“Nothing in the world...is so powerful as an idea that tells people exactly what they want to hear.”

“Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

“Plainly stated, these false teachers enjoy so much success because they tell people what they want to hear, whether it's the truth or not. People want their ears "tickled"---they want to hear things that make them feel good. They want everything they hear to be "self-affirming" and "non-threatening" to their self-esteem.”

“No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.”

“To hell with ideas—if people always did what, on careful consideration, was in their most selfish interest, there would be nothing with the world, there would be nothing wrong with the world. Who wants to die and starve? Nobody. If people weren’t driven crazy by ideas and their God, nobody would, for instance, go to war in order to starve and to die a beastly death.”

“If you want to be a good lair, tell people what they want to hear. (From Hot dogs under The Dakota)”