Source: The Sirens of Titan (1959), Chapter 5 “Letter From an Unknown Hero” (p. 127)
“The secret of the demagogue is to appear as dumb as his audience so that these people can believe themselves as smart as he.”
Variant translation: The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so that they believe they are as clever as he.
Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "The secret of the demagogue is to appear as dumb as his audience so that these people can believe themselves as smart a…" by Karl Kraus?
Karl Kraus 94
Czech playwright and publicist 1874–1936Related quotes
Roger Ebert
(1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter
Review http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dice-rules-1991 of Dice Rules (17 May 1991)
Reviews, Zero star reviews
Context: Crowds can be frightening. They have a way of impressing the low, base taste upon their members. Watching the way thousands of people in his audience could not think for themselves, could not find the courage to allow their ordinary feelings of decency and taste to prevail, I understood better how demagogues are possible.
“Only dumb people try to impress smart people. Smart people just do what they do.”
Chris Rock
(1965) American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer, and director
“The thing about smart people is that they seem like crazy people to dumb people.”
Stephen Hawking
(1942–2018) British theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author
Norman Vincent Peale
(1898–1993) American writer
Positive Thinking Every Day : An Inspiration for Each Day of the Year (1993), "April 13"
Earlier variant: People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. And those who have learned to have a realistic, nonegotistical belief in themselves, who possess a deep and sound self-confidence, are assets to mankind, too, for they transmit their dynamic quality to those lacking it.
You Can If You Think You Can (1987), p. 84
David Foster Wallace
(1962–2008) American fiction writer and essayist
E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction
Essays
Norman Mailer
(1923–2007) American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, film maker, actor and political candidate
Superman Comes to the Supermarket (1960)
Context: A hero can capture the secret imagination of a people, and so be good for the vitality of his nation; a hero embodies the fantasy and so allows each private mind the liberty to consider its fantasy and find a way to grow. Each mind can become more conscious of its desire and waste less strength in hiding from itself.
Martin de Maat
(1949–2001) American theatre director
A Conversation with Martin de Maat (1998)
Context: The base of the work is one of individuals believing in themselves, trusting themselves in the moment and being accepting of themselves and the people around them. In order to improvise in front of an audience, you have to be accepting, involved in the moment and courageous. Those issues, when transferred over to general communication, makes the communication richer and helps in all areas of life.
