Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury on debate

Humor is the only test of gravity, and gravity of humor; for a subject which will not bear raillery is suspicious, and a jest which will not bear serious examination is false wit.

How comes it to pass then, that we appear such Cowards in reasoning, and are so afraid to stand the Test of Ridicule?

Truth is the most powerful thing in the world, since even fiction itself must be governed by it, and can only please by its resemblance.

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)