Jacques Ellul

Propaganda begins when dialogue ends.

— Jacques Ellul

Propaganda does not aim to elevate man, but to make him serve.

— Jacques Ellul

Fate operates when people give up

— Jacques Ellul

Education no longer has a humanist end or any value in itself; it has only one goal, to create technicians.

— Jacques Ellul

Philosophy which asserts that human experience repeats itself is ineffectual.

— Jacques Ellul

“Propaganda begins when dialogue ends. (Quoted by Marshall McLuhan in McLuhan Hot & Cool)”

— Jacques Ellul

Hate, hunger, and pride make better levers of propaganda than do love or impartiality.

— Jacques Ellul

Mass media provides the essential link between the individual and the demands of the technological society.

— Jacques Ellul

It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale.

— Jacques Ellul

The machine is a tool. But it is not a neutral tool. We are deeply influenced by the machine while using it.

— Jacques Ellul

Because of the myth of progress, it is much easier to sell a man an electric razor than a straight-edged one.

— Jacques Ellul

I can very well say without hesitation that all those who have political power, even if they use it well have acquired…

— Jacques Ellul

True technique will know how to maintain the illusion of liberty, choice, and individuality; but these will have been carefully calculated so…

— Jacques Ellul

“I hold that in every situation of injustice and oppression, the Christian--who cannot deal with it by violence--must make himself completely a…

— Jacques Ellul

“By thinking globally I can analyze all phenomena, but when it comes to acting, it can only be local and on a…

— Jacques Ellul

For the word is dialectical in itself and at the same time is integrated into the whole of existence. By this I…

— Jacques Ellul

Everyone has been taught that technique is an application of science… This traditional view is radically false. It takes into account only…

— Jacques Ellul

The orchestration of press, radio and television to create a continuous, lasting and total environment renders the influence of propaganda virtually unnoticed…

— Jacques Ellul

The intellectual who wants to do her work properly must today go back to the starting point: the woman whom she knows,…

— Jacques Ellul

It is inconceivable that the God who gives Himself in His Son to save us, should have created some people ordained to…

— Jacques Ellul

“It is true that we still talk about "happiness" or "liberty" or "justice," but people no longer have any idea of the…

— Jacques Ellul

One thing, however, is sure: unless Christians fulfill their prophetic role, unless they become the advocates and defenders of the truly poor,…

— Jacques Ellul

The person who imagined that he could not be the victim of propaganda because he could distinguish truth from falsehood, is extremely…

— Jacques Ellul

God is always present, always available. At whatever moment in which one turns to him the prayer is received, is heard, is…

— Jacques Ellul

Faith lived in the incognito is one which is located outside the criticism coming from society , from politics , from history…

— Jacques Ellul

If man--if each one of us--abdicates his responsibilities with regard to values; if each one of us limits himself to leading a…

— Jacques Ellul

“For when man is faced with a curse he answers, "I'll take care of my problems." And he puts everything to work…

— Jacques Ellul

“We must be convinced that there are no such things as 'Christian principles.' There is the Person of Christ, who is the…

— Jacques Ellul

In point of fact there are a certain number of values and of forces which are of decisive importance in our world…

— Jacques Ellul

“And the extraordinary thing is that according to these texts all powers, all the power and glory of the kingdoms, all that…

— Jacques Ellul

“The First World War; the Russian revolution of 1917; Hitler's revolution of 1933; the second World War; the further development of revolutionary…

— Jacques Ellul

Enclosed within his artificial creation, man finds that there is “no exit”; that he cannot pierce the shell of technology again to…

— Jacques Ellul

“The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries abandoned the idea of spiritual or intellectual happiness in order to have this material happiness, consisting of…

— Jacques Ellul

“To the extent that propaganda is based on current news, it cannot permit time for thought or reflection. A man caught up…

— Jacques Ellul

“It seems to us that there are four great collective sociological assumptions in the modern world. By this we mean not only…

— Jacques Ellul

Technical civilization has made a great error in not suppressing death, the only human reality still intact

— Jacques Ellul

The goal of modern propaganda is no longer to transform opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief

— Jacques Ellul

When there is propaganda, we are no longer able to evaluate certain questions, or even to discuss them

— Jacques Ellul

Freedom is completely without meaning unless it is related to necessity, unless it represents victory over necessity.

— Jacques Ellul

The biblical God lets us make our own history, and goes with us on the more or less unheard-of adventures we concoct.

— Jacques Ellul