Heaven, and pull at its inferior links
Both Goddesses and Gods.
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?
So when a great man dies,
For years beyond our ken,
The light he leaves behind him read more
So when a great man dies,
For years beyond our ken,
The light he leaves behind him lies
Upon the paths of men.
Be a pattern to others, and then all will go well; for as a whole
city is affected by read more
Be a pattern to others, and then all will go well; for as a whole
city is affected by the licentious passions and vices of great
men, so it is likewise reformed by their moderation.
For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearance, as though they were realities and are often more influenced read more
For the great majority of mankind are satisfied with appearance, as though they were realities and are often more influenced by the things that seem than by those that are
Blessed influence of one true loving human soul on another.
Blessed influence of one true loving human soul on another.
