
The Art of Persuasion
The Art of Persuasion
Context: A few rules include all that is necessary for the perfection of the definitions, the axioms, and the demonstrations, and consequently of the entire method of the geometrical proofs of the art of persuading.
The Art of Persuasion
“Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words.”
Golden Sayings of Epictetus
Context: Let silence be your general rule; or say only what is necessary and in few words. We shall, however, when occasion demands, enter into discourse sparingly, avoiding such common topics as gladiators, horse-races, athletes; and the perpetual talk about food and drink. Above all avoid speaking of persons, either in the way of praise or blame, or comparison. If you can, win over the conversation of your company to what it should be by your own. But if you should find yourself cut off without escape among strangers and aliens, be silent. (164).
“The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.”
Christian Science (1907)
Context: When I, a thoughtful and unblessed Presbyterian, examine the Koran, I know that beyond any question every Mohammedan is insane; not in all things, but in religious matters. When a thoughtful and unblessed Mohammedan examines the Westminster Catechism, he knows that beyond any question I am spiritually insane. I cannot prove to him that he is insane, because you never can prove anything to a lunatic — for that is a part of his insanity and the evidence of it. He cannot prove to me that I am insane, for my mind has the same defect that afflicts his. All Democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the Republicans and Mugwumps know it. All the Republicans are insane, but only the Democrats and Mugwumps can perceive it. The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 536.
Source: 1930s- 1950s, The Future of Industrial Man (1942), p. 122
Alas! What Boots the Long Laborious Quest?, l. 11 (1809).
“Exchange, fair or unfair, always presupposes and includes the rule of the bourgeoisie.”
"The Hermeneutics of Suspicion: Recovering Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud"