Margaret Thatcher on debate

Being a leader is like being a lady, if you have to go around telling people you are one, you aren’t.

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.

In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.

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

If you can’t convince them, confuse them.

Harry S. Truman1884–1972Address at the National Plowing Match (18 September 1948); as quoted in Miracle of ‘48: Harry Truman’s Major Campaign Speeches and Selected Whistle-stops (2003); edited by Steve Neal