P. T. Barnum

Phineas Taylor Barnum (5 July 1810 – 7 April 1891) was an American showman, businessman and politician, remembered for his museum of curiosities, his talent for publicity, and for founding the circus that became Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. He built a career on the premise that attention itself was the asset — which is exactly the logic of this line. He is also the magnet for sayings he did not coin: Wikipedia notes there is no evidence he originated “there’s a sucker born every minute.”