Quotes About Persuasion

But we have to be stronger and braver and cleverer than men are and not give them what they want simply because we find them charming. At which point, contrary creatures that they are, they will find us irresistible.

Does she make you laugh?" He thought about this. "She laughs a good deal when I'm about," he allowed. Did Colin Eversea really want to be laughed at rather than with his entire life? He was the most maddening person she'd ever met, but his humor contained angles; he used it both to deflect and persuade. And if one could see around it, one would see into vulnerability.

Ah, now, he soothed in his low, easy voice, the way he would a spooked horse or a woman whose bodice he was about to slip lower. It worked a treat. Her pupils dilated in sudden interest, for it was 'that' kind of voice and she was a woman after all. She'd decided he was attractive and pleasant and she visibly softened. When he bothered to use that tone on women they generally did.

Men. They were all so incredibly easy to sway. Pat them on their heads, give them something to eat, and they'll follow you anywhere. Add a smile and a few stupid compliments, and they'll immediately forget all about their other responsibilities.

Frances Catherine, I'm going to win this argument," Judith announced. She nodded to her friend when she made that prediction. "Why?" "Because it's my turn," she explained. "You may win the next argument." "Lord, you're stubborn.

Look." Joe's voice was cajoling, almost begging, yet Skip knew

while I pretended to submit reluctantly to the forceful persuasions of the mask, I was covering up to myself the fact that the mask's wish was my own.

If someone was going to hell, Kundavai would stop him and take him to heaven. That's one kind of power. But do you know what Nandini would do? It must be said that her power goes a step further. She would convince him that hell is heaven, and make him jump happily into hell!

You can get much farther with a smile, a kind word, and a gun than you can with a smile and a kind word. -Al Capone

Storytelling is fine as long as you can encourage people to act on the stories.

It's really easy to persuade people to be hateful

persuade Cassie to allow his mother to have more input. Cassie

Given enough idleness & time, she could talk herself into either loving or hating the man

Claire had realized a long time ago that if you lie with enough conviction, you can usually fool yourself.

Reductio ad Hitlerum." Claire couldn't stop quoting Paul. "It's when you compare someone to Hitler to win an argument.

People didn't believe in you unless you convinced them that you believed in yourself.

How do you trick a psychopath into telling the truth?" Laura kept silent for so long that Andrea wasn't sure she was still on the line. Eventually, her mother said, "You do the same thing that they do to you—you make them think that you believe in them.

the great thing about lying was people believed it so long as the lie was close enough to the truth. Lena

We think they're real." Lydia tried to play devil's advocate again. "We think that girl looked like Anna Kilpatrick. We think that she was mutilated in the same way, based on what her mother said and did during a press conference. But are we one hundred percent certain? Or are we just talking ourselves into it?" "Confirmation bias." Claire scowled at her own words. "What's the downside of calling Mayhew?

Any cop would tell you that the best way to get someone to talk was to be quiet. There was a natural, human inclination to fill silence with noise.

if you lie with enough conviction, you can usually fool yourself.

Men are such dupes by choice, that he who would impose upon others never need be at a loss to find ready victims.

He knows very little of mankind who expects, by any facts or reasoning, to convince a determined party man.

Every bird has its decoy, and every man is led and misled in his own peculiar way.