Norman Cousins Quotes

COMPULSION, n. The eloquence of power.

The great leaders have always stage-managed their effects.

Persuasion is often more effectual than force.

Flattery and insults raise the same question: What do you want?

You can't do anything if a person says no. In such a case, there's nothing you can do - unlike the popular cliche that pressure is exerted, or that maybe an unwilling source is done away with.

Unless you’re prepared to use force, it’s very difficult to deal with a person who understands only force.

The difference between rape and seduction is salesmanship.

… the thug is aware that loudness convinces 60 persons where reasoning convinces but one..

You can only beat a guy down so far before he has a tendency to start listening to what you're saying.

A little tip for you, Winged Wonder. Don't threaten the woman you want to seduce." See Annabelle take control. He reached out, gently brushed his fingertip along her collarbone. "If it means saving your life, I'll do more than threaten you. I'll follow through. Best you realize that now, rather than cry foul later.

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

Adrian!You Used compulsion on that guy. That.... I mean, it's....." "Awesome?Yeah,I Know

Men resort to talking only when they haven't the power to enforce their convictions upon others.

Get what you can with words, because words are free, but the words of an armed man ring that much sweeter.

Force rules the world-not opinion; but it is opinion that makes use of force.

Talkers have always ruled. They will continue to rule. The smart thing is to join them.

Jane! will you hear reason?' (he stooped and approached his lips to my ear) 'because, if you won't, I'll try violence.

I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.

I've never had a good line. Well, maybe 'I must break you'.

Why do you do up your hair in those tortured plaits, now, Melanie? Why? Because, she said. You know that's no answer. You're spoiling your pretty looks, pet. Come here. She did not move. He ground out his cigarette on the window-ledge and laughed. Come here, he said again, softly. So she went.

There should be a name for this, for the process whereby one knows one is being yanked and concedes it has been done successfully - that one is grateful to have been spun. In the theater, it is called the willing suspension of disbelief. That's what allows the play to make an impact on the audience: they have to be able to make believe that what's happening on the stage is really happening. Maybe to a degree it is a requirement for all political participation, all effective political communication, too.

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

Once you teach people to say what they do not understand, it is easy enough to get them to say anything you like.

Sex, drugs, money, power etc. Just because you get to choose your master doesn't mean you aren't a slave.

I'm just full of surprises." Watching her, he waved the wrapped bar from side to side. "You can have the candy if you sit on my lap." That sounds like something perverted old men say to young, stupid girls." I'm not old, and you're not stupid." He sat, patted his knee. "It's Belgian chocolate." Just because I'm sitting on your lap and eating your candy doesn't mean you can cop a feel," she said as she folded into his lap.