Joseph Goebbels Quotes

Many people here are completely unsuitable for shaping public opinion. I am going to weed them out.

Every Government official dreams of going directly to the people with arguments framed by that official.

Give me the writing of a nation's advertising and propaganda, and I care not who governs its politics.

The majority must be persuaded by ideology that their government is good, wise and, at least, inevitable, and certainly better than other conceivable alternatives. Promoting this ideology among the people is the vital social task of the 'intellectuals.'

Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.

Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.

They have been talking about a dictatorship and they were right because there's a dictatorship and there's a government that has been fighting that dictatorship, the dictatorship of the media.

We decline the claim to power by parties which want to own their followers body and soul, and which want to put themselves over and above the whole nation.

Hitler has become Chancellor… It’s like a fairy tale come true.

The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of it's powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the State.

With the instrument of radio you can make public opinion. Perhaps even conquer a country.

The essential thing is the formation of the public will of the nation. That is the starting point for political action.

I trust the American People more than American Institutions.

Dishonesty in government is the business of every citizen. It is not enough to do your own job. There's no particular virtue in that. Democracy isn't a gift. It's a responsibility.

I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.

The responsibility for good government lies not just with governments themselves but also with every other part of the system they operate in, including media, non-governmental organisations and the public.

There is a power in public opinion in this country - and I thank God for it: for it is the most honest and best of all powers - which will not tolerate an incompetent or unworthy man to hold in his weak or wicked hands the lives and fortunes of his fellow-citizens.

What good fortune for governments that the people do not think.

Let's say there are 500 sons and daughters like you in each state. Then we could control the government.

I will run an open government that speaks with honesty, seeks opinion, listens to its citizens.

The central issue of our time - of all times - is the size, power and scope of government.

It may be true that you can't fool all the people all the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.

Government, in the last analysis, is organized opinion. Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government.

Despite its enormous power and wealth, China's ruling elite remains absolutely petrified that the free flow of information will undermine its political legitimacy, particularly among China's younger generation.

As a businessperson, I don't have the power to change the government. That is in the hands of the political leaders. However, as a taxpayer, we have the right to be critical of the government and demand change.