QuoteProject
All that is needed is money and a candidate who can be coached to look sincere. Political principles and plans for specific action have come to lose most of their importance. The personality of the candidate, the way he is projected by the advertising experts, are the things that really matter.
Aldous Huxley
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the significance of a candidate's persona over actual political principles and plans.

Aldous Huxley critiques the modern political landscape by suggesting that the effective perception of a candidate, enhanced by financial backing and media manipulation, has eclipsed the importance of genuine political ideologies and agendas. In this context, it reveals a disheartening truth about how image and marketing have overshadowed substantive political discourse.

Themes

PoliticsCandidateImageMoneyAdvertising

In practice

Example use cases

During a political rally, one might quote this to emphasize how elections focus more on image than values.

More from Aldous Huxley

To his dog, every man is Napoleon; hence the constant popularity of dogs.
Aldous HuxleyRead
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
Aldous HuxleyRead
In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country.
Aldous HuxleyRead
On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.
Aldous HuxleyRead
No man ever dared to manifest his boredom so insolently as does a Siamese tomcat when he yawns in the face of his amorously importunate wife.
Aldous HuxleyRead
The leech's kiss, the squid's embrace, The prurient ape's defiling touch: And do you like the human race? No, not much.
Aldous HuxleyRead

Similar quotes

Our national political campaigns never stop. We seem convinced that majorities exist to impose their will with few concessions and that minorities exist to prevent the party in power from doing anything important. That's not how we were meant to govern.
John MccainRead
There's a lot of fuss on the Left about election irregularities, like, you know, the voting machines were tampered with, they didn't count the votes right, and so on. That's all accurate and of some importance, but of far more importance is the fact that elections just don't take place, not in any meaningful sense of the term 'election.'
Noam ChomskyRead
Whether they be young in spirit, or young in age, the members of the Democratic Party must never lose that youthful zest for new ideas and for a better world, which has made us great.
John F. KennedyRead
If you look at satellite photographs of the Far East by night, you'll see a large splotch curiously lacking in light. This area of darkness is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Barbara DemickRead
Those looking for ideology in the White House should consider this: For the men who rule our world, rules are for other people.
Naomi KleinRead
It’s not about the budget; it’s about the power...So will the attack on unions succeed? I don’t know. But anyone who cares about retaining government of the people by the people should hope that it doesn’t.
Paul KrugmanRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.