William Hazlitt Quotes

The nose of a mob is its imagination. By this, at any time, it can be quietly led.

In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them. And if they do not have a real enemy, they will invent one in order to mobilize us.

I think people, unfortunately, do live in constant fear. I think the government - and people in general - create scenarios people fear, because ultimately through fear you can control people. I wish we could live in a world where there would be no fear, but it's a driving force in many decisions people make these days, whether it's personal, economic, or even job-related. A lot of people stay out of fear in a job they hate.

Decent people are so easy to manipulate, Potter.

Honestly, it’s so easy to get what you want from people if they think you’re a psycho.

I think there are two ways in which people are controlled - first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them.

By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell - and hell heaven. The greater the lie, the more readily it will be believed.

The passions, therefore, not the reason, of the public would sit in judgment. But it is the reason, alone, of the public, that ought to control and regulate the government. The passions ought to be controlled and regulated by the government.

The German has not the slightest notion how a people must be misled if the adherence of the masses is sought.

The best way to compel weak-minded people to adopt our opinion, is to frighten them from all others, by magnifying their danger.

Seducing one's neighbor to a good opinion and then afterwards believing devoutly in this neighbor's opinion--who can match women in this clever ploy?

...people are by nature fickle, and it is easy to persuade them of something, but difficult to keep them persuaded.

The most favorable moment to seize a man and influence him is when he is alone in the mass. It is at this point that propaganda can be most effective.

Crowds are somewhat like the sphinx of ancient fable: It is necessary to arrive at a solution of the problems offered by their psychology or to resign ourselves to being devoured by them.

What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is, what can you make people believe that you have done?

I worry about my judgment when anything I believe in or do regularly begins to be accepted by the American public.

People are stupid... They will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they're afraid it might be true.

There should be a name for this, for the process whereby one knows one is being yanked and concedes it has been done successfully - that one is grateful to have been spun. In the theater, it is called the willing suspension of disbelief. That's what allows the play to make an impact on the audience: they have to be able to make believe that what's happening on the stage is really happening. Maybe to a degree it is a requirement for all political participation, all effective political communication, too.

One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.

A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth. Authoritarian institutions and marketers have always known this fact.

To commit violent and unjust acts, it is not enough for a government to have the will or even the power; the habits, ideas and passions of the time must lend themselves to their committal.

Fear will bind you closer than love, or hate, and it works a hell of a lot quicker.

Hate and love are essentially the same in that the person who loves is as easily manipulated as a person who hates

Unconsciously, perhaps, we treasure the power we have over people by their regard for our opinion of them, and we hate those upon whom we have no such influence.

There is nothing so necessary, but at the same time there is nothing more difficult (I know it by experience) for you young fellows, than to know how to behave yourselves prudently towards those whom you do not like. Your passions are warm, and your heads are light; you hate all those who oppose your views, either of ambition or love; and a rival, in either, is almost a synonymous term for any enemy.