20+ Gustave Le Bon Quotes On Education, Crowds

Gustave Le Bon was a French social psychologist and author of "The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind". He is known for his work on the psychology of crowds, and his theories on crowd behavior and the "psychology of the masses". He is also credited with introducing the concept of "group mind" and the idea that individuals in a crowd can act with a collective identity. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Gustave Le Bon on education, love, crowds.

The role of the scholar is to destroy chimeras, that of the statesman is to make use of them. — Gustave Le Bon

A crowd is not merely impulsive and mobile. Like a savage, it is not prepared to admit that anything can come between its desire and the realisation of its desire. — Gustave Le Bon

One of the most constant characteristics of beliefs is their intolerance. The stronger the belief, the greater its intolerance. Men dominated by a certitude cannot tolerate those who do not accept it. — Gustave Le Bon

In crowds it is stupidity and not mother wit that is accumulated. — Gustave Le Bon

Are the worst enemies of society those who attack it or those who do not even give themselves the trouble of defending it? — Gustave Le Bon

Crowds are somewhat like the sphinx of ancient fable: It is necessary to arrive at a solution of the problems offered by their psychology or to resign ourselves to being devoured by them. — Gustave Le Bon

The influence of the leaders is due in very small measure to the arguments they employ, but in a large degree to their prestige. The best proof of this is that, should they by any circumstance lose their prestige, their influence disappears. — Gustave Le Bon

The conscious life of the mind is of small importance in comparison with its unconscious life. — Gustave Le Bon

The images evoked by words being independent of their sense, they vary from age to age and from people to people, the formulas remaining identical. Certain transitory images are attached to certain words: the word is merely as it were the button of an electric bell that calls them up. — Gustave Le Bon

A crowd thinks in images, and the image itself calls up a series of other images, having no logical connection with the first...A crowd scarcely distinguishes between the subjective and the objective. It accepts as real the images invoked in its mind, though they most often have only a very distant relation with the observed facts....Crowds being only capable of thinking in images are only to be impressed by images. — Gustave Le Bon

The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. — Gustave Le Bon

All the civilizations we know have been created and directed by small intellectual aristocracies, never by people in the mass. The power of crowds is only to destroy. — Gustave Le Bon

The precise moment at which a great belief is doomed is easily recognisable; it is the moment when its value begins to be called in question. — Gustave Le Bon

The beginning of a revolution is in reality the end of a belief. — Gustave Le Bon

Science has promised us truth. It has never promised us either peace or happiness. — Gustave Le Bon

The art of those who govern consists above all in the science of employing words. — Gustave Le Bon

Crowds are influenced mainly by images produced by the judicious employment of words and formulas — Gustave Le Bon

If atheism spread, it would become a religion as intolerable as the ancient ones. — Gustave Le Bon

The real cause of the great upheavals which precede changes of civilisations, such as the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Arabian Empire, is a profound modification in the ideas of the peoples .... The memorable events of history are the visible effects of the invisible changes of human thought .... The present epoch is one of these critical moments in which the thought of mankind is undergoing a process of transformation. — Gustave Le Bon

The greater part of our daily actions are the result of hidden motives which escape our observation. — Gustave Le Bon

Life Lessons by Gustave Le Bon

1. Gustave Le Bon's work emphasizes the importance of understanding group dynamics and how individuals interact in a collective setting.
2. He believed that groups of people, when united, had the potential to become more powerful than the sum of their individual parts.
3. His research teaches us that we must be aware of how our behavior is affected by the behavior of those around us, and how our collective actions can have a greater impact than our individual ones.