The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually slaves of some defunct economist.

By applying their observational abilities along with full appliance of their logic and creative powers, writers attempt to create mental maps to share with other people regarding what they learned, think, and believe. The writer’s vision can sway readers emotional state and in doing influence what they believe and how they behave.

It’d be easy to blame everything on 9/11 or the wars that came after. It’s really about the choices we made. By necessity we adapt to the realities of the world we live in, but if we forget that how we live shapes and influences the world around us, then we’ve already lost.

We may fondly imagine that we are impartial seekers after truth, but with a few exceptions, to which I know that I do not belong, we are influenced—and sometimes strongly—by our personal bias; and we give our best thoughts to those ideas which we have to defend.

Remember this, I beseech you, all you boys who are getting into the upper forms. Now is the time in all your lives, probably, when you may have more wide influence for good or evil on the society you live in than you ever can have again.

“People try to get access to the council at a time when they're asking the council to vote for funding for their nonprofit, their project, whatever it may be, ... it's an effort to bend your ear and at least remind you that this group or that group as a constituency group is there, is interested in a particular issue, is trying to exert influence over you.”

“The Asian markets will have a pivotal global influence in the coming decades and will offer significant investment opportunities for both KKR and our existing portfolio companies, ... As the role of private equity in Asia grows and is further defined, KKR will carefully assess the landscape and determine the most appropriate ways to be a leading participant in that process.”

“There is something to me very softening in the presence of a woman, some strange influence, even if one is not in love with them, which I cannot at all account for, having no very high opinion of the sex. But yet, I always feel in better humor with myself and every thing else, if there is a woman within ken.”

“The greatest influence came from the television and the proliferation of magazines that included contents on pop groups. I believe that at the end of the 1970s, like is happening now, pop and rock were practically separated in the eyes of the public and critics, who considered the first more frivolous and easy and the second more serious and prestigious.”

Music inspires! Music influences! Music rebukes! Music awakens the slumbering! Music describes, and tells stories of intrigue! Music can redirect the true direction of lives. The power of music must never be underestimated. If you don’t know what music can do to you, don’t listen to music