Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.

The only way to develop true confidence is to earn it.

• The confidence that you can bounce back from failure is earned by working through previous failures.
• The confidence that you can deliver the speech is earned by the previous speeches you have given.
• The confidence that you can perform on game day is earned by the previous performances in practice.

In the beginning, you need enough courage to practice even though it may not go very well. And over time, as your skills improve, courage transforms into confidence. Courage first, confidence later.

Convincing - and confident - disciplines, say, physics, tend to use little statistical backup, while political science and economics, which have never produced anything of note, are full of elaborate statistics and statistical “evidence” (and you know that once you remove the smoke, the evidence is not evidence).

Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change. Don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.

Be confident, not certain

Humans will believe anything you say provided you do not exhibit the smallest shadow of diffidence; like animals, they can detect the smallest crack in your confidence before you express it. The trick is to be as smooth as possible in personal manners. It is much easier to signal self-confidence if you are exceedingly polite and friendly; you can control people without having to offend their sensitivity.

A witty statesman said, you might prove anything by figures.

I love statistics because they place what happens to a scrap of humanity, like me, on a worldwide scale.

... a surplus of effort could overcome a deficit of confidence. Page 115

Awaken people's curiosity. It is enough to open minds, do not overload them. Put there just a spark.

It is important for them to be confident and not feel intimidated because of your backgrounds.

It is easy to lie with statistics. It is hard to tell the truth without it.

He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. —

Change happens only when you could educate and inspire others. When you could use facts to create faith in what's possible... The easy part will be to write papers for your peers... The harder part, and the one you should think about, is how are you going to explain inconvenient truths to people who may not want to hear them. How are you going to rouse an audience to action?