Quotes about persuasion

"Who speaks to the instincts speaks to the deepest in mankind, and finds the readiest response."

Alcott, Amos Bronson on persuasion   

"To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them."

Aquinas, St. Thomas on persuasion   

"Remember that what pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies the power to persuade, there the life -- there, if one must speak out, the real man."

Aurelius, Marcus on persuasion   

"The truth isn't the truth until people believe you, and they can't believe you if they don't know what your saying, and they can't know what you've saying if they don't listen to you, and they won't listen to you if you're not interesting, and you won't be interesting until you say things imaginatively, originally, freshly."

Bernbach, William on persuasion
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"Let one who wants to move and convince others, first be convinced and moved themselves. If a person speaks with genuine earnestness the thoughts, the emotion and the actual condition of their own heart, others will listen because we all are knit together by the tie of sympathy."

Carlyle, Thomas on persuasion
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"Not brute force but only persuasion and faith are the kings of this world."

Carlyle, Thomas on persuasion   

"If you would convince others, seem open to conviction yourself."

Chesterfield, Lord on persuasion   

"He makes people pleased with him by making them first pleased with themselves."

Chesterfield, Lord on persuasion   

"Nothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable."

Cicero, Marcus T. on persuasion   

"He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense."

Conrad, Joseph on persuasion
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"Roughly speaking, any man with energy and enthusiasm ought to be able to bring at least a dozen others round to his opinion in the course of a year no matter how absurd that opinion might be. We see every day in politics, in business, in social life, large masses of people brought to embrace the most revolutionary ideas, sometimes within a few days. It is all a question of getting hold of them in the right way and working on their weak points."

Crowley, Aleister on persuasion   

"It is nobler to convert souls, than to conquer kingdoms."

Debonnaire, Louis on persuasion   

"I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone."

Eisenhower, Dwight D. on persuasion   

"That which we do not believe, we cannot adequately say; even though we may repeat the words ever so often."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo on persuasion   

"For your own good is a persuasive argument that will eventually make a man agree to his own destruction."

Frame, Janet on persuasion   

"If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect."

Franklin, Benjamin on persuasion
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"Would you persuade, speak of interest, not of reason."

Franklin, Benjamin on persuasion   

"Oral delivery aims at persuasion and making the listener believe they are converted. Few persons are capable of being convinced; the majority allow themselves to be persuaded."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on persuasion   

"People have a peculiar pleasure in making converts, that is, in causing others to enjoy what they enjoy, thus finding their own likeness represented and reflected back to them."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on persuasion   

"To make converts is the natural ambition of everyone."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on persuasion   

"Secrecy has many advantages, for when you tell someone the purpose of any object right away, they often think there is nothing to it."

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von on persuasion   

"The art of pleasing consists in being pleased."

Hazlitt, William on persuasion   

"The real persuaders are our appetites, our fears and above all our vanity. The skillful propagandist stirs and coaches these internal persuaders."

Hoffer, Eric on persuasion   

"The persuasion of a friend is a strong thing."

Homer on persuasion   

"Why harass with eternal purposes a mind to weak to grasp them?"

Horace on persuasion   

"As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it, so reasonable arguments, challenges to magnanimity, and appeals to sympathy or justice, are folly when we are dealing with human crocodiles and boa-constrictors."

James, William on persuasion   

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"If I have said something to hurt a man once, I shall not get the better of this by saying many things to please him."

Johnson, Samuel on persuasion   

"There is a holy, mistaken zeal in politics, as well as in religion. By persuading others, we convince ourselves."

Junius on persuasion   

"When a person is determined to believe something, the very absurdity of the doctrine confirms them in their faith."

Junius on persuasion   

"You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time."

Lincoln, Abraham on persuasion
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"If you wish to win a man over to your ideas, first make him your friend."

Lincoln, Abraham on persuasion   

"The object of oratory alone in not truth, but persuasion."

Macaulay, Thomas B. on persuasion   

"You have not converted a man because you have silenced him."

Morely, John on persuasion   

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"I don't know the rules of grammar. If you're trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language."

Ogilvy, David on persuasion   

"People are usually more convinced by reasons they discovered themselves than by those found out by others."

Pascal, Blaise on persuasion   

"Before you try to convince anyone else, be sure you are convinced, and if you cannot convince yourself, drop the subject."

Patterson, John H. on persuasion   

"The secret is to always let the other man have your way."

Pell, Claiborne on persuasion   

"Persuasion is better than force."

Proverb on persuasion   

"That which proves too much, proves nothing!"

Proverb on persuasion   

"When a heart is on fire, sparks always fly out of the mouth."

Proverb on persuasion
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