Quotes About Persuasion

We are marginally—but crucially—less likely to question the soundness of an article about a rationale for going to war when it comes presented beneath the neo-Gothic Cheltenham typeface of the New York Times, or to probe the coherence of a thesis defending a presidential budget when it is laid out in the sober yet sensuous columns of Le Monde's Fenway font. Brands alone dissuade us from picking sceptically at their underlying content.

He's not secretive, controlling, or withdrawn for malicious reasons; he just gives up on other people—and on his ability to persuade them of anything—with unhelpful ease.

Une colère noire arrive a un moment où en France quelques voix veulent nous persuader que le raciste devient un résistant, un courageux face à la pensée unique.

History nowadays is not a matter of conviction. It's a performance. It's entertainment. And if it isn't, make it so.

But then books, as I'm sure you know, seldom prompt a course of actions. Books generally just confirm you in what you have, perhaps unwittingly, decided to do already. You go to a book to have your convictions corroborated. A book, as it were, closes the book.

If you know something is true, you don't need to convince anyone of it. If you are trying to convince anyone, it is probably yourself.

Less explanation is more convincing than more explanation.

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing. —ALBERT SCHWEITZER

Facts can be most persuasive.

While a truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power.

you don't get far in political discourse with counterfactual arguments that "it would have been even worse.

To sell something familiar, make it surprising. To sell something surprising, make it familiar.

Posting dramatic charts or funny pictures is good and giving people smart reasons to believe what they already think is great.

neuro-linguistic programming

A good communicator affects our physiology. The power of voice can entrance us even induce or remove pain.

People are always saying, Can you use your skills to get extraordinarily beautiful women into bed? Well... yes, yes I can.

Violence, and evil, doesn't always come dressed in black, and it doesn't always look like Charles Manson. Nor does it always come to us as obvious and arrogant[...]. Often it comes to us with the simple plea to be reasonable.

No hay nada repartido de modo más equitativo en el mundo que la razón: todo el mundo está convencido de tener suficiente.

A good portion of speaking will consist in knowing how to lie.

Besides, it happens (how, I cannot tell) that an idea launched like a javelin in proverbial form strikes with sharper point on the hearer's mind and leaves implanted barbs for meditation...

My father used to say, "Don't raise your voice. Improve your argument."

Don't raise your voice, improve your argument." [ Address at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa , 23 November 2004]

My father always used to say, "Don't raise your voice. Improve your argument." Good sense does not always lie with the loudest shouters, nor can we say that a large, unruly crowd is always the best arbiter of what is right.

There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.