Harry Norman Turtledove Quotes

There are certain times when public opinion is the worst of all opinions.

That's the heart of it: My shows were not that controversial with the American people. They were controversial with the people who think for the American people.

Leaders do not sway with the polls. Instead, they sway the polls through their own words and actions.

We live in a society obsessed with public opinion. But leadership has never been about popularity.

Because I live and work in Washington, D.C., I have a ringside seat at the world capital of The Persuasive Arts, or, as I like to call it, The Opinions Racket.

The multitude is always in the wrong.

The power and influence of public opinion has increased, and the driving force of the nosiest elements of public opinion tends in excited times to consist, not of majorities, but of minorities.

Towering over Presidents and State Governors, over Congress and State Legislatures, over conventions and the vast machinery of party, public opinion stands out in the United States, as the great source of Power.

What the multitude says is so, or soon will be.

The influence of every mode of thinking which is shared by numbers ought to be felt in the legislature.

With five votes and you can get anything around here.

Roosevelt knew never to lose control of the majority of American opinion, unlike his greatest democratic contemporaries, Churchill and De Gaulle, who at times suffered spectacular rejections by their electorates.

The opinion of the majority is not lightly to be rejected; but neither is it to be carelessly echoed.

Public opinion is the most potent monarch this world knows.

In Russia, as well as everywhere else, the true and lasting power is that of public opinion, and of those who know how to influence it.

It isn’t leadership if no one follows.

Politics is about the persuasion required to move people to judgment.

In politics if the people give you popularity, the other politicians observe and give you power.

The only people whose views count in the legislation that passes are those with big money. It doesn’t matter what the great majority of Americans want. Our Congress is bought.

Why should we pay so much attention to what the majority thinks?

Everybody's private motto: It's better to be popular than right.

Let us not forget that we can never go farther than we can persuade at least half of the people to go.

Slogans can be worse than swords if they are only put in the right mouths.

The majority is the best way, because it is visible, and has strength to make itself obeyed. Yet it is the opinion of the least able.