Quotes About Persuasion

Love and businesse teach eloquence.

In some songs, like propaganda songs-and don't get me wrong, I love some propaganda songs. They're some of my favorite songs in the world. It's just that I don't enjoy writing it.

Half the sum of attraction, on either side, might have been enough, for he had nothing to do, and she had hardly any body to love." (of Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth, Persuasion)

[Louis] Brandeis is writing directly to us. His clear voice comes through a century and he's speaking to us and he's galvanizing us and he's persuading us. And that's why I love to read the prose.

I am not in love / But I'm open to persuasion.

And there was this jerk named Dwayne who kept saying, 'Go on, have a beer. You know you want one. One little beer's not going to hurt ya. You haven't had a drink for three years. You can handle it.' He looked at me again. You know? I nodded. Caught me when I was vulnerable. You know, when I was still breathing.

Mr. President," he says, almost like a southern drawl, thick with incredulity. This man could look you in the eye and tell you that the world is flat, the sun rises in the west, and the moon is made of blue cheese, and he'd probably pass a polygraph test while doing so.

He sold Syria way better than he sold this.

If you can't win by reason, go for volume.

The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning and inhibit clarity.

When I asked a Big Dog friend of mine whether it was important to sell up through an organization and obtain consensus along the way, he chuckled, and with a low growl said, "That would be a colossal waste of time—find the 'man,' set up the meeting and do the deal!

People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others.

We are usually convinced more easily by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which have occurred to others.

There are two ways of persuading men of the truths of our religion; one by the power of reason, the other by the authority of the speaker. We do not use the latter but the former. We do not say: 'You must believe that because Scripture, which says it, is divine,' but we say that it must be believed for such and such a reason. But these are feeble arguments, because reason can be bent in any direction.

Eloquence.— We need both what is pleasing and what is real, but that which pleases must itself be drawn from the true.

Eloquence is an art of saying things in such a way (1) that those to whom we speak may listen to them without pain and with pleasure; (2) that they feel themselves interested, so that self-love leads them more willingly to reflection upon it.

Eloquence.—It requires the pleasant and the real; but the pleasant must itself be drawn from the true.

Eloquence. There must be elements both pleasing and real, but what is pleasing must itself be drawn from what is true.

When we are accustomed to use bad reasons for proving natural effects, we are not willing to receive good reasons when they are discovered.

L'art de persuader consiste autant en celui d'agréer qu'en celui de convaincre, tant les hommes se gouvernent plus par caprice que par raison.

You can always turn no into yes, and usually make people happy, but it's a lot harder – sometimes too late - to change yes to no.

Mr. President, you've got to buy some democrats, Graham said. The good news is they come cheap.

I know I'm right," he said. "If you disagree with me, you're wrong.

He will not admit anything, and down faces everybody. If he can't out-argue them he bullies them, and then takes their silence for agreement with his views.