{ "type": "quote", "site": { "name": "Leafy Quotes", "language": "en", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com" }, "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul/propaganda/people-used-to-think", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul/propaganda/people-used-to-think.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul/propaganda/people-used-to-think.md", "id": "39c2165a-421a-4512-9225-1413e712512f", "slug": "people-used-to-think", "text": "People used to think that learning to read evidenced human progress; they still celebrate the decline of illiteracy as a great victory; they condemn countries with a large proportion of illiterates; they think that reading is a road to freedom. All this is debatable, for the important thing is not to be able to read, but to understand what one reads, to reflect on and judge what one reads. Outside of that, reading has no meaning (and even destroys certain automatic qualities of memory and observation). But to talk about critical faculties and discernment is to talk about something far above primary education and to consider a very small minority. The vast majority of people, perhaps ninety percent, know how to read, but do not exercise their intelligence beyond this. They attribute authority and eminent value to the printed word, or, conversely, reject it altogether. As these people do not possess enough knowledge to reflect and discern, they believe — or disbelieve — in toto what they read. And as such people, moreover, will select the easiest, not the hardest, reading matter, they are precisely on the level at which the printed word can seize and convince them without opposition. They are perfectly adapted to propaganda.", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Jacques Ellul", "slug": "jacques-ellul", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul" }, "book": { "title": "Propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul/propaganda" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "reading", "slug": "reading", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/reading" }, { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul#Propaganda:_The_Formation_of_Men's_Attitudes_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:02", "more_from_book": [ { "id": "ed4aae74-6864-4d14-ad0d-6db9245eb431", "slug": "the-most-favorable", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul/propaganda/the-most-favorable", "text": "The most favorable moment to seize a man and influence him is when he is alone in the mass. It is at this point that propaganda can be most effective.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 9, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "loneliness", "slug": "loneliness", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/loneliness" }, { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" }, { "name": "crowd", "slug": "crowd", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/crowd" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul#Propaganda:_The_Formation_of_Men's_Attitudes_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:02" }, { "id": "b60295ff-d45a-46fb-bd16-d0330febacb8", "slug": "in-the-midst", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul/propaganda/in-the-midst", "text": "In the midst of increasing mechanization and technological organization, propaganda is simply the means used to prevent these things from being felt as too oppressive and to persuade man to submit with good grace. When man will be fully adapted to this technological society, when he will end by obeying with enthusiasm, convinced of the excellence of what he is forced to do, the constraint of the organization will no longer be felt by him; the truth is, it will no longer be a constraint, and the police will have nothing to do. The civic and technological good will and the enthusiasm for the right social myths — both created by propaganda — will finally have solved the problem of man.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" }, { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul#Propaganda:_The_Formation_of_Men's_Attitudes_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:02" }, { "id": "7a2110df-34b0-4015-96ba-c21041123f98", "slug": "propaganda-does-not", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/jacques-ellul/propaganda/propaganda-does-not", "text": "Propaganda does not aim to elevate man, but to make him serve.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": 38, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "propaganda", "slug": "propaganda", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/propaganda" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul#Propaganda:_The_Formation_of_Men's_Attitudes_(1962)", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:57:02" } ] }