"We are usually convinced more easily by..." - Quote by Blaise Pascal
We are usually convinced more easily by reasons we have found ourselves than by those which have occurred to others.
More by Blaise Pascal
“The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men.”
“That which makes us go so far for love is that we never think that we might have need of anything besides that which we love.”
“When a natural discourse paints a passion or an effect, one feels within oneself the truth of what one reads, which was there before, although one did not know it. Hence one is inclined to love him who makes us feel it, for he has not shown us his own riches, but ours. ...such community of intellect that we have with him necessarily inclines the heart to love.”
More on Persuasion
“For it is not true, as some treatise-mongers lay down in their systems, of the probity of the speaker, that it contributes nothing to persuasion; but moral character nearly, I may say, carries with it the most sovereign efficacy in making credible.”
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.”
“The simplest man with passion will be more persuasive than the most eloquent without.”
More on Conviction
“The fundamental challenge of achieving anything you wish is first to convince yourself to do it. Once you are totally convinced of its value, you'll find a way to get it done.”
“Absolute identity with one's cause is the first and great condition of successful leadership.”
“... but the important thing is that when you do find one where you really do know what you are doing, you must buy in quantity.... Charlie and I have made a dozen or so very big decisions relative to net worth, although not as big as they should have been. And in each of those, we've known that we were almost certain to be right going in.”