62 Quotes by Edward L. Bernays

Our invisible governors are, in many cases, unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet.

I believe that competition in the future will not be only an advertising competition between individual products or between big associations, but that it will in addition be a competition of propaganda.

The systematic study of mass psychology revealed to students the potentialities of invisible government of society by manipulation of the motives which actuate man in the group.

The engineering of consent is the very essence of the democratic process, the freedom to persuade and suggest.

The three main elements of public relations are practically as old as society: informing people, persuading people, or integrating people with people. Of course, the means and methods of accomplishing these ends have changed as society has changed.

The great enemy of any attempt to change men’s habits is inertia. Civilization is limited by intertia.

It is sometimes possible to change the attitudes of millions but impossible to change the attitude of one man.

The public is not cognizant of the real value of education, and does not realize that education as a social force is not receiving the kind of attention it has the right to expect in a democracy.

Now “public opinion” stood out as a force that must be managed, and not through clever guesswork but by experts trained to do that all-important job.