When you give people a choice, they believe they have power.

My idea of good company…is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.’ ‘You are mistaken,’ said he gently, ‘that is not good...

It’s much easier to be convincing if you care about your topic. Figure out what’s important to you about your message and speak from the heart.

The burden of persuasion is on the president to establish the program’s legality.

Part of my wisdom consists of being a whiz at reminding the dumb, why they should be whizzes, and not just live life to whiz by others.

Modern formulations are necessary even in defense of very ancient truths. Not because of any alleged anachronism in the old ideas – the Beatitudes remain the essential statements of the Western code – but because...

Any amount of theology can be smuggled into people’s minds under cover of romance without them knowing it.

I don’t need to see the trail to know you’re at the end of it. My grandfather’s compass may not work, but mine is still true.

Get what you can with words, because words are free, but the words of an armed man ring that much sweeter.

It is the crimson tongue that paints the world others think they see.

Captain Harvile: Poor Phoebe, she would not have forgotten him so soon. It was not in her nature. Anne Elliot: It would not be in the nature of any woman who truly loved. Captain Harvile:...

Truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by persuading.

Arminius, appealing to Lactantius, held that: ‘To recommend faith to others, we must make it the subject of persuasion, and not of compulsion’. He insisted that the true religion from Christ does not deteriorate into...

His ally was the age-old, unending human search for truth and security. In the first century as the twenty first, some were devout, some superstitious, others were frankly materialistic, even though in that age they...

In politics, if you’re explaining, you’re loosing.

You cannot reason people out of a position that they did not reason themselves into.

Ce n’est pas la première fois que je remarque combien, en France particulièrement, les mots ont plus d’empire que les idées.”(“It’s not the first time I’ve noticed how much more power words have than ideas,...

The more you try to impress, the more you become depressed, and the more they get tired of your coercion. It doesn’t make them love you, instead, they’ll see you as a little child, trying...

Presenting a humble façade gains trust; flattery appeals to ego; combine the two to gain an ego-based trust within someone, and you will find in your hands a judgement clouding tool second only to love.

She ventured to hope he did not always read only poetry; and to say, that she thought it was the misfortune of poetry, to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed it completely; and...

Well, that depends, I suppose. I heard someone once say that men dance the same way they have sex. So, if you want everyone here to think you’re the kind of guy who just sits...

The Andrians were the first of the islanders to refuse Themistocles’ demand for money. He had put it to them that they would be unable to avoid paying, because the Athenians had the support of...

Shigure: JUST LISTEN TO ME FOR A SECOND, KYO!Kyo: SHUT UP! I HATE THIS! DO YOU REALLY GET THAT MUCH ENJOYMENT FROM PLAYING WITH PEOPLES’ LIVES?!Shigure: Well, yes, now that you mention it, I do–BUT...

The key is to put your outrage in a place where you can get it when you need to, but not have it bubble up so much, especially when you’re asked to explain new ideas...

No conflict no story

A ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel… he must lay the best coffee hearth to attract the finest men… a good ruler has to learn his world’s language… it’s different for every...

It doesn’t really matter if you are left behind the back, but what matters is your capacity to pull and push everyone by your way to get to the front.

All things are possible; if something seems like it’s not, it’s only because enough people aren’t being deceived into the possibilities yet.

No one can withstand the charm of such a mystery.

Its all about perspective, that is how you look at things. Your own thoughts and outlook defines whether an experience, event, situation whatever is good or bad. And your definition determines your response.

It’s just that you are practiced at persuading, and sometimes it’s quite difficult, sir to distinguish being persuaded by you from being knocked down in street and stamped on.Pg.406

Lucy gripped her chilled glass of orange and raspberry juice. When Rebecca talked about Austen, she’d mostly mentioned Mr. Darcy or Mr. Knightley. She hadn’t really thought of the doe-eyed, pale-skinned heroines. On the screen,...

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

It’s true what they say, that words are the true weapons. Those who fight with steel are limited to the strength of their arm, the reach of their blade, and the timing of their strike;...

To inquire and to learn is the function of the mind, By learning I do not mean the mere cultivation of memory or the accumulation of knowledge, but the capacity to think clearly and sanely...

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

It is safe to assume that any individual or group you wish to influence has access to more wisdom than they currently use. It is also safe to assume that they also have considerably more...

my idea of good company.. is the company of clever, well-informed people. who have a great deal of conversation.

Its all about perception, that is how you look at. Your own thoughts and outlook defines whether it is good or bad. And your definition determines your response.

Robbed of a rapt audience, advertisers know that influencing how you spend what to do while depends on having some control over how you spend the resources in your head.

She had been in situations like this, where people said, Convince me, and in none of those had they actually wanted to be convinced. She could lay down a perfect argument and they just invented...

I discovered that night (in his college’s student politics) that an audience has a feel to it, and, in the parlance of the theater, that audience and I were together.

We stay the same as we’ve always been, keeping to the path we’ve walked our whole lives. Paths that carry so much importance and perceived stability that we are utterly convinced it is the only...

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...

Nothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable.

It’s amazing, the lies you can tell yourself. Even more amazing, the lies you can believe when you’re desperate enough.

I never saw quite so wretched an example of what a sea-faring life can do: but to a degree, I know it is the same with them all; they are all knocked about, and exposed...

I thought you might be more willing to help if you experienced my desperation in person.

In any profession, you will be respected if you are good at your job – not because you are good at talking about your beliefs. It may be quite irrational, but the fact is that,...

Good words were the difference between Emily eating well and not. And what she had found worked best were not facts or arguments but words that tickled people’s brains for some reason, that just amused...