Quotes About Persuasion

Humans will believe anything you say provided you do not exhibit the smallest shadow of diffidence; like animals, they can detect the smallest crack in your confidence before you express it. The trick is to be as smooth as possible in personal manners. It is much easier to signal self-confidence if you are exceedingly polite and friendly; you can control people without having to offend their sensitivity.

It is not what you are telling people, it is how you are saying it.

You will never fully convince someone that he is wrong; only reality can.

Humans will believe anything you say provided you do not exhibit the smallest shadow of diffidence; like animals, they can detect the smallest crack in your confidence before you express it. The trick is to be as smooth as possible in personal manners.

You need a story to displace a story. Metaphors and stories are far more potent (alas) than ideas; they are also easier to remember and more fun to read. If I have to go after what I call the narrative disciplines, my best tool is a narrative.

Karl Marx, un visionario, entendió que podemos controlar mejor a un esclavo convenciéndolo de que es un empleado.

a free person does not need to win arguments—just win.

Thus they become easily prone to manipulation by lobbyists

You will never fully convince

there was no way to convince the management otherwise.

You can only convince people who think they can benefit from being convinced.

Hamburgers, to many of us, are vastly tastier than filet mignon because of the higher fat content, but people have been convinced that the latter is better because it is more expensive to produce.

Most virtue is a demand for greater seduction.

seize the public by the button

Wars are often waged not because of what we believe, but because of the things we want others to believe.

A successful lie is not fueled by the liar; it is fueled by the willingness of the listener to believe. You can't expose a lie without first shattering the will to believe it.

Monster only had the power that you gave them

We can lie to ourselves, saying we believe one thing, and sometimes we convince other's it's true, with the hope that by convincing others, we can convince ourselves. Wars are often waged not because of what we believe, but because of the things we want others to believe.

They will find whatever button will make you dance, and dance you will, no matter how hideous the tune.

A successful lie is not fueled by the liar; it is fueled by the willingness of the listener to believe. You can't expose a lie without first shattering the will to believe it. That is why leading people to truth is so much more effective than merely telling them.

The sad truth about humanity, Risa was quick to realize, is that people believe what they are told. Maybe not the first time, but by the hundredth time, the craziest of ideas just becomes a given.

At that moment he could have said the earth was made of chocolate pudding and I would have believed it.

A scythe doesn't have to follow through on a threat for it to be effective.

Every Unwind believes in their heart of hearts that it won't happen to them—that their parents, no matter how strained things get, will be smart enough not to fall for the net ads, TV commercials, and billboards that say things like "Unwinding: the sensible solution.