Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted.
—Aldous Huxley, 1950
The world wants to be deceived.
—Sebastian Brant, 1494
How easily are people deceived, how do they like prophets and oracles, what a herd they
are!
—Anton Chekhov, 1921
You may fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but
you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
—Abraham Lincoln
9
You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
—James Thurber, 1939
The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.
—Edith Sitwell, 1965
Men have always had a greater inclination to close their eyes than to open them, to believe
comforting lies rather than discomforting truth.
—Stephen Vizinczey, 1969
Occasionally he stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if
nothing ever happened.
10
—Winston Churchill, 1936
Three things will never be believed - the true, the probable, and the logical.
—John Steinbeck, 1961
The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men
they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.
—H. L. Mencken, 1922
I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.
11
—Harry S. Truman, 1958
If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; but if you really make them
think, they’ll hate you.
—Don Marquis, 1923
***
9
Not found in Lincoln’s papers, this famous aphorism was first quoted, without a date, in a 1886
newspaper, to become a commonplace soon after this. (More rarely, it is attributed to
P. T. Barnum).
10
Said about Stanley Baldwin, then the UK Prime Minister.
11
This was an allusion to his nickname “Give’em Hell Harry”.
On Human Condition
143
—Aldous Huxley, 1950
The world wants to be deceived.
—Sebastian Brant, 1494
How easily are people deceived, how do they like prophets and oracles, what a herd they
are!
—Anton Chekhov, 1921
You may fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but
you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.
—Abraham Lincoln
9
You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.
—James Thurber, 1939
The public will believe anything, so long as it is not founded on truth.
—Edith Sitwell, 1965
Men have always had a greater inclination to close their eyes than to open them, to believe
comforting lies rather than discomforting truth.
—Stephen Vizinczey, 1969
Occasionally he stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if
nothing ever happened.
10
—Winston Churchill, 1936
Three things will never be believed - the true, the probable, and the logical.
—John Steinbeck, 1961
The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men
they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.
—H. L. Mencken, 1922
I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.
11
—Harry S. Truman, 1958
If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; but if you really make them
think, they’ll hate you.
—Don Marquis, 1923
***
9
Not found in Lincoln’s papers, this famous aphorism was first quoted, without a date, in a 1886
newspaper, to become a commonplace soon after this. (More rarely, it is attributed to
P. T. Barnum).
10
Said about Stanley Baldwin, then the UK Prime Minister.
11
This was an allusion to his nickname “Give’em Hell Harry”.
On Human Condition
143