Who said 'There's a sucker born every minute'?

Answer 1

P.T. Barnum is attributed to this quote, but when asked, he refuted ever having said it.

The attribution to P.T. Barnum is far off the mark. P.T. Barnum knew what people wanted and had the gift and creativity to provide entertainment to the public which kept them coming back. They would return even if the "truth", i.e. "The 162 Year Old Nurse for George Washington", was found to not be true when, after she died, she was reported to be 80 plus years of age. No one felt cheated if they were entertained and Mr Barnum had a handle on this quirk of humanity. Mr. David Hannum, another presenter and schemer, had a large stone man like object built, buried and dug up agin in Cardiff, NY and presented it as "The Cardiff Giant". Exactly what it was was of many thought. Ancient native, biblical "turned to stone"? No just something David Hannum created. But...P.T. Barnum created one too and said it was the REAL "Cardiff Giant" so people flowed to see Barnum's. Although Hannum had made over $40 thousand dollars he remarked, as to the folks paying to see P.T. Barnum's "Giant", "There's a sucker born every minute". Mostly attributed to Hannum and greatly, though inaccurately, associated with Barnumis also attributed to Mark Twain. But P.T. Barnum never uttered that line. Barnum was too smart to say such a thing.

Answer 2

This is an expression coined by P.T. Barnum, to express that it was simple to con people out of their money.