"It has been said that 80% of what people learn is visual"
About this Quote
The “80%” is the hook. It’s suspiciously round, effortlessly memorizable, and calibrated for boardrooms and pitch decks where certainty beats nuance. Klein’s intent isn’t to advance learning theory; it’s to justify investment in what can be seen: packaging, logos, stagecraft, album art, advertising, the controlled image. In a marketplace where attention is scarce, “visual” becomes not just a sensory channel but a strategic terrain. If most learning is visual, then the people who control visuals control belief.
The subtext is an argument about power. Visuals feel immediate and self-evident, which makes them ideal for bypassing skepticism. A striking image can collapse complexity into a mood, a brand, a story people can carry around. Klein’s line flatters the listener’s pragmatism: you’re not being manipulated, you’re being “taught.”
Context matters: late-20th-century media was steadily migrating toward image dominance - television, mass advertising, the rise of celebrity as a visual commodity. Klein’s quote reads like a bridge between old-school salesmanship and the coming age of Instagram logic, where seeing isn’t just believing; it’s the business model.
Quote Details
| Topic | Learning |
|---|---|
| Source | Later attribution: the Ultimate Book of Quotations (Joseph Demakis, 2012) modern compilationISBN: 9781300095132 · ID: kOnjAwAAQBAJ
Evidence:
... It has been said that 80% of what people learn is visual. Allen Klein The willingness to learn new skills is very high. Angela Merkel Responsibility educates. Wendell Phillips To me education is a leading out of what is already there in ... |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Klein, Allen. (2026, February 10). It has been said that 80% of what people learn is visual. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-has-been-said-that-80-of-what-people-learn-is-125840/
Chicago Style
Klein, Allen. "It has been said that 80% of what people learn is visual." FixQuotes. February 10, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-has-been-said-that-80-of-what-people-learn-is-125840/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It has been said that 80% of what people learn is visual." FixQuotes, 10 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/it-has-been-said-that-80-of-what-people-learn-is-125840/. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.







