“Propaganda is making puppets out of us. We are moved by hidden strings which the propagandist manipulates.”
Source: Are We Victims of Propaganda, Our Invisible Masters: A Debate with Edward Bernays (1929), p. 142
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Everett Dean Martin 58
1880–1941Related quotes
As quoted in The Social Dimensions Of Law And Justice In Contemporary India (1979) by V. R. Krishna Iyer
Context: It may be that we are puppets — puppets controlled by the strings of society. But at least we are puppets with perception, with awareness. And perhaps our awareness is the first step to our liberation. The fact that obedience is often a necessity in human society does not diminish our responsibility as citizens. Rather, it confers on us a special obligation to place in positions of authority those most likely to use it humanely. And people are inventive. The variety of political forms we have seen in history are only several of many possible political arrangements. Perhaps the next step is to invent and to explore political forms that will give conscience a better chance to resist errant authority.
“Money is the string with which a sardonic destiny directs the motions of its puppets.”
Quoted in Somerset Maugham (1980) by Ted Morgan
“We are only puppets, our strings are being pulled by unknown forces.”
Act II.
Dantons Tod (Danton's Death) (1835)
“We’re all puppets, Laurie. I’m just a puppet who can see the strings.”
Source: Doctor Manhattan, in Watchmen #9 (referring to Doctor Manhattans's theory of time)
Source: Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft
Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience, London and Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University (2004) p. 13. Quote from March, 1933.
1930s
Source: A Man of Law's Tale (1952), On Politics and Propaganda, p. 166
Vintage, p. 9
Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes (1965)