Once a year, TIME gets people to write about one of the 100 other people they have deemed the most influential on the planet. Ideally their short pieces should be about the subject and not the writer, but the cleverest among them manage to do both. These are the 18 best humblebrags found in this year’s list:
18.
For me and for CDC’s more than 800 experts who have worked in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea over the past year, it has been a privilege to work alongside Liu and her colleagues.
17.
I’ve known him three decades, as he helped end the Iran-Iraq War, free American hostages in Lebanon and broker a new Afghan government after the Taliban’s defeat.
Robin Wright on Mohammed Javad Zarif
16.
Like all gymnasts, I’ve done some ballet.
Nadia Comaneci on Misty Copeland
15.
I used to be a club tennis player, and I figured, I can give him a pretty good game.
14.
From Batman Begins to Interstellar, I did six blockbusters in a row with Christopher Nolan.
Michael Caine on Christopher Nolan
13.
I had the pleasure of getting to know Audra during our time on NBC’s telecast of The Sound of Music Live!
Carrie Underwood on Audra McDonald
12.
Two years ago I wrote that Xi Jinping would be China’s most powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping. Now it seems he is likely to be China’s most powerful leader since Mao.
11.
I’ve seen her abilities manifested in the boardroom at Starbucks, where we both serve.
Bill Bradley on Mellody Hobson
10.
Back in 2004, when Mark Zuckerberg and I were starting Facebook, Reid Hoffman was the first person we called to fund the company.
9.
Julianne is one of the greatest actresses working today, but she’s also a wonderful human being. I am honored to call her my friend.
8.
I knew Bibi, decades ago, as a soldier and young officer under my command facing real fire.
Ehud Barak on Benjamin Netanyahu
7.
I wrote, directed and starred in Top Five with Kevin Hart.
6.
It was five years ago that I first heard of Ina Garten from my friend Lily Aldridge, a jet-setting model and new wife, who told me she’d found the perfect fish recipe that she could make in only 15 minutes in a Barefoot Contessa cookbook.
5.
In 2010, when the volcano named Eyjafjallajokull exploded in Iceland, Björk sent me an email: “I’m so proud to tell you that our baby volcano is just born—it’s so beautiful!”
4.
Having had the good fortune to serve beside her on both courts, I can attest that her opinions are always thoroughly considered…
Antonin Scalia on Ruth Bader Ginsberg
3.
Also, it doesn’t hurt that she named her cat after me.
Mariska Hargitay on Taylor Swift
2.
I became President of Ukraine right after Russia annexed Crimea and began supplying its weapons and mercenaries to Donbass.
Petro Poroshenko on Angela Merkel
1.
We started this type of research when I returned to space in 1998.
Images via Time.
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