"
. . .
[T]he
power of the crowd is the only force that nothing menaces,
and of which the prestige is continually on the increase. The age
we are about to enter will in truth be the ERA OF CROWDS."1b
"
. . . [T]he
disappearance of the conscious personality, the
predominance of the unconscious personality, the turning of
feelings and ideas in an identical direction by means of
suggestion and contagion, the tendency to
immediately transfer the suggested ideas into acts; these,
we see, are the principle characteristics of the individual
forming part of the crowd. He is no longer himself, but
has become an automaton who has ceased to be guided by his will."1c
"
. . . [T]he mere fact that an
individual forms part of a crowd, his intellectual standard
is immediately and considerably lowered."1d
"Many
eminent philosophers . . . have had no difficulty in showing that
instruction neither renders a man more moral nor happier,
that it changes neither his instincts nor his hereditary passions
. . ."1e
"The
conditions of success in life are the possession of
judgment, experience, initiative, and character -- qualities
which are not bestowed by books."1f
"Armed
with a small stock of formulas and commonplaces learnt
while we are young, we possess all that is needed to traverse
life without the tiring necessity of having to reflect on anything
whatever."1g
"Great
power is given to ideas propagated by affirmation,
repetition, and contagion by the circumstance that
they acquire in time that mysterious force known as prestige."