The obligation to receive reduces our ability to choose whom we wish to be indebted to and puts that power in the hands of others.

We will use the actions of others to decide on proper behavior for ourselves, especially when we view those others as similar to ourselves

There is a group of people who know very well where the weapons of automatic influence lie and employ them regularly and expertly to get what they want. They go from social encounter to social encounter requesting others to comply with their wishes their frequency of success is dazzling.

The factor that frequently determines whether people are going to make a particular choice is not the factor that counsels wisely or the one that leads to the greatest economic benefit. It's the one that's top of the consciousness in the moment.

There's a difference between a mystery and a question. Questions demand answers, but a mystery demands something more valuable-explanation.

Our best evidence of what people truly feel and believe comes less from their words than from their deeds.

By concentrating our attention on the effect rather than the causes, we can avoid the laborious, nearly impossible task of trying to detect and deflect the many psychological influences on liking.

The truly gifted negotiator, then, is one whose initial position is exaggerated enough to allow for a series of concessions that will yield a desirable final offer from the opponent, yet is not so outlandish as to be seen as illegitimate from the start.

Pre-suasion is the practice of getting people sympathetic to your message before they experience it. It's the ability to cause people to have something at the top of their consciousness that makes them receptive to your message that's yet to come.

Presuasion is what you say immediately before you deliver your message that leverages your success tremendously.

If we are paying attention to something, it's important. That's how we decide to pay attention. But a communicator can reroute our attention to something that isn't important, but make it seem important as a consequence.

The joy is not in experiencing a scarce commodity but in possessing it.