Quotes About Manipulation

The best way to predict the future," observes magician Gregory Wilson, "is to influence it."17

The ambition of Caesar and of Napoleon pales before that which could not rest until it had seized the minds of men and controlled even their unborn thoughts," said Mr. Wilde. "You are speaking of the King in Yellow," I groaned, with a shudder. "He

Most of us reject or manipulate our environments to avoid any emotional interaction that would contradict our early conception of reality, and this fact of human nature may be the single most delimiting factor for all psychotherapies

Parents in their dishonesty manipulate their children and hide their real feelings, and of course their children learn early to manipulate back.

From my interaction with this man and my knowledge of Marilyn's childish manipulations, I knew that he had been provoked into accepting his wife's view of men and of himself as being angry and harsh. His boys were growing up to believe that because they were male, they, too, were mean and unfeeling.

As a result of the manipulations and distortions designed to protect the fantasy of her love, both children had been severely damaged in their capacity to feel or even think.

It is the study of how the human brain was designed—by natural selection—to mislead us, even enslave us.

we deceive ourselves in order to deceive others better. This hypothesis was tossed out during the mid-1970s by both Richard Alexander and Robert Trivers.

the best liar is he who makes the smallest amount of lying go the longest way.

A sound by itself is a passive, not an active, thing, neither pleasant nor unpleasant. So to make it unpleasant, you have to go out and, in a sense, do something to it.

Once again reality has proved that no particular group has a monopoly over demagogy, dogmatism, and ignorance.

Los boxeadores chilenos son todos unos maricones, los habitantes de este país de mierda son todos unos maricones, todos sin excepción, dispuestos a dejarse engañar, dispuestos a dejarse comprar, dispuestos a bajarse los pantalones cuando uno sólo les ha pedido que se quiten el reloj.

Savage words: how one can destroy someone by simply sitting there in an armchair reading a book, not too far from him.

She was worse than a blabber; she was a hinter. It gave her pleasure to rouse curiosity and speculation about dangerous things.

The art of diplomacy is the luck of knowing more of your rival's secrets than he knows of yours.

I don't know" "When a man says that, it usually means, "No, I won't but from time to time, I'll toy with the idea, so I can pretend i eventually intend to do it.

Sa'Adar's eyes went wide. "You're mad." "Scarcely. Why do people always accuse me of that when I'm arranging things to my liking instead of theirs?

Diplomacy may very well be the art of manipulating secrets. What would any negotiation come to, were not there secrets to either share or withhold?

In politics, appearance matters more than truth.

Be very chary of telling your hoarded secrets. Many lose all power once they have been divulged. Be even more careful of sharing your own secrets lest you find yourself a puppet dancing on someone else's strings.

Suspense was an excellent tool for keeping powerful people off balance. It gave one bargaining power.

The art of diplomacy is the luck of knowing more of your rival's secrets than he knows of yours. Always deal from a position of power. These were Shrewd's maxims. And Verity abided by them.

I'll be teaching you the nasty, furtive, polite ways to kill people

The shortest distance between a man and his goal was often a lie