Talk:P. T. Barnum

Somewhere, in the mists of time and the early days of the Internet, I came across the quotation, "The bigger the humbug, the better people will like it." Attributed to P.T. Barnum. --Brian McNeil / talk 00:07, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Unsourced
This has also been popularly attributed to Abraham Lincoln.
 * You can fool some of the people all of the time; you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can never fool all of the people all of the time.

There's a large number of people to whom this is misattributed http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=215131
 * I don't care what they say about me, just make sure they spell my name right!


 * How are the ticket sales in Madison Square Garden?

Alleged final words


 * We have something for everybody.


 * Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well as now.


 * The bigger the humbug, the better people will like it.

The following quote is very popularly misattributed to P.T. Barnum:
 * There is a sucker born every minute.


 * "To the Egress" (a deceptive sign used to reduce crowding)

The following quote was not Barnum but a misquote of H. L. Mencken:
 * Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people

Unsourced 2

 * There's a sucker born every minute or There's a client born every minute
 * There's a sucker born every minute
 * we've got something for everyone
 * Forer effect
 * [his personal aims were] to put money in his own coffers.
 * per P. T. Barnum
 * A human soul is not to be trifled with. It may inhabit the body of a Chinaman, a Turk, an Arab or a Hotentot - it is still an immortal spirit!
 * per P. T. Barnum
 * The noblest art is that of making others happy.
 * despite being used in The Greatest Showman, have been (as yet) unable to find a source