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No serious sociologist any longer believes that the voice of the people expresses any divine or specially wise and lofty idea. The voice of the people expresses the mind of the people, and that mind is made up for it by the group leaders in whom it believes and by those persons who understand the manipulation of public opinion. It is composed of inherited prejudices and symbols and clichés and verbal formulas supplied to them by the leaders.

— Edward Bernays Propaganda (1928)

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More quotes by Edward Bernays

The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest.

The public relations counsel must always subdivide the appeal of his subject and present it through the widest possible variety of avenues to the public.

Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923)

Propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government.

Propaganda (1928)

If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it?

Propaganda (1928)

It is sometimes possible to change the attitudes of millions but impossible to change the attitude of one man.

L. Tye The Father of Spin (1998)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Edward Bernays (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.