P.T. Barnum — "The public is not capable of distinguishing between a genuine article and a spur…"
The public is not capable of distinguishing between a genuine article and a spurious one.
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More from P.T. Barnum
"There's a sucker born every minute, but remember—I'm not one of them."
"The common man, no matter how sharp and tough, actually enjoys having the wool pulled over his eyes, and makes it easier for the puller."
"I believe in advertising. I believe in plenty of it."
"Politeness and good humor are as much in demand as good merchandise."
"I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."
About P.T. Barnum (1810-1891)
American showman and Barnum & Bailey Circus co-founder, whose autobiography popularized Gilded Age commercial spectacle. Closely associated with James Anthony Bailey (his circus business partner). For an intellectual contrast, see Mark Twain, American author and Gilded Age satirist — Twain's The Gilded Age (1873, with Charles Dudley Warner) named the entire era of corrupt commercial spectacle Barnum embodied — Twain's later writing repeatedly attacked Barnum-style hucksterism as the era's moral disease.
Details
Reported statement, a more direct expression of his views on public gullibility
Date: c. 1860s-1880s
GeneralVerification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: grok
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