OUR history begins before we are born. We represent the hereditary influences of our race and our ancestors virtually live in us.

My parents- they've been my biggest influences and supporters since day one. They teach me every day that happiness comes from within and not from something outside of your heart.

The future influences the present just as much as the past.

A person needs at intervals to separate himself from family and companions and go to new places. He must go without his familiars in order to be open to influences to change.

My family... always had the value of the family table and these cultural influences of growing up.

Everybody experiences far more than he understands. Yet it is experience rather than understanding that influences behavior.

The point of my work is to show that culture and education aren't simply hobbies or minor influences.

Dying before dying has two important consequences: It liberates the individual from the fear of death and influences the actual experience of dying at the time of biological demise.

My folks have played everything from rock disco pop funk and blues. My dad has always brought and played different genres like jazz classical and Latin. With all this in my pocket I feel I have a taste of everything for my influences.

The people on my mum's side of the family are atheist intellectuals who are ueber-proper. My dad's side of the family are missionaries who are more comfortable sitting around in sweatpants than they are in a five-star restaurant. But those two influences converged in my life.