Joss Whedon Quotes

Men are swayed more by fear than by reverence.

It's easier to control people when they're afraid.

There are two levers for moving men - interest and fear.

The people can be forced to fear, but not to love.

Fear will bind you closer than love, or hate, and it works a hell of a lot quicker.

What I'd really like to control is not machines, but people.

Pleasure can be used to enslave a people just as effectively as pain.

Honestly, it’s so easy to get what you want from people if they think you’re a psycho.

People who want to manipulate you will fear your joy, because it's not easily controlled.

The people who have the power want you scared. They want you walking around paralyzed by the notion that you could die at any moment.

I think there are two ways in which people are controlled - first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them.

I'm curious about what makes people do things that they do, unless it's absolutely terrifying to me.

... motivating people, forcing them to your will, gives you a cynical attitude toward humanity. It degrades everything it touches.

I'm told I'm very charming when people do what I want.

Anger makes people feel uncomfortable, because the minute somebody shows it, it puts you in a position where you can't laugh or make light of something... not to trivialise it I don't mean. But your reaction to anger is supposed to be fear or returned anger. So, you're really trying to control a situation when you show anger and it's a very weak position to take. It often works on people who aren't in a position to fight back.

People tolerate those they fear further than those they love.

Fear is the greatest salesman.

Unconsciously, perhaps, we treasure the power we have over people by their regard for our opinion of them, and we hate those upon whom we have no such influence.

I guess that is the strange part of the human brain that people have studied for eons - is hatred and self-hatred. You can convince people that the problem is not coming from the top but is, rather, being created by the people who are being oppressed.

It's easier to scare someone than to persuade him.

They try to make you think they care about what you do but they don't. They don't want you to act a certain way. So you're easy to understand. So you won't pose a threat to them.

People react to fear, not love; they don't teach that in Sunday School, but it's true.

And the things that we fear are a weapon to be held against us.

You can compel fear. You can even make someone feel they're in love if they're isolated and dependent for long enough. But laughter is free.

The reason that war is such a fascinating subject for writers is because it's a revealer. Put a bunch of people in an adrenaline-fuelled, life-or-death situation and their fundamental behaviours are exposed, the scrim is taken away and the motivations behind each personality come out to play.