Quotes About Manipulation

its size, the House was an environment in which, as one observer put it, members "could be dealt with only in bodies and droves.

With Johnson, you never quite knew if he was out to lift your heart or your wallet. Roy Wilkins

Lyndon) Johnson created his own theater.

Why political power? Because political power shapes all of our lives. It shapes your life in little ways that you might not even think about.

And, in fact, had Johnson's plan succeeded, in many ways it would indeed have been "just the way it was.

strength with which President Kennedy dispatched his enemies"—a tribute couched in rather remarkable words: Johnson described Kennedy "when he looks you straight in the eye and puts that knife into you without flinching.

Rowe was later to hear Johnson recounting the conversation to Richard Russell. "He said, 'Well, you know, Dick, I was really making some progress with Adlai. I took my knife and held it right against him. All of a sudden I felt some steel in my ribs and I looked around and Finnegan had a knife in my ribs.' He laughed, and Russell said, 'Finnegan is a pro,' and that was it.

When talking with older men, men who could help him, Lyndon Johnson "gave them," this aide says, "whatever they wanted to hear.

He never took strong positions, positions where you knew where Lyndon stood," one student had said. "He was only interested in himself and what could help himself." The feeling in Washington was the same.

You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.

The slickest way in the world to lie is to tell the right amount of truth at the right time-and then shut up.

Limiting the freedom of news 'just a little bit' is in the same category with the classic example 'a little bit pregnant.

It's not enough to be able to lie with a straight face; anybody with enough gall to raise on a busted flush can do that. The first way to lie artistically is to tell the truth — but not all of it. The second way involves telling the truth, too, but is harder: Tell the exact truth and maybe all of it…but tell it so unconvincingly that your listener is sure you are lying.

Must be yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please.

They want to use him, make him geek.

These people who deal in fancification to fool the public think nobody can read and write but themselves.

It doesn't make sense. Or, rather, it makes just one kind of sense. Hanky-panky. Ben is as used to hanky-panky as a bride is to kisses. He didn't get to be one of the best winchells in the business through playing his cards face up.

A paradox may be paradoctored.

was the sort of jerk who would entice a young girl with candy and consider it a smart operation.

when you don't know what a man is getting at, let your counter-question shift the subject to something you do want to talk about. Then, no matter what he answers, make your point and call on someone else. Logic does not enter into it—just tactics.

Every law that was ever written opened up a new way to graft.

Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything—you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.

Prof's purpose was to short him out – but sometimes Prof was too subtle; some people talk better if they breathe vacuum.

A managed democracy is a wonderful thing, Manuel, for the managers.