Edward Bernays | Father of modern propaganda

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

"The American motion picture is the greatest unconscious carrier of propaganda in the world today. It is a great distributor for ideas and opinions. The motion picture can standardize the ideas and habits of a nation. Because pictures are made to meet market demands, they reflect, emphasize and even exaggerate broad popular tendencies, rather than stimulate new ideas and opinions. The motion picture avails itself only of ideas and facts which are in vogue. As the newspaper seeks to purvey news, it seeks to purvey entertainment." Edward Bernays

"Propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government." Edward Bernays

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. …In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind." Edward Bernays

"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." Edward Bernays

"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." Edward Bernays

"The public relations counsel must deal with the fact that persons who have little knowledge of a subject almost invariably form definite and positive judgments upon that subject." Edward Bernays

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

"Any person or organization depends ultimately on public approval, and is therefore faced with the problem of engineering the public’s consent to a program or goal." Edward Bernays

"The best defense against propaganda: more propaganda." Edward Bernays

"The only difference between ‘propaganda’ and ‘education,’ really, is in the point of view. The advocacy of what we believe in is education. The advocacy of what we don’t believe in is propaganda." Edward Bernays

"When I came back to the United States, I decided that if you could use propaganda for war, you could certainly use it for peace. And “propaganda” got to be a bad word because of the Germans using it, so what I did was to try and find some other words so we found the words “public relations”." Edward Bernays

"Small groups of persons can, and do, make the rest of us think what they please about a given subject. But there are usually proponents and opponents of every propaganda, both of whom are equally eager to convince the majority." Edward Bernays

"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." Edward Bernays