Quotes About Manipulation

Ou bien, est-ce pour la combler...et ensuite la séduire, la réduire à une misère plus grande encore?

Rosie crosses her arm. "That's one of those things you say to sound smart, right?" she says. "But, really, you're trying to make someone else feel stupid.

Sadie had invented a game where if Naomi called bedtime before Sadie did for seven nights in a row, Naomi received a prize. Yes, it was manipulative and basically bribery, but it was also effective

Sadie laughed a bit to herself, thinking this was what it was like to play someone else's game: to have the illusion of choice, without actual choice.

People tell boring lies about politics

Sadie felt as if she had been tricked into behaving amorally.

You don't sell the product... You sell the customer his own self-doubt. You sell his shortcomings... You have to figure out what he's missing in himself and you wrap that up in a bow and sell it to him... Works like a charm.

Here was a dyed-in-the-brine Cape Cod, Massachusetts, man who dropped into New York State on a carpetbag and used his slain brother's gilded connections to help win a Senate seat.

A man with no motive is a man no one suspects. Always keep your enemies confused. If they don't know who you are or what you want, they can't predict your next move.

Lord Varys: Power resides where men believe it resides. It's a trick, a shadow on the wall. And a very small man can cast a very large shadow.

I can't really put it in one sentence because although on one hand Preacher is about faith and yes it is also about, I suppose, the search for God, the search for faith and the manipulation and the abuse committed by figures in whom I suppose people have faith.

C)hoice without alternative is only a sleight of hand; it is a magician's force-play, during which you believe you have free well, but your fate has already been decided: the magician knows which card you will pick!

He never understood when she said that if she went to a doctor, the doctor would only invent a disease that would explain why he couldn't help her.

We believe the picture painters of the mass media are artfully creating landscapes for us which deliberately hide the real picture. In this book we will show you how to discover the hidden picture in the landscapes presented to us daily through newspapers, radio and television.

I bought into the lie," she said, "that because Darin has a strong, masculine personality he must be the manipulator and I must be the victim. God showed me that it was really more the other way around. By withholding affection, respect, and communication, I often played the role of the manipulator.

If one has ever wondered how an entire nation could have followed a murderous leader, one needs to understand that it doesn't take that many people actually believing what the leader says. They just need to be willing to repeat whatever their side is saying.

That's what tyrants do, I guess. They make you covet their attention; they make you confuse attention for mercy.

Con artists rely heavily on the willing participation and self-delusion of the people they con.

The powers that seek to corral and corrupt us ask a simple question – what do you want?' said the former Grand Master. 'It may be complicated or simple, but we each have a desire within us that can be exploited. All of us. Even you.

Predatory animals usually devour prey in order to convert flesh into fuel. Most human predators, however, seek power, not food. To destroy or damage something is to take its power. This applies equally to a political movement, a government, a campaign, a career, a marriage, a performance, a fortune, or a religion. To push a pie into the face of the world's richest man is to take his power, if only for a moment.

Charm is another overrated ability. Note that I called it an ability, not an inherent feature of one's personality. Charm is almost always a directed instrument, which, like rapport-building, has motive. To charm is to compel, to control by allure or attraction. Think of charm as a verb, not a trait. If you consciously tell yourself, "This person is trying to charm me" as opposed to, "This person is charming," you'll be able to see around it.

People who refuse to let go often make small requests that appear reasonable, like Tommy's letter of reference, though the real purpose of such requests is to cement attachment or gain new reasons for contact.

You know you are involved with a sick man who will see you die? He will stand over your body, with your blood on his hands and I promise you he will laugh... not because your life means nothing to him -- but because death, for him -- is the punch line.

A politician's covenant to people, is the Judas Kiss with lipstick.