#Manipulation Quotes

“Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me.”

“If he be so resolved, I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear That unicorns may be betrayed with trees And bears with glasses, elephants with holes, Lions with toils, and men with flatterers”

“Take you me for a sponge?”

“Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under it.”

“Bait the hook well. This fish will bite.”

“Why, I can smile and murder whiles I smile, And cry 'content' to that which grieves my heart, And wet my cheeks with artificial tears, And frame my face for all occasions”

“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor.”

“That affable familiar ghost Which nightly gulls him with intelligence.”

“So will I turn her virtue into pitch, And out of her own goodness make the net That shall enmesh them all.”

“Do you see yonder cloud that’s almost in shape of a camel? Polonius: By the mass, and ‘tis like a camel, indeed. Hamlet: Methinks it is like a weasel. Polonius: It is backed like a weasel. Hamlet: Or like a whale? Polonius: Very like a whale.”

“This is a way to kill a wife with kindness.”

“If the boy have not a woman's gift To rain a shower of commanded tears, An onion will do well for such a shift.”

“This is his uncle's teaching, this Worcester, Malevolent to you In all aspects, Which makes him prune himself and bristle up The crest of youth against your dignity.”

“Give me the facts, and I will twist them the way I want, to suit my argument.”

“Don't let tobacco companies make the choices for you... they care about their own well-being, not yours”

“I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister. That is a political statistic.”

“If you're blaming something or someone else for the way you are, then that person, those people, those circumstances or those energies, are going to have to change in order for you to get better; that's most likely never going to happen. It's also a way to manipulate other people.”

“Remember that any time you're filled with resentment, you're turning the controls of your emotional life over to others to manipulate.”

“If you're sincere, praise is effective. If you're insincere, it's manipulative.”

“Rumour is a pipe Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures And of so easy and so plain a stop That the blunt monster with uncounted heads, The still-discordant wavering multitude, Can play upon it.”

“The Russian Bolsheviks have discovered that truth does not matter so long as there is reiteration. They have no difficulty whatever in countering a fact by a lie which, if repeated often enough and loudly enough, becomes accepted by the people.”

“Do you take me for a sponge, my lord? hamlet: Ay, sir; that soaks up the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities. But such officers do the king best service in the end: he keeps them, like an ape, in the corner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swallowed: when he needs what you have gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry again. rosencrantz: I understand you not, my lord. hamlet: I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.”

“So long as all is ordered for attack, and that alone, leaders will instinctively increase the number of enemies that they may give their followers something to do.”

“You can't fool all of the people all of the time. But it isn't necessary.”

“An infallible method of making fanatics is to persuade before you instruct.”

“Facts must be manipulated; some must be brightened; others shaded; yet, in the process, they must never lose their integrity.”

“Too often the past has been twisted to fit the visions and agendas of the present.”

“There is no talent so ardently supported, nor generously rewarded, as the ability to convince parasites they are victims.”

“Most variables can show either an upward or downward trend, depending on the base year chosen.”

“If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.”

“Recollect your thoughts don't get caught up in the mix ,cause the media is full of dirty tricks.”

“There are few talents so richly rewarded - especially in politics and the media - as the ability to portray parasites as victims, and portray demands for preferential treatment as struggles for equal rights.”

“All statements are true, if you are free to redefine their terms.”

“The same set of statistics can produce opposite conclusions at different levels of aggregation.”

“When an objection cannot be made formidable, there is some policy in trying to make it frightful; and to substitute the yell and the war-whoop, in the place of reason, argument and good order.”

“I think people have a need to feel good about the country they live in, but what's happening, I think, is that that need - which is a good thing - is getting manipulated and exploited.”

“If a woman wants to hold a man she has merely to appeal to what is worst in him.”

“Trust not a woman when she weeps, for it is her nature to weep when she wants her will.”

“The great trick with a woman is to get rid of her while she think's she's rid of you.”

“Tactics are manipulative.”

“If you will have a person enslaved, the first thing you must do is convince yourself that the person is subhuman. The second thing you have to do is convince your allies so you'll have some help, and the third and probably unkindest cut of all is to convince that person that he or she is subhuman and deserves it.”

“I don't believe what the papers are saying They're just out to capture my dime, Exaggerating this, exaggerating that.”

“Orders and decorations are necessary in order to dazzle the people.”

“See how he throws his baited lines about,/And plays his men as anglers play their trout.”

“One of the great secrets of the day is to know how to take possession of popular prejudices and passions, in such a way as to introduce a confusion of principles which makes impossible all understanding between those who speak the same language and have the same interests.”

“The most that can be said of flattery is that it is sometimes a cheap psychological trick with which charlatans and dishonest people lull others into a state of carelessness while they pick their pockets.”

“To be believed make the truth unbelievable.”

“Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."”

“Clever policy consists in making nations believe they are free.”

“Men are more easily governed through their vices than through their virtues.”