 
|
There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.
-James Russell Lowell
|
|
|
|
Debate is the death of conversation.
-Emil Ludwig
|
|
|
|
I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me.
-Dudley Field Malone
|
|
|
|
The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one's opinion, but rather to know it.
-Andre Maurois
|
|
|
|
He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.
-Michel de Montaigne
|
|
|
|
There is no conversation more boring than the one where everybody agrees.
-Michel de Montaigne
|
|
|
|
You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.
-John Morley
On Compromise, 1874
|
|
|
|
The purely agitation attitude is not good enough for a detailed consideration of a subject.
-Jawaharlal Nehru
|
|
|
|
True disputants are like true sportsman: their whole delight is in the pursuit.
-Alexander Pope
|
|
|
|
When much dispute has past, we find our tenets just the same as last.
-Alexander Pope
|
|
|
|
In argument similes are like songs in love; they describe much, but prove nothing.
-Matthew Prior
|
|
|
|
If you agree with some tenets of Objectivism, but disagree with others, do not call yourself an Objectivist; give proper authorship credit for the parts you agree with
-Ayn Rand
To the Readers of The Objectivist Forum, "The Objectivist Forum, Vol. 1, No. 1"
|
|
|
|
Quarrels would not last so long if the fault lay only on one side.
-Francois de la Rochefoucauld
|
|
|
|
The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.
-Bertrand Russell
|
|
|
|
Whenever you argue with another wiser than yourself in order that others may admire your wisdom, they will discover your ignorance.
-Sa'di
|
|
|
|
It was completely fruitless to quarrel with the world, whereas the quarrel with oneself was occasionally fruitful and always, she had to admit, interesting.
-May Sarton
|
|
|
|
All great ideas are controversial, or have been at one time.
-Gilbert Seldes
|
|
|
|
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
-William Shakespeare
|
|
|
|
In a false quarrel there is no true valor.
-William Shakespeare
|
|
|
|
I will name you the degrees. The first, the Retort Courteous; the second, the Quip Modest; the third, the Reply Churlish; the fourth, the Reproof Valiant; the fifth, the Countercheck Quarrelsome; the sixth, the Lie with Circumstance; the seventh, the Lie Direct.
-William Shakespeare
|
|
|
|
A man never tells you anything until you contradict him.
-George Bernard Shaw
|
|
|
|
Concerning God, freewill and destiny: Of all that earth has been or yet may be, all that vain men imagine or believe, or hope can paint or suffering may achieve, we descanted.
-Percy Bysshe Shelley
|
|
|
|
Argument, as usually managed, is the worst sort of conversation, as in books it is generally the worst sort of reading.
-Jonathan Swift
|
|
|
|
At times to be silent is to lie. You will win because you have enough brute force. But you will not convince. For to convince you need to persuade. And in order to persuade you would need what you lack: Reason and Right.
-Miguel de Unamuno
in a confrontation with fascist General Milan-Astray, at the University of Salamanca
|
|
|
|
When a thing is said to be not worth refuting you may be sure that either it is flagrantly stupid -- in which case all comment is superfluous -- or it is something formidable, the very crux of the problem.
-Miguel de Unamuno
|
|
Books about Argument & Debate
