Simply said, manipulation is a tactic people use to gain control over others. Manipulators brainwash their victims and change their perception of reality.
The worst part about this is that manipulation is difficult to spot at first.
Sadly, it can happen everywhere around you: in your home, in your government, in the media…
Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you’re looking for manipulation quotes because it’s something you are sadly experiencing or if you just want to know more about the topic.
Either way, you’ve come to the right place. Here is the ultimate list of top manipulation quotes to help you open your eyes on time.
30 Manipulation Quotes
1. “The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.” – Philip K. Dick
2. “Guilt trips are a passive-aggressive form of manipulation and bullying. They are designed to give the manipulator exactly what they want at your expense. Your feelings and needs don’t matter. By refusing to play their games and act or feel guilty, you disarm them and they lose their power over you.” – Unknown
3. “All writing is a form of manipulation, of course, but you realize that a plain sentence can actually do so much.” – Colm Toibin
4. “When it comes to controlling human beings, there is no better instrument than lies. Because you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts.” – Michael Ende
5. “People will often try to make you feel guilty in order to manipulate you into doing something they want. But if you know who you are and trust in yourself, and know that you are doing the right thing, then stand strong for who you are and don’t be drawn into games that other people play.” – Unknown
6. “One of the methods of manipulation is to inoculate individuals with the bourgeois appetite for personal success.” – Paulo Freire
7. “I do respect people’s faith, but I don’t respect their manipulation of that faith in order to create fear and control.” – Javier Bardem
8. “Everybody has the ability to be manipulative, to be hateful and deceitful.” – Neil LaBute
9. “Half of the people lie with their lips; the other half with their tears.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
10. “The measure of a man is what he does with power.” – Greek Proverb
11. “The best way to manipulate a man is to make him think he is manipulating you.” – John Smith
12. “As I have said a thousand times, no manipulation can put stocks down and keep them down.” – Edwin Lefevre
13. “When you know what a man wants you know who he is, and how to move him.” – George R.R. Martin
14. “Men are used as they use others.” – Bidpai
15. “Just because something isn’t a lie does not mean that it isn’t deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.”– Criss Jami
16. “Poetry is a street fighter. It has sharp elbows. It can look after itself. Poetry can’t be used for manipulation; it’s why you never see good poetry in advertising.” – David Whyte
17. “One must change one’s tactics every ten years if one wishes to maintain one’s superiority.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
18. “The art of pleasing is the art of deception.” – Luc De Clapiers
19. “It’s not like I’m anti-China. I just think it’s ridiculous that we allow them to do what they’re doing to this country, with the manipulation of the currency, that you write about and understand, and all of the other things that they do.” – Donald Trump
20. “One should be able to control and manipulate experiences with an informed and intelligent mind.” – Sylvia Plath
21. “Manipulation can give you anything in life you want, if you can afford it.” – M.F. Moonzajer
22. “If you don’t give education to people, it is easy to manipulate them.” – Pele
23. “As we discern a fine line between crank and genius, so also (and unfortunately) we must acknowledge an equally graded trajectory from crank to demagogue. When people learn no tools of judgment and merely follow their hopes, the seeds of political manipulation are sown.” – Stephen Jay Gould
24. “It’s so easy to manipulate an audience, but it’s nearly always clear that you are being manipulated. I think even people that are not critically attuned are aware of cynical manipulation in film.” – John Boorman
25. “You are a manipulator. I like to think of myself more as an outcome engineer.” – J.R. Ward
26. “If you want to know the outcome of a game before the game has even started, you need to control each side.” – David Icke
27. “One man with a gun can control 100 without one.” – Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
28. “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” – Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
29. “Manipulation, fueled with good intent, can be a blessing. But when used wickedly, it is the beginning of a magician’s karmic calamity.” – T.F. Hodge
30. “Welcome to the human race. Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given you by good people, by people who love you.” – Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game)
10 Love Manipulation Quotes
Sometimes, love quotes and quotes on manipulation go hand in hand.
In fact, they are exactly what you need when you’re experiencing awful things like emotional blackmail or guilt-tripping.
The worst part about this is that you can be manipulated by your dearest ones – your romantic partner, closest friends, or even family members.
When this happens, you feel like you’re imagining things – after all, these are the last people who would do you any harm, right?
Well, here are 10 emotional manipulation quotes which might help you process whatever you’re dealing with.
1. “True love is built on free will and free choice, not control and manipulation.” – Ken Poirot
2. “And if I could make you understand one truth, it would be this. Someone who manipulates your feelings through guilt isn’t loving you. That’s an attempt to control you. And that has nothing to do with love.” – JmStorm
3. “Love comes when manipulation stops; when you think more about the other person than about his or her reactions to you. When you dare to reveal yourself fully. When you dare to be vulnerable.” – Joyce Brothers
4. “Are you trying to manipulate me? It’s working.” – Bridget Moynahan
5. “An apology without change is just manipulation.” – Unknown
6. “Just because they keep coming back doesn’t mean it’s out of love. They kiss your ass, play the victim card, make you feel guilty for trying to move on and promise to change. Not because they are crazy in love but because they’re testing and experimenting with their control over you, trying to see which buttons they can push to get you to take them back.” – Horacio Jones
7. “No love is conditional. If love is conditional, it’s just some sort of manipulation masquerading as love.” – Donald Miller
8. “Emotional blackmail is the use of fear, obligation and guilt to control another person.” – Unknown
9. “Don’t resort to blackmail or manipulation to get your way in your marriage. They both undermine love and trust.” – Kemmy Nola
10. “Controllers, abusers and manipulative people don’t question themselves. They don’t ask themselves if the problem is them. They always say that the problem is someone else.” – Darlene Ouimet
Please don’t let these manipulation quotes be just some fun thing for you to read – they’re much more than that. Learn from them and let them help you realize the horrors of manipulation.
