to talk
with the greatest apparent earnestness and sincerity and honesty. Pious
talk very frequently is the haze in which an avaricious and greedy soul
hides itself. Bluff, bluster, and boasting are the sops which the coward
throws to his own vanity, while the quietest, sweetest, and gentlest
tones often sheath the fierce heart of the born fighter, as a velvet glove
is said to clothe a hand of steel.

HOW MOTIVES MAY BE KNOWN

Motives lie at the very foundation of being. They are deeply imbedded in
the very cells and fiber of the individual. They shape his thoughts, his
habits, and all of his actions. It is, therefore, impossible that they
should not show themselves to the practiced eye in every physical
characteristic, in the tones of the voice, in the handshake, in gestures,
in the walk, and in handwriting, in clothing, in the condition of the
body, and in the expression of the face. So the motives of man festoon his
personality with flaunting and infallible signs to be known and read by
all men who care to take the trouble to learn. Some of them are so plain
that there is scarcely any grown person so unobservant as not to have seen
them. Others are more elusive, but none the less legible to the practiced
eye.

The simpler motives, after they have held sway for years, are easily
discernible. Sensuality, arrogance, vanity, coldness, benevolence,
sympathy, and others are easily determined. But, in order to be successful
in persuasion, you need to be able to trace all of the feelings both
permanent and transitory.

THE MENTAL LAW OF SALE

There is a great practical truth in the mental law of sale now generally
accepted by business psychologists and by practical men in the business
world. This mental law of sale holds true in all kinds of persuasion
because it describes the process of the human mind as it proceeds, step by
step, from indifference or antagonism to favorable action. It is,
therefore, impossible to discuss intelligently the ways and means of
successful persuasion, except upon a basis of this law. Here is the law:
[10]"Favorable attention properly sustained changes into interest,
interest properly intensified changes into desire, desire properly
augmented ripens into decision and action."

[Footnote 10: From "The Science of Business Building," by A.F. Sheldon.]

FAVORABLE ATTENTION

Now, it is known to psychologists that certain sensations attract
favorable attention in a larger number of