Quotes About P. T. Barnum

The truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the patronage bestowed upon him.

The entertainment lies less in the nature of the attraction (although as Barnum pointed out, a certain amount of "glitter" is essential) than in the implicit competition between patron and promoter, each one seeking to outwit the other in a game of deception and exposure. It was a distinction on which P. T. Barnum would build a career, and it helps to explain the continuing success of the Sun in the aftermath of the moon series.

I could go into some detail about the theological and class differences between the two groups but suffice it to say that Ralph Waldo Emerson was a Unitarian and P. T. Barnum a Universalist.