Famously Said Random quote

Quotes about debate

72 quotes from 61 people

Most readBy personPage 3 of 5

Just as war is freedom’s cost, disagreement is freedom’s privilege.
Bill Clintonborn 1946
- Freedom
Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.
Hubert Humphrey1911–1978
- Freedom
When you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. When you have the law on your side, argue the law. When you have neither, holler.
Al Goreborn 1948
The best way to win an argument is to begin by being right.
JRJill Ruckleshaus
I wish I could give you a lot of advice, based on my experience of winning political debates. But I don’t have that experience. My only experience is at losing them.
Richard Nixon1913–1994
I’m willing to admit that I may not always be right, but I am never wrong.
Samuel Goldwyn1882–1974
Information, usually seen as the precondition of debate, is better understood as its by-product.
CLChristopher Lasch1932–1994
The well-bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.
Oscar Wilde1854–1900Bruce Bashford Oscar Wilde: The Critic as Humanist, Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1999, p. 68.
- Wisdom
Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.
Thomas Jefferson1743–1826Jefferson’s First Inaugural Address (1801)
There is no greater evil one can suffer than to hate reasonable discourse.
Socrates470–399 BCPhaedo
Opinions cannot survive if one has no chance to fight for them.
Thomas Mann1875–1955The Magic Mountain (1924), Ch. 6
- Ideas
Attack is the reaction; I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds.
Samuel Johnson1709–1784Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II (2 April 1775)
Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
Samuel Johnson1709–1784Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV (June 1784) p. 545
- Clever Jabs
A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring.
Ludwig Wittgenstein1889–1951Conversation of 1930
- Philosophy
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803–1882Journal (November 8, 1838)
- Character