Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.

There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.

You do not have to be a rocket scientist to know that it is hard for a market to keep going up when more and more people are getting out.

Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? Is it a legacy of our colonial years? We want foreign television sets. We want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported?

A very large majority of the U.S. population is in favor of establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba and has been for a long time with some fluctuations. And even part of the business world is in favor of it, too. But the government won’t allow it.

I think the American people, with some justification, think that most politicians live in la-la land.

For me every ruler is alien that defies public opinion.

I think, in politics, half the people are gonna like you, and half the people are not gonna like you, no matter what you do or what you say… It’s like there are no right answers. If there were, everyone would choose the right answers. They’re all opinions.

There is probably a perverse pride in my administration… that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who’s occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can’t be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.

If you’re entering anything where there’s an existing marketplace, against large, entrenched competitors, then your product or service needs to be much better than theirs. It can’t be a little bit better, because then you put yourself in the shoes of the consumer… you’re always going to buy the trusted brand unless there’s a big difference.

In America the young are always ready to give to those who are older than themselves the full benefits of their inexperience.

When I look at public opinion, I’m not far out of the mainstream. I’m in it, in many respects. In some respects, public opinion goes beyond anything I’ve ever said.

People concerned about inflation today tend to buy big houses and nice cars.

There are no second acts in American lives.

The polls show that concern over inequality among the general public rose pretty sharply after the Occupy movement started, very probably as a consequence. And there are other policy issues that came to the fore, which are significant.

A thing is worth what it can do for you, not what you choose to pay for it.

If advertisers spent the same amount of money on improving their products as they do on advertising then they wouldn’t have to advertise them.

When Brexiters told the public that people were exaggerating, that there would be a financial meltdown, I think it’s been proven that they were not exaggerating.

One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda.

I do not believe any of the statistical claims that are made about public opinion. I don’t see why anybody does.

The more people I reach, the more people there are that have opinions about me. Not everyone loves me, but I have to be okay no matter what they think about me.

Public opinion is the thermometer a monarch should constantly consult.

Voters quickly forget what a man says.

At one time, you could sit on the Rue de la Paix in Paris or at the Habima Theater in Tel Aviv or in Medina and you could see a person come in, black, white, it didn’t matter. You said, ‚That’s an American‘ because there’s a readiness to smile and to talk to people.

You pick up some fans and a handful of haters along the way.

Public opinion in Egypt is very antagonistic to the way the dictatorship, Mubarak dictatorship, interpreted relations with Israel. Very antagonistic.

Is there a sharper commentary on American culture and the world than The Simpsons?

The public doesn’t mind people living together without being married, providing they don’t overdo it.

Everyone knows that when you look at a television ad, you do not expect to get information. You expect to see delusion and imagery.

We are not trying to entertain the critics. I’ll take my chances with the public.

My mom is American, so I was raised in her household in my formative years.

How long most people would look at the best book before they would give the price of a large turbot for it?

Nobody wants to buy a $60,000 electric Civic. But people will pay $90,000 for an electric sports car.

There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.

The public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all.

I get to hear the really good or the really bad things in the press, but I don’t read it. I can afford to say that because public opinion does not drive U2’s audience.

As a bull market turns into a bear market, the new pros turn into optimists, hoping and praying the bear market will become a bull and save them. But as the market remains bearish, the optimists become pessimists, quit the profession, and return to their day jobs. This is when the real professional investors re-enter the market.

I think Americans are very patriotic.

I do not read advertisements. I would spend all of my time wanting things.

If the American people don’t love me, their descendants will.

Most Americans think there’s already universal background checks. They don’t understand why there wouldn’t be a background check to purchase a weapon.

I’m lucky that, despite all the bad press I’ve had over the years, the public still seems to like me.

People are skeptical of many televangelists, and I’m sensitive to that.

I venture to say no war can be long carried on against the will of the people.

I don’t believe that the public knows what it wants; this is the conclusion that I have drawn from my career.

One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.

Too many of us look upon Americans as dollar chasers. This is a cruel libel, even if it is reiterated thoughtlessly by the Americans themselves.

When President George W. Bush attempted to reform Social Security, that proposal was more unpopular with Americans than the Iraq war. People love their entitlements.

A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.

Oh, I think there are a lot of people who would be buying and selling online today that go up there and they get the information, but then when it comes time to type in their credit card they think twice because they’re not sure about how that might get out and what that might mean for them.

The American people abhor a vacuum.

He who molds the public sentiment… makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to make.

Public opinion can be influential, the media can be influential.

How come anything you buy will go on sale next week?

I never get the accountants in before I start up a business. It’s done on gut feeling, especially if I can see that they are taking the mickey out of the consumer.

Americans are apocalyptic by nature. The reason why is that we’ve always had so much, so we live in deadly fear that people are going to take it away from us.

Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don’t have for something they don’t need.

I think Americans generally are not used to working very hard, in terms of working for the collective. I think in our country we have taken individualism to its farthest reaches, possibly.

The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf.

I’m really trying to dredge up what one might call intellectual and moral material. For example, when do you realize that you are an American? What age does that happen to you? When do you realize what religion your parents practice? When does it all become conscious? I was interested in exploring all of that.

I was brought up differently than the average American child because the average child is brought up expecting to be happy.