P.T. Barnum — "The public loves a good fraud, if it's a good fraud."
The public loves a good fraud, if it's a good fraud.
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More from P.T. Barnum
"I have always tried to give the public their money's worth, and something more."
"I have been called a charlatan, a humbug, a cheat. But I have always given the public their money's worth."
"Politeness and good humor are as much in demand as good merchandise."
"The show must go on, even if the elephants are sneezing."
"The public is always ready to pay for a good show."
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, highlighting his understanding of public's perverse enjoyment of being 'humbugged'
Date: c. 1860s-1880s
GeneralVerification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: grok
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