Money is in some respects life's fire: it is a very excellent servant, but a terrible master.
P. T. BarnumRead
The bigger the humbug, the better people will like it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People often prefer extravagant or exaggerated claims, regardless of their truthfulness.
This quote by P. T. Barnum highlights the tendency of society to be drawn to sensationalism and grandiosity. It suggests that the more outrageous or fantastic a claim is, the more likely people are to embrace it, reflecting a deeper commentary on human psychology and the allure of the dramatic and extraordinary in entertainment and information.
Themes
HumbugExaggerationSocietyEntertainmentTruth
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about modern advertising techniques that focus on exaggerated claims.
More from P. T. Barnum
All quotes βThe common man, no matter how sharp and tough, actually enjoys having the wool pulled over his eyes, and makes it easier for the puller.
P. T. BarnumRead
No man has a right to expect to succeed in life unless he understands his business, and nobody can understand his business thoroughly unless he learns it by personal application and experience.
P. T. BarnumRead
True economy consists in always making the income exceed the out-go. Wear the old clothes a little longer if necessary; dispense with the new pair of gloves; mend the old dress: live on plainer food if need be; so that, under all circumstances, unless some unforeseen accident occurs, there will be a margin in favor of the income.
P. T. BarnumRead
No man ever went broke overestimating the ignorance of the American public.
P. T. BarnumRead
I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right.
P. T. BarnumRead
Similar quotes
A sense of humor is the ability to understand a joke-and that the joke is oneself.
Clifton FadimanRead
I'm standing behind a wall of jokes. You don't know about my personal life, my girlfriends, or what I do when I'm not on the road. There's this guy, this comedian, and this is how he thinks, but people really don't know anything about me.
Steven WrightRead
The humor is that finally when you have the power to move the mountain, you are the person who placed it there-so there the mountain stays.
Ram DassRead
When an audience is laughing with a character, they make themselves so vulnerable, and they open up. They expose their heart the moment they're laughing, because they're relaxed and they're disarmed.
Phoebe Waller-BridgeRead
To me Psycho was a big comedy. Had to be.
Alfred HitchcockRead
GNU, n. An animal of South Africa, which in its domesticated state resembles a horse, a buffalo and a stag. In its wild condition it is something like a thunderbolt, an earthquake and a cyclone.
Ambrose BierceRead