P.T. Barnum Quotes

P.T. Barnum gives sly, grand musings on business, marketing and crowds that feel like a carnival-style pitch.

27 quotes

1. Every crowd has a silver lining.

2. No one went broke underestimating public taste.

3. I don't care what they say about me, just make sure they spell my name right!

4. How are the ticket sales in Madison Square Garden?

5. You can fool some of the people all of the time; you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can never fool all of the people all of the time.

6. We have something for everybody.

7. There is a sucker born every minute.

8. 'To the Egress' (a deceptive sign used to reduce crowding)

9. Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people

10. You know I had rather be laughed at than not to be noticed at all…

11. Without publicity a terrible thing happens: nothing.

12. Politics and government are certainly among the most important of practical human interests.

13. Money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience.

14. A lovely nook of forest scenery, or a grand rock, like a beautiful woman, depends for much of its attractiveness upon the attendance sense of freedom from whatever is low; upon a sense of purity and of romance.

15. Witchcraft is one of the most baseless, absurd, disgusting and silly of all the humbugs.

16. I never liked to work, I mean manual work.

17. Literature is one of the most interesting and significant expressions of humanity.

18. No man ever went broke overestimating the ignorance of the American public.

19. I am a showman by profession... and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me.

20. The foundation of success in life is good health: that is the substratum fortune; it is also the basis of happiness. A person cannot accumulate a fortune very well when he is sick.

21. I think it is conceded that I generally do pretty big things as a manager, am audacious in my outlays and risks, give much for little money, and make my shows worthy the support of the moral and refined classes.

22. Men, women, and children who cannot live on gravity alone need something to satisfy their gayer, lighter moods and hours, and he who ministers to this want is, in my opinion, in a business established by the Creator of our nature. If he worthily fulfills his mission and amuses without corrupting, he need never feel that he has lived in vain.

23. The bigger the humbug, the better people will like it.

24. A penny here, and a dollar there, placed at interest, goes on accumulating, and in this way the desired result is attained. It requires some training, perhaps, to accomplish this economy, but when once used to it, you will find there is more satisfaction in rational saving than in irrational spending.

25. The truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the patronage bestowed upon him.

26. Many people are gullible, and we can expect this to continue.

27. Every man should make his son or daughter learn some useful trade or profession, so that in these days of changing fortunes of being rich today and poor tomorrow they may have something tangible to fall back upon. This provision might save many persons from misery, who by some unexpected turn of fortune have lost all their means.