Today we know that World War II began not in 1939 or 1941 but in the 1920's and 1930's when those who should have known better persuaded themselves that they were not their brother's keeper.

If I can get you to laugh with me you like me better which makes you more open to my ideas. And if I can persuade you to laugh at the particular point I make by laughing at it you acknowledge its truth.

Travel which was once either a necessity or an adventure has become very largely a commodity and from all sides we are persuaded into thinking that it is a social requirement too.

It is impossible to persuade a man who does not disagree but smiles.

We are not directly involved in Syria. But we will be working with our partners in the European Union and at the United Nations to see if we can persuade the Syrian authorities to go as I say more in that direction of respect for democracy and human rights.

First President Reagan was not enthusiastic. But I built up a relationship with him in other areas and then persuaded him that this was important to us and to me and that we had to at least be in the process of looking at this seriously.

He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.

I came into politics because I wished to change things. You can't do that by lying to people you have to educate and persuade and carry them with you - and it's often a long haul.

If terror groups are to be defeated it is national governments that will have to do so. In nations like India governments will have to call on the patriotism of citizens to fight the terrorists. In a nation like Pakistan the government will have to be persuaded to deal with those in their midst who are complicit.

There's a very big gulf between the black civil rights leadership in America and the black middle class in America. The black middle class are conservative. Many of those minorities can be persuaded to be members of the Republican Party.

In our system leadership is by consent not command. To lead a President must persuade. Personal contacts and experiences help shape his thinking. They can be critical to his persuasiveness and thus to his leadership.

The standard rumor at the time was that Rumsfeld as chief of staff had persuaded President Ford to appoint George H.W. Bush as director of Central Intelligence assuming that that got rid of a potential competitor for the presidency.

I never did very well in math - I could never seem to persuade the teacher that I hadn't meant my answers literally.

We must seek to persuade member states and institutions that better regulation in Europe does not mean cutting health and safety in the workplace nor does it mean dismantling social standards.

Government is force pure and simple. There's no way to sugar-coat that. And because government is force it will attract the worst elements of society - people who want to use government to avoid having to earn their living and to avoid having to persuade others to accept their ideas voluntarily.

We are persuaded that good Christians will always be good citizens and that where righteousness prevails among individuals the Nation will be great and happy. Thus while just government protects all in their religious rights true religion affords to government it's surest support.

It takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own good.

I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created parasitic wasps with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars.

My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.

No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other's worth.

If freedom's best friends cannot unify around a realistic actionable program of fundamental change one that attracts and persuades a broad majority of our fellow citizens big change will not come.

I am persuaded that if any attempt is made to improve the education of the poor and such an unmanly spirit should guide the resolution of a society or committee for that purpose it would render the design abortive.

If you think aficionados of a living Constitution want to bring you flexibility think again. You think the death penalty is a good idea? Persuade your fellow citizens to adopt it. You want a right to abortion? Persuade your fellow citizens and enact it. That's flexibility.

They can rule the world while they can persuade us our pain belongs in some order is death by famine worse than death by suicide than a life of famine and suicide...?