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Quotes about debate

72 quotes from 61 people

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To refuse a hearing to an opinion, because they are sure that it is false, is to assume that their certainty is the same thing as absolute certainty. All silencing of discussion is an assumption of infallibility.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Chapter II (1 of 2)In context
- Freedom
However unwillingly a person who has a strong opinion may admit the possibility that his opinion may be false, he ought to be moved by the consideration that however true it may be, if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.
John Stuart Mill1806–1873On Liberty (1859), Chapter II (1 of 2)In context
- Truth & Lies
There is only one rule for being a good talker⁠—learn to listen.
Christopher Morley1890–1957
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
Congratulations, Dave, you’ve just constructed a straw man so large you could burn it in the desert and hold an annoying festival around it.
John Oliverborn 1977Last Week Tonight—Immigration, Stephen Hawking & Football (ff. 0:16:15) (15 June 2014)
- Clever Jabs
Instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all.
Pericles494–429 BCFuneral Oration, in Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 2.40 (tr. Richard Crawley)
The man who says he is willing to meet you halfway is usually a poor judge of distance.
Laurence J. Peter1919–1990
The partisan, when he is engaged in a dispute, cares nothing about the rights of the question, but is anxious only to convince his hearers of his own assertions.
Plato429–349 BCDialogues, Phaedo
The true Enlightenment thinker, the true rationalist, never wants to talk anyone into anything. No, he does not even want to convince; all the time he is aware that he may be wrong.
Karl Popper1902–1994On Freedom (1958)
- Wisdom
The best way to win an argument is to begin by being right.
JRJill Ruckleshaus
Trust the man who hesitates in his speech and is quick and steady in action, but beware of long arguments and long beards.
George Santayana1863–1952
Matters of religion should never be matters of controversy. We neither argue with a lover about his taste, nor condemn him, if we are just, for knowing so human a passion.
George Santayana1863–1952The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress (1905-1906), Vol. III, Reason in Religion, Ch. VI
- Religion
All Politeness is owing to Liberty. We polish one another, and rub off our Corners and rough Sides by a sort of amicable Collision. To restrain this, is inevitably to bring a Rust upon Mens Understandings.
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury1671–1713Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711), Vol. 1, pp. 39-40; “Sensus Communis”.
- Liberty
The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950
- Thinking
A man never tells you anything until you contradict him.
George Bernard Shaw1856–1950