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Barnum's Humbugs of the World

P. T. Barnum's insightful review of humbugs, scams, deceits (and self-deceits) in culture, economics, entertainment, religion, medicine, and more.

(6 total)

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P.T. Barnum (6)

“OLD GRIZZLY ADAMS. [37-*] James C. Adams, or 'Grizzly Adams,' as he was generally termed, from the fact of his having captured so many grizzly bears, and encountered such fearful perils by his unexampled daring, was an extraordinary character. For many years a hunter and trapper in the Rocky and Sie…”

— P.T. Barnum, amazon.com

Tagged: Obituaries, Grizzly Adams, California, New York, wolves

“Several years since, I purchased a living white whale, captured near Labrador, and succeeded in placing it, 'in good condition,' in a large tank, fifty feet long, and supplied with salt water, in the basement of the American Museum. I was obliged to light the basement with gas, and that frightened t…”

— P.T. Barnum, amazon.com

Tagged: Whales, Zoos, Animals in Captivity, Circus Attractions, Sideshow

“Politics and government are certainly among the most important of practical human interests. Now it was a diplomatist—that is, a practical manager of one kind of government matters—who invented that wonderful phrase—a whole world full of humbug in half-a-dozen words—that 'Language was given to us to…”

— P.T. Barnum, amazon.com

Tagged: Politics, Government, George Washington, Language, Ambassadors

“The greatest humbug of all is the man who believes—or pretends to believe—that everything and everybody are humbugs.”

— P.T. Barnum, amazon.com

Tagged: Humbugs, Quacks, Con Men

“Science is the pursuit of pure truth, and the systematizing of it. In such an employment as that, one might reasonably hope to find all things done in honesty and sincerity. Not at all, my ardent and inquiring friends, there is a scientific humbug just as large as any other. We have all heard of the…”

— P.T. Barnum, amazon.com

Tagged: Humbug, Con Men, Science, Quackery, Perpetual Motion

“And in what business is there not humbug? 'There’s cheating in all trades but ours,' is the prompt reply from the boot-maker with his brown paper soles, the grocer with his floury sugar and chicoried coffee, the butcher with his mysterious sausages and queer veal, the dry goods man with his 'damaged…”

— P.T. Barnum, amazon.com

Tagged: Humbugs, Old Masters, Great American Novel, Chicory, Coffee