Walter Lippmann

"But what is propaganda, if not the effort to alter the picture to which men respond, to substitute one social pattern for another?" Walter Lippmann

""...a drifting apart of public opinion and published opinion when the selection rules of the journalists who have been brought into line largely coincide. This creates a consonance of reporting that acts like a confirmation to the audience (everyone says it, so it has to be right) and installs a stereotype-supported pseudo-environment"" Walter Lippmann

"That the manufacture of consent is capable of great refinements no one, I think, denies. The process by which public opinions arise is certainly no less intricate than it has appeared in these pages, and the opportunities for manipulation open to anyone who understands the process are plain enough. . . . as a result of psychological research, coupled with the modern means of communication, the practice of democracy has turned a corner. A revolution is taking place, infinitely more significant than any shifting of economic power. . . . Under the impact of propaganda, not necessarily in the sinister meaning of the word alone, the old constants of our thinking have become variables. It is no longer possible, for example, to believe in the original dogma of democracy; that the knowledge needed for the management of human affairs comes up spontaneously from the human heart. Where we act on that theory we expose ourselves to self-deception, and to forms of persuasion that we cannot verify. It has been demonstrated that we cannot rely upon intuition, conscience, or the accidents of casual opinion if we are to deal with the world beyond our reach." Walter Lippmann

"There are at least two distinct selves, the public and regal self, the private and human." Walter Lippmann

"The common interests very largely elude public opinion entirely, and can be managed only by a specialised class." Walter Lippmann

"The function of news is to signalize an event, the function of truth is to bring to light the hidden facts, to set them in relation with each other, and make a picture of reality on which men can act." Walter Lippmann

"We are told about the world before we see it. We imagine most things before we experience them. And those preconceptions, unless education has made us acutely aware, govern deeply the whole process of perception." Walter Lippmann

"The thinker dies, but his thoughts are beyond the reach of destruction. Men are mortal; but ideas are immortal." Walter Lippmann

"You cannot endow even the best machine with initiative; the jolliest steamroller will not plant flowers." Walter Lippmann

"Creative ideas come to the intuitive person who can face up to the insecurity of looking beyond the obvious." Walter Lippmann

"The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on." Walter Lippmann

"There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil." Walter Lippmann