Leaders

The leaders we speak of are more frequently men of action
than thinkers. They are not gifted with keen foresight, nor could
they be, as this quality generally conduces to doubt and inactivity.
They are especially recruited from the ranks of those morbidly
nervous, excitable, half-deranged persons who are bordering on
madness. However absurd may be the idea they uphold or the
goal they pursue, their convictions are so strong that all reasoning
is lost upon them. Contempt and persecution do not affect
them, or only serve to excite them the more. They sacrifice their
personal interest, their family—everything. The very instinct of
self-preservation is entirely obliterated in them, and so much so
that often the only recompense they solicit is that of martyrdom.
The intensity of their faith gives great power of suggestion to
their words. The multitude is always ready to listen to the
strong-willed man, who knows how to impose himself upon it.
Men gathered in a crowd lose all force of will, and turn instinctively
to the person who possesses the quality they lack
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When, however, it is proposed to imbue the mind of a crowd
with ideas and beliefs—with modern social theories, for
instance—the leaders have recourse to different expedients.
The principal of them are three in number and clearly
defined—affirmation, repetition, and contagion. Their action is
somewhat slow, but its effects, once produced, are very lasting.
Affirmation pure and simple, kept free of all reasoning and all
proof, is one of the surest means of making an idea enter the
mind of crowds. The conciser an affirmation is, the more destitute
of every appearance of proof and demonstration, the more
weight it carries.

- Le bon