Quotes about Persuasion

a person who thinks should not try to persuade others to his belief; that is what puts him on the road to a system; on the lamentable road of the man of conviction; politicians like to call themselves that; but what is a conviction? It is a thought that has come to a stop, that has congealed, and the man of conviction is a man restricted.

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.

Rhetoric uses syllogisms and other suasions to bring about a change of heart and of mind.

Baloney is the lie laid on so thick you hate it. Blarney is flattery laid on so thin you love it.

We must not get caught up in an emotional reaction against such phrases as 'believing on authority' ... Everything depends on the character of the authority and the character of believing.

The Internet has given atheists, agnostics, skeptics, the people who like to destroy everything that you and I believe, the almost equal access to your kids as your youth pastor and you have... whether you like it or not.

When you are giving people the gospel, you are giving them something to believe, and you have to set the stage for that. You don't just drive up and dump the truck and drive off.

Let eloquence be flung to the dogs rather than souls be lost. What we want is to win souls. They are not won by flowery speeches.

What kind of influence do you want to have? What kind of effect do you want to have on other people? Never mistake the power of influence.

People don't believe what you tell them. They rarely believe what you show them. They often believe what their friends tell them. They always believe what they tell themselves.

he knew that the words they were eager to absorb and believe were the chains slipping in to hold them

A rejection of absolutism, in all its forms, may sometimes slip into moral relativism or even nihilism, an erosion of values that hold society together, but for most of our history it has encouraged the very process of information gathering, analysis, argument, and persuasion which allows us to make better, if not perfect, choices — not only about the means to our ends, but also the ends themselves.