Gee, I never thought I had an effect on people until I was in Korea.
For in spite of itself any movement that thinks and acts in terms of an ‘ism becomes so involved in reaction against other ‘isms that it is unwittingly controlled by them. For it then forms its principles by reaction against them instead of by a comprehensive, constructive survey of actual needs, problems, and possibilities.
You cannot meet someone for a moment, or even cast eyes on someone in the street, without changing. That is my subject.
No writer or teacher or artist can escape the responsibility of influencing others whether he intends to or not, whether he is conscious of it or not.
I'm not in public life except by accident.
If I've inadvertently become some sort of role model for failed comedians, then it's really backfired very badly on me.
I like to think I opened doors for other women, although that wasn't my original intention.
Our actions - and inaction - touch people every day, people we may never know and never meet.
If I've influenced people, so be it, but I don't dwell on those kinds of things. I just put out my music. If I influence someone without knowing it, I'm happy about it. I try not to think about those things because it's not about me.
I was doing just my duty, but that was impacting a lot of people and making them proud. So, I feel so grateful to Allah for giving me that opportunity while I had that chance to make that impact. And thankfully it impacted all the people - more than I realized.
The faults of a man loved or honoured sometimes steal secretly and imperceptibly upon the wise and virtuous, but by injudicious fondness or thoughtless vanity are adopted with design.
We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.
When I first started writing, I used to listen to music all the time because it would make time pass more quickly. And then I started to wonder if the music wasn't affecting my writing in ways that I didn't necessarily intend.
I'm going to put that on my gravestone. "He created such a category of unwanted pop culture - Famous for directing unwanted cultural references".
We are, all of us, molded and remolded by those who have loved us, and though that love may pass, we remain none the less their work--a work that very likely they do not recognize, and which is never exactly what they intended.
If there's anything weirder than an introverted writer going to lots of social functions, it's an introverted writer being converted into an accidental guru.
It is strange how the memory of a man may float to posterity on what he would have himself regarded as the most trifling of his works.
