Adlai Stevenson II on debate

Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.

Freedom is not an ideal, it is not even a protection, if it means nothing more than freedom to stagnate, to live without dreams, to have no greater aim than a second car and another television set.

An editor is someone who separates the wheat from the chaff and then prints the chaff.

A great many of those who ‘debunk’ traditional…values have in the background values of their own which they believe to be immune from the debunking process.

C. S. Lewis1898–1963The Abolition of Man

I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don’t even invite me.

Dave Barryborn 1947

I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.

Margaret Thatcher1925–2013From an interview for Italian television (RAI) (10 March 1986)