Persuasion Quotes - Page 9

• I used all diligence to arrive at London and therefore I now gave my crew a certificate under my hand, of my free and willing return, without persuasion or force by any one or more of them.

  Henry Hudson

  Hands, London, Return

  "Henry Hudson: Dreams and Obsession; [the Tragic Legacy of the New World's Least Understood Explorer]". Book by Corey Sandler, Citadel Press, p. 119, 2008.

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• All men are, at times, influenced by inexplicable sentiments. Ideas haunt them in spite of all their efforts to discard them. Prepossessions are entertained, for which their reason is unable to discover any adequate cause. The strength of a belief, when it is destitute of any rational foundation, seems, of itself, to furnish a new ground for credulity. We first admit a powerful persuasion, and then, from reflecting on the insufficiency of the ground on which it is built, instead of being prompted to dismiss it, we become more forcibly attached to it.

  Charles Brockden Brown

  Powerful, Men, Ideas

  Charles Brockden Brown (1987). “Somnambulism and other stories”, Peter Lang Publishing

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• In war, mere appearances have had all the effect of realities; and that a person, under a firm persuasion that he can command resources, virtually has them; that very prospect inspiring him with hope and boldness in his exertions.

  Livy

  Leadership, Resources, Command

  "The History of Rome".

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• Behold, I am become a reproach to thy holy name, by serving any ambition and the sins of others; which though I did by the persuasion of other men, yet my own conscience did cheek and upbraid me in it.

  William Laud

  Ambition, Men, Names

  "Old England's Worthies". Book by C. Cox, p. 120, 1847.

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• Christ is a persuasion, a form evoking desire, and the whole force of the gospel depends upon the assumption that this persuasion is also peace: that the desire awakened by the shape of Christ and his church is one truly reborn as agape, rather than merely the way in which a lesser force succumbs to a greater, as an episode in the endless epic of power. (3)

  David Bentley Hart

  Epic, Church, Desire

  David Bentley Hart (2004). “The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth”, p.17, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

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• That which we do not believe, we cannot adequately say; even though we may repeat the words ever so often.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Believe, May, Belief

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1851). “Essays, lectures and orations”, p.73

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• If the Humanists wish to be champions of reason, they should consider the following: just as they would not admit mystics into their camp, since no rational discussion is possible with men who substitute supernatural revelations for rational evidence-so they cannot admit advocates of force into their camp, because no rational discussion or agreement is possible with men who substitute guns for rational persuasion.

  Ayn Rand

  Gun, Men, Champion

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• the wrongs of society can be more deeply impressed on a large class of readers in the form of fiction than by essays, sermons, or the facts of science.

  Elizabeth Cady Stanton

  Art, Class, Fiction

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• Though I knew so far as Anarchism was concerned I was backing a lost cause, it didn't seem to matter as every other cause had won at some time but that of the people themselves. At least it threw so a light on any other political persuasion.

  Albert Meltzer

  Light, People, Political

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• As in 1925, creationists are not battling for religion. They have been disowned by leading church men of all persuasions, for they debase religion even more than they misconstrue science. They are a motley collection to be sure, but their core of practical support lies with the evangelical right, and creationism is a mere stalking horse or subsidiary issue in a political program...The enemy is not fundamentalism; it is intolerance. In this case, the intolerance is perverse since it masquerades under the 'liberal' rhetoric of 'equal time'.

  Stephen Jay Gould

  Horse, Lying, Men

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• When someone is not there all the time it gives us space to think about them. Your job in influence and persuasion is to get the other person to think about you or your product without you forcing yourself upon them or without you making them think about you.

  Robert Greene

  Jobs, Thinking, Space

  Source: www.josephbushnell.com

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• A single word indicative of doubt, that any thing, or every thing, in that country is not the very best in the world, produces an effect which must be seen and felt to be understood. If the citizens of the United States were indeed the devoted patriots they call themselves, they would surely not thus encrust themselves in the hard, dry, stubborn persuasion, that they are the first and best of the human race, that nothing is to be learnt, but what they are able to teach, and that nothing is worth having, which they do not possess.

  Frances Trollope

  Country, Race, Arrogance

  Frances Milton Trollope (1832). “Domestic Manners of the Americans: Complete in One Volume”, p.325

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• The art of persuasion. The actor persuades himself, first, and through himself, the audience.

  Laurence Olivier

  Art, Actors, Firsts

  Hal Burton, Laurence Olivier (1967). “Great acting: Laurence Olivier, Sybil Thorndike, Ralph Richardson, Peggy Ashcroft, Michael Redgrave, Edith Evans, John Gielgud, Noël Coward”, British Broadcasting Corporation

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• I have faced uncounted, incalculable number of efforts to convert me. There's no college professor who could do it. In my case, I'm just telling you, it would not have ever, in my life, been possible to convert me to liberalism. So I sometimes live in a little wonderment about how these persuasions to make people liberal and leftist work so easily. And it has to be something at home. Parents have to be leaning that way.

  Rush Limbaugh

  Home, College, People

  Source: www.rushlimbaugh.com

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• If what the philosophers say be true, that all men's actions proceed from one source; that as they assent from a persuasion that a thing is so, and dissent from a persuasion that it is not, and suspend their judgment from a persuasion that it is uncertain, so likewise they seek a thing from a persuasion that it is for their advantage.

  Epictetus

  Men, Action, Philosopher

  Epictetus (1866). “The Works of Epictetus: Consisting of His Discourses, in Four Books, the Enchiridion, and Fragments”, p.54

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• The new, old, and constantly changing language of politics is a lexicon of conflict and drama?ridicule and reproach?pleading and persuasion.

  William Safire

  Drama, Lexicon, Language

  1968 Safire's Political Dictionary, introduction.

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• The role played by education in all political utopias from ancient times onward shows how natural it seems to start a new world with those who are by birth and nature new. So far as politics is concerned, this involves of course a serious misconception: instead of joining with one's equals in assuming the effort of persuasion and running the risk of failure, there is dictatorial intervention, based upon the absolute superiority of the adult, and the attempt to produce the new as a fait accompli, that is, as though the new already existed.

  Hannah Arendt

  Running, Political, Effort

  Hannah Arendt (1968). “Between past and future: eight exercises in political thought”, Viking Adult

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• Persuasion, indeed, is a kind of force. It consists in showing a person the consequences of his actions. It is, in a word, force applied through the mind.

  James Fitzjames Stephen

  Mind, Action, Kind

  Sir James Fitzjames Stephen (1874). “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”, p.125

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• Still, I have been no one's enemy but my own. My easy nature, either in drinking or anything else, was always ready to submit to persuasions of profligate companions, who often led me into snares.

  John Clare

  Drinking, Enemy, Easy

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• The simple, daily influences of prayer, persuasion, and promoting of godly values are the most powerful tools a mother can use to unleash the potential of her children.

  David Jeremiah

  Mother, Prayer, Children

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• When we speak our words to God with thanksgiving and release them with the faith that our requests will be granted, we put ourselves in a position to receive. God does not change and nature's laws are absolute and impartial. Thus, prayer has the potential for changing us. It connects us with God's spirit, and it is the key to His kingdom. Whatever your religious persuasion, it's a good thing to start every day with prayer.

  Donna Fargo

  Religious, Prayer, Law

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• Religion that is imposed upon its recipients turns out to engender either indifference or resentment. Most American religious leaders have recognized that persuasion is far more powerful than coercion when it comes to promoting one's religious views. . . . Not surprisingly, then, large numbers of religious leaders have supported the Supreme Court in its prayer decisions.

  William F. Schulz

  Religious, Prayer, Powerful

  William F. Schulz (1992). “Finding time & other delicacies”

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• To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical; . . . even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern. . . .

  Thomas Jefferson

  Teacher, Religious, Men

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.390, Cambridge University Press

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• Be wary of feeling as through there is not enough room at the table. Oftentimes a female Chinese-American might feel as through she is in competition with another Chinese-American woman writer of the same generation. A writer friend of mine calls it the "There Can Only Be One ..." syndrome. This isn't "Survivor." The more good writers, of all walks of life and all ethnicities and persuasions, the better.

  ZZ Packer

  Writing, Ethnicity, Feelings

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• Whatever your religious persuasion, if you believe that the universe is governed by benign forces, at some point you have to explain why there is so much suffering, misfortune and misery in the world.

  Julian Baggini

  Religious, Believe, Suffering

  "The Thought Police Brief Answers to Big Questions: Hoddle Has Gone, but the Question of Evil Remains". www.independent.co.uk. February 07, 1999.

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