Influence

People's ability to understand the factors that affect their behavior is surprisingly poor.

The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost.

There is a natural human tendency to dislike a person who brings us unpleasant information, even when that person did not cause the bad news.

Since 95 percent of the people are imitators and only 5 percent initiators, people are persuaded more by the actions of others than by any proof we can offer.

A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.

The truly gifted negotiator, then, is one whose initial position is exaggerated enough to allow for a series of reciprocal concessions that will yield a desirable final offer.

We all fool ourselves from time to time in order to keep our thoughts and beliefs consistent with what we have already done or decided.