J. D. Salinger Quotes

It is one thing to persuade, another to command …

You know, you can't make the people do what you want them to do.

The less people know about what is going on, the easier it is to wield power and authority.

Telling a man to go to hell and making him go are two different propositions.

Power over a man's support is a power over his will.

It is one thing to persuade, another to command; one thing to press with arguments, another with penalties.

The most powerful men were those who most effectively used the power of adult competence to enforce childish agreements.

You are controlling because I want you to do it, not because of the situation or what needs to be done.

I think it was when I realised I could talk anybody into doing just about anything I wanted them to.

Our sense of power is more vivid when we break a man's spirit than when we win his heart.

If I get ‘em by the short and curlies, the hearts and minds will follow.

The people may be made to follow a path of action, but they may not be made to understand it.

Once a person insists on how you are to think he immediately begins to insist on how you are to behave.

You must labor until we have dominion over the minds and bodies of every important person in your nation.

If you've got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.

The effect of dominance is not always the result of an intention to dominate.

If you get to thinking you're a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else's dog around.

You can maintain power over people, as long as you give them something. Rob a man of everything, and that man will no longer be in your power.

And ordering me around is exactly the wrong way to make me do what you want.

I can frighten or buy ninety-nine out of every one hundred men.

A portion of the multitude must ever be coerced.

Power without abuse loses its charm.

I have with me two gods, Persuasion and Compulsion.

The most important thing about power is to make sure you don't have to use it.

Power never turns power down, ever, unless institutionally demanded.