Quotes About Persuasion

A man is paralyzed mentally by a beautiful woman, and advertisers take advantage. Like those ads where a woman in the bikini is next to a 32-piece ratchet set. We're going, "She's right next to the ratchet set, if I had the ratchet set, it would mean that . . . I better just buy the ratchets."

Sometimes, it's like you know what people think: You know what they're thinking, and you know it's wrong. All you want to do if change their mind, but you can't.

Every communication has as its goal to take the audience from where they are at the start of your presentation, which is Point A, and move them to your objective, which is Point B. Recognizing

Data Dump: an excessive, meaningless, shapeless outpouring of data without purpose or plan. The inevitable reaction of audiences to a Data Dump is not persuasion, but rather the horrific effect known as MEGO: Mine Eyes Glaze Over. The inevitable reaction of audiences to a Data Dump is not persuasion, but rather the horrific effect known as MEGO: Mine Eyes Glaze Over. Why? Why would any presenter in his or her right mind do

A man cannot be convinced against his own convictions, but he can be talked into a state of uncertainty and indecision, which is even worse, for that means that he cannot trade with confidence and comfort.

As Howard Aiken said, "Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.

The idea is that women are supposed to do all they can to limit men's access to female sexuality (and women themselves, really), and men are meant to do all they can to convince women otherwise. This sets up a sexual dynamic that assumes women don't want to have sex and therefore need to be convinced to do so--and that this "convincing" is a natural paer of seduction. But too often, underlying this model, what is called "seduction" is actually coercion.

The idea is that women are supposed to do all they can to limit men's access to female sexuality (and women themselves, really), and men are meant to do all they can to convince women otherwise. This sets up a sexual dynamic that assumes women don't want to have sex and therefore need to be convinced to do so--and that this "convincing" is a natural part of seduction. But too often, underlying this model, what is called "seduction" is actually coercion.

Whining is a form of manipulation. People will give anything to make you shut up.

In a successful manipulation of the mind the person is no longer saying the opposite of what he thinks, but he thinks the opposite of what is true.

Dieser Theaterkritiker konnte die selbstverständlichsten und unstreitigsten Dinge äußern, sobald er es war, der sie behauptete, wirkten sie unglaubwürdig und reizten zum Widerspruch.

No matter how improbable an assertion is, if it is made with enough assurance it has an affect.

Vai katr? zi?? kaut kam arvien j?b?t paties?bai? - Laikam ne. K?p?c? - Es nezinu. Bet iesp?jams, ka b?tu maz?k karu, ja cilv?ki tik ?oti negrib?tu p?rliecin?t cits citu par savas personisk?s paties?bas pareiz?bu.

Churchill's great trick—one he had demonstrated before, and would demonstrate again—was his ability to deliver dire news and yet leave his audience feeling encouraged and uplifted.

We must keep in mind, I believe, that when Hitler says anything he for the moment convinces himself that it is true. He is basically sincere; but he is at the same time a fanatic.

He had only to assert the most commonplace thing and it sounded important and convincing.

Deploying flattery leavened with irony, he began:

There is a time to silence an adversary with the honey of logical persuasion, and there is a time to silence him with the argument of a heavily directed club.

A young dame with pretty eyes and a smile can make an old man do just about anything.

When I was a little girl I didn't like the smell of the hops in the carts. Nor in the fields. Je n'aime pas les houblons. No, my God, not a bit. The man that owns the brewery said to me and my sister to go to the brewery and drink the beer, and then we'd like the hops. That's true. Then we liked them all right. He had them give us the beer. We liked them all right then.

Both reading and writing are experiences--lifelong-- in the course of which we who encounter words used in certain ways are persuaded by them to be brought mind and heart within the presence, the power, of the imagination.

The next time you get into a political discussion, stop and ask yourself what amount of evidence would change your mind. If the answer is none, then realize you're actually in a religious discussion, one more zealot arguing with another. Have I mentioned I'm not on Facebook?

They've met a thousand liars and heard a million lies. Yours ain't gonna fly. They won't tell you that you're full of crap—they'll keep you talking, getting you to lie about a bunch of things, making notes in their head while you tell yourself that you're the most persuasive motherfucker on the planet. They want you to walk away thinking you got away with it, or so panicked you screw up in front of them.

You'd be surprised by how eager true believers are to talk." He smiles. "And if that doesn't work, I'll tell them I'm trying to catch a guy who punched a baby dolphin.