Category: Thought

When I used to speak of the lunatic fringe, I didn’t know I was going to be head of it.

Oscar Levant, The Memoirs of an Amnesiac (1965).

A human being must have occupation, if he or she is not to become a nuisance to the world.

Dorothy L. Sayers, Are Women Human? (1938).

Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you will find the real tinsel underneath.

Oscar Levant, as quoted in Theodor Reik‘s Jewish Wit (1962), p. 104.

The work of art is to dominate the spectator: the spectator is not to dominate the work of art.

Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism (1891).

If with the literate I am
Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it.

Dorothy Parker, in Life, (June 2, 1927) p. 13.

One reason, perhaps, why the politician today is slow to take up methods which are a commonplace in business life is that he has such ready entry to the media of communication on which his power depends. 
The newspaperman looks to him for news. And by his power of giving or withholding information the politician can often effectively censor political news. But being dependent, every day of the year and for year after year, upon certain politicians for news, the newspaper reporters are obliged to work in harmony with their news sources.

Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928).

All models are wrong; some models are useful.

Variants of this statement can be found throughout the writings of George Edward Pelham Box (1919–2013), including writings with co-authors.

In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it “Christmas” and went to church; the Jews called it “Hanukkah” and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say “Merry Christmas!” or “Happy Hanukkah!” or (to the atheists) “Look out for the wall!”

Dave Barry, in “Christmas Shopping: A Survivor’s Guide.”

The aim of untold millions is to be free to do exactly as they choose and for someone else to pay when things go wrong.

Anthony Daniels writing as Theodore Dalrymple, Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass (2001).

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, Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923).