Who allegedly said, "It's easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled"?

This quote, allegedly: “It’s easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled” is attributed to Mark Twain, (1835—1910). This is a saying that some literary scholars point out as supposedly meaning it's easy to fool people, but people are very reluctant to admit that they've been fooled.

The phrase is one that notes that most people have been in a situation or two where they’ve tried to convince someone that what he or she thought was true wasn’t true at all. The person has been fooled. We are told that most human beings like to think they can't be fooled, everything must make sense, and the majority of people are smart, capable, and good. If these things are true, people normally can't be tricked or deceived by others.

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) was a notable commentator, humorist, entrepreneur, and writer. He was also considered to be a very honest man by those who knew him and/ or took his advice. His personal take on government, public policy-making, and legislation applies as solidly in the 21st century as it did in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Twain truly found it hard for people to accept the idea in the above quote or similar ideas that he presented in opinions about the power of lies. He saw and said, "The glory which is built upon a lie soon becomes a most unpleasant incumbrance. … How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!”