Pinocchio Manipulation Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Pinocchio.

Quote #1

HONEST JOHN: Remember, Gideon, the time I tied strings on you and passed you off as a puppet? We nearly put one over on that old gypsy that time.

This is an amazing scam and we wish that it worked. The appearance of Honest John and Gideon is our first indication that Pinocchio will be facing some seriously manipulative forces.

Quote #2

HONEST JOHN: A thing like that ought to be worth a fortune to someone. [...] If we play our cards right, we'll be on Easy Street.

Pinocchio is such a magical, one-of-a-kind creature that he seems like a gold mine to Honest John and Gideon. As it happens, these two are also the first people Pinocchio encounters when he leaves home for the first time, so this is a recipe for disaster.

Quote #3

HONEST JOHN: Then you haven't heard of the easy road to success.

PINOCCHIO: Uh-uh.

HONEST JOHN: No? I'm speaking, my boy, of the theater. [...] Bright lights! Music! Applause! Fame!

Honest John exploits Pinocchio's naivety by criticizing the uselessness of school and extolling the glory of theater. While we're obviously supposed to support Pinocchio becoming a scholar rather than an actor, that's an awfully funny message coming from an animated movie that uses—well—actors. Weird, huh?