17:17 25 April 2014
Time Magazine has released its annual collection of the 100 most influential people in the world. This year’s list includes 41 women with Beyoncé leading the list, which leans heavily towards the arts. There were also politicians and business people featuring prominently.
Each person included in the list had few paragraphs about their influence that were written by recognizable names.
The list is unnumbered but Beyoncé was featured on the front cover of the physical magazine in celebration of the list.
Facebook COO and author Sheryl Sandberg said about Beyoncé, who also is the cover of the 2014 Time 100 issue: “Beyoncé doesn’t just sit at the table.”
Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower and the man behind the expose on global surveillance system by NSA, was also included. “Snowden has given us a window of opportunity in which to make an informed, self-determined choice about this system,” said Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a technology activist best known for working with Wikileaks. “Our responsibility is to make sure it will not be the last choice we make.”
The full list can be viewed here.
Other tributes to those named in the Time 100 include:
Justin Timberlake on Pharrell Williams: “The collaboration I have with him is like no other. He made me fearless, and I’ve carried that with me the rest of my life…. His music actually does make you happy…. Maybe that’s why he still looks younger than the rest of us. Yep … Pharrell Williams is having way too much fun.”
Barack Obama on Pope Francis: “Rare is the leader who makes us want to be better people. Pope Francis is such a leader. His Holiness has moved us with his message of inclusion, especially for the poor, the marginalized and the outcast. But it has been his deeds, his bearing, the gestures at once simple and profound—embracing the sick, ministering to the homeless, washing the feet of young prisoners—that have inspired us all.”
Colin Firth on Benedict Cumberbatch: “It’s rare to the point of outlandish to find so many variables in one actor, including features which ought to be incompatible: vulnerability, a sense of danger, a clear intellect, honesty, courage—and a rather alarming energy. I take no pleasure in feeling humbled, but there’s no getting around it. He must be stopped.”
Harvey Weinstein on Robert Redford: “He has only one fault. Over the past 20 years, we’ve been going out to lunch. Bob always gets away without paying the bill. I saw him a couple of months ago and reminded him of that, and he said, ‘You pick the place and the expensive wine and I’m in.’ We dined for three and a half hours, drank expensive wine and told some whoppers of stories. As we walked out of Graydon Carter’s Monkey Bar, the woman came for the check. Bob patted his pants and sport jacket and said he didn’t have his wallet. It was as good a performance as I’ve seen, and made me laugh so hard that I put it on my account.”
Hillary Clinton on John Kerry: “Diplomacy takes stamina, passion and perspective, and John embodies these traits. He is relentless in the face of the most persistent obstacles…There’s nobody better suited to carry the cause forward than John Kerry. The people of the United States can be proud he’s representing America and its interests abroad. I know I am.”