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I heard somewhere that the best kind of propaganda is when people believe something without realizing how they came to believe it.

Have you seen this quote before?

JonathanReez
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Keith McClary
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    I don't remember where I heard this, but I now firmly believe that it is true. – Philipp Jan 08 '16 at 09:10
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    Baudelaire once wrote: "The devil's finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist." This is not exactly the quote you are looking for, but it goes in the same sense. – MasB Jan 09 '16 at 00:05
  • Are you referring to the movie 'Inception'? :-) – JonathanReez Jan 09 '23 at 23:42

1 Answers1

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You're probably referring to a quote by Joseph Goebbels:

“The best propaganda is that which, as it were, works invisibly, penetrates the whole of life without the public having any knowledge of the propagandistic initiative.”

The quote is claimed to be sourced from Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience, London and Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University (2004) p. 13. Quote from March, 1933.

JonathanReez
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  • Another quote that can be considered a corollary to this one: "A political ideology is a very handy thing to have. It's a real time saver because it tells you what you think about things you know nothing about." - Hendrik Hertzberg – sfxedit Jan 10 '23 at 02:09