51 quotes
It must be borne in mind that everything the propagandist does or says is for effect—most commonly the effect on fools. The public wants not truth but a show?
Are We Victims of Propaganda, Our Invisible Masters: A Debate with Edward Bernays (1929)
There is a quality of the educated mind which may best be described as a kind of sincerity, and conversely the outstanding trait of ignorance is that of clever insincerity.
The Meaning of a Liberal Education (1926)
It is the trivial, the irrelevant, the sensational, the appeal to obsolete bigotry which naturally give it greatest publicity. In such publicity it becomes a mere vulgar caricature of itself.
Are We Victims of Propaganda, Our Invisible Masters: A Debate with Edward Bernays (1929)
Education is emancipation from herd opinion, self-mastery, capacity for self-criticism, suspended judgment, and urbanity.
The Meaning of a Liberal Education (1926)
For purposes of this discussion, propaganda is defined as the manipulation of the public to the end of securing some specific action.
Are We Victims of Propaganda, Our Invisible Masters: A Debate with Edward Bernays (1929)
What the state desires of education is soldiers, reliable voters, law-abiding citizens, contented working men, prosperous traders. Hence a spirit of docility and credulity, often of timidity, prevails in the school.
The Meaning of a Liberal Education (1926)
Its aim is to “put something over” on people, with or without their knowledge or consent… neither truth nor the basic values of civilization get a fair hearing.
Are We Victims of Propaganda, Our Invisible Masters: A Debate with Edward Bernays (1929)
The attainment of spirit today requires the very most uncompromisingly critical analysis and revaluation of ideals and enthusiasms, ancient and modern, of which the awakening modern mind is capable.
Civilizing Ourselves: Intellectual Maturity in the Modern World (1932)
The propagandist merely wishes you to think as he does. The educator is more modest; he is so delighted if you think at all that he is willing to let you do so in your own way.
The Conflict of the Individual and the Mass in the Modern World (1932)
Psychology is an attempt to gain a scientific understanding of human nature. We are all deeply interested in knowing human nature. When we are not talking about ourselves we are usually talking about our neighbors.
Psychology and Its Use (1933)
…prejudice and the well-known weaknesses of human nature are to be exploited and thus encouraged.
Are We Victims of Propaganda, Our Invisible Masters: A Debate with Edward Bernays (1929)
Probably the greatest difference among men is this difference in habits of thought. There are some minds which behave merely like the mechanic who having learned his trade in a certain way never can function in any other.
Psychology: What it has to Teach You about Yourself and Your World (1924)
One reason why people cherish the delusion that they are still free long after they have lost or destroyed the liberties won by their ancestors lies in the boundless vanity of man when acting as mass. The mass in modern times believes it is sovereign. As sovereign it is free.
Liberty (1930)
Psychological knowledge is now necessary for the citizen if he is to play his part wisely in public affairs. Our age is greatly interested in social and political questions. There is a widespread belief that the evils of the world may be abolished by the magic of mass action.
Psychology and Its Use (1933)
Education has to do with insight, with valuing, with understanding, with the development of the power of discrimination, the ability to make choice amongst the possibilities of experience and to think and act in ways that distinguish men from animals and higher men from lower.
The Meaning of a Liberal Education (1926)
Do the tendencies of the present day, mass movements, social organization, publicity, public education, emphasize the unique in man, or enhance the dominance of undifferentiated man acting as mass
The Conflict of the Individual and the Mass in the Modern World (1932)
Propaganda is making puppets out of us. We are moved by hidden strings which the propagandist manipulates.
Are We Victims of Propaganda, Our Invisible Masters: A Debate with Edward Bernays (1929)
Another method of escaping moral responsibility is to run with the crowd. The crowd never considers consequences; it is bent upon vindicating its principles at any cost. It is anonymous; in it the individual may not be held to account.
The Meaning of a Liberal Education (1926)
In just the measure that education aims to develop the individual with independence of judgment rather than to indoctrinate him with tradition and custom and official dogma, to that degree it separates him from the mass and is successful insofar as it emancipates his mind from the tyranny of herd opinion.
The Conflict of the Individual and the Mass in the Modern World (1932)
The evil effect of these attempts to manipulate the multitude by pampering its weaknesses---in return for material and other advantages to persons and for ends not disclosed—is clearly seen in various aspects of our common life. In politics such effect have long been deplorable.
Are We Victims of Propaganda, Our Invisible Masters: A Debate with Edward Bernays (1929)