Quotes About Persuasion

Wealth, religion, military victory have more rhetorical than efficacious worth.

Because a lot of people are hurting economically and being shafted by the very wealthy, it's been possible here in the United States of America to organize them and persuade them that to elect a nincompoop like Donald Trump is actually in their best interest. When clearly it isn't.

Language is a weapon of politicians, but language is a weapon in much of human affairs.

Propaganda is a soft weapon; hold it in your hands too long, and it will move about like a snake, and strike the other way.

Information is a negotiator's greatest weapon.

That which neither weapon nor flame could accomplish will be achieved by a sweet speaking tongue in council.

Throughout our courtship, Kenny told me that he had proof that Saddam Hussein was a threat because he possessed weapons of mass destruction. I told him, 'You had me at weapons.'

None of my neighbors believe in what I say. They refuse to wear the rings. They will never accept my invention until the day they die. That's what I call the real antichrists.

What I've found in my life with our children is that often you can give them advice and tell them to eat the right things, stay in shape and wear sunscreen, and they don't really want to listen. But then they hear it from someone else, and they do listen.

Whenever you're going into oral argument, it's preferable to be able to weave the arguments together. That gets harder when you split the argument into pieces.

My job, I believe, is to convince you to allow me to be part of your brand. Then when you look to present yourself a certain way you'll come to me, go to our website, and you'll buy want you want in the color you want, in the size you want, for the season you want.

When someone insists that you watch a show that's already been on for a few seasons, they're basically saying, 'Hey, you're not doing anything for the next five weeks, are you? Because have I got a plan for you every single night! It's 'Weeds!''

Well, I am not 100 percent sure of the definition of polemic, but it wasn't meant to convince anybody of anything.

If you want to persuade people, you've got to talk with your heart. You've got to talk about why your policies matter to them.

I allowed myself to be taken in by the intellectuals. I believed too much in the Polish intellectuals and followed their advice.

People can believe pretty much whatever they want to believe about moral and political issues, as long as some other people near them believe it, so you have to focus on indirect methods to change what people want to believe.

I happen to think it's the politics that makes you electable, but the reason for that is politicians sometimes talk about electability as if it's just a matter of conning the public. Actually, it's a matter of persuading the public, and in my experience, usually, the public gets it right.

All politicians are to some extent salesmen.

I've been dealing with politicians all my life. All my life. And I've always gotten them to do what I need them to do.

I'm always asking, 'How do you give a guy a new reason to buy a polo?'

That is what leadership is all about: staking your ground ahead of where opinion is and convincing people, not simply following the popular opinion of the moment.

Jack wasn't my type at all. I thought he was too young and too posh, and I told him that. Plus, I couldn't deal with his dodgy bowl-cut. But he wore me down.

People that don't know me get 'Mossed'. It means, I was gonna go home, but then I just got led astray. In the best possible way, of course. I mean, it's always fun, and a good time.

Good political leadership for me involves getting the big decisions right - however difficult, however controversial, however potentially divisive - and then being able to take people with you.