Argument Quotes:

Multitudes of words are neither an argument of clear ideas in the writer, nor a proper means of conveying clear notions to the reader.

- Adam Clarke

topic: Mean, Ideas, Argument, Conveying

The financial wealth that has been created is unprecedented. Even if the stock market, for argument's sake, leveled off here, there's been so much wealth built up that we really can feel spending for some time.

- Adam LaVorgna

topic: Sake, Financial, Argument

It would behoove you to have your thesis finely tuned and the logical arguments utilized in support of it tightly woven into a credible, and creatively persuasive tapestry.

- Alan Woods

topic: Support, Woven, Argument, Logical Arguments, Thesis

My life is my argument.

- Albert Schweitzer

topic: Argument, Life Is

Let your life be your argument.

- Albert Schweitzer

topic: Basketball, Argument, Life Is

You can't talk about peace nor agreement while terror is used as the main argument.

- Alberto Fujimori

source: "Fujimori breaks silence and urges release of hostages". www.cnn.com. December 22, 1996.

topic: Agreement, Argument, Used

Nothing is more certain than much of the force; as well as grace, of arguments or instructions depends their conciseness.

- Alexander Pope

topic: Grace, Argument, Instruction

A good argument, like a good dialogue, is always a proof of life, but I'd much rather go and read a book.

- Ali Smith

source: "Ali Smith: Style vs content? Novelists should approach their art with an eye to what the story asks". www.theguardian.com. August 18, 2012.

topic: Book, Argument, Proof

One of the best ways of keeping your temper in an argument, as most of us know only too well, is not to listen to anything the other person has to say.

- Alice Miller

topic: Anger, Way, Argument

Atheism, I began to realize, rested on a less-than-satisfactory evidential basis. The arguments that had once seemed bold, decisive, and conclusive increasingly turned out to be circular, tentative, and uncertain.

- Alister E. McGrath

topic: Atheist, Atheism, Argument

The argument holds no water at all, not even a thimbleful.

- Allan Lichtman

topic: Water, Argument

Argument should be polite as well as logical.

- Alphonse de Lamartine

topic: Argument, Logical, Should

Hence our verdict on these reformulated versions of St. Anselm's argument must be as follows. They cannot, perhaps, be said to prove or establish their conclusion.

- Alvin Plantinga

source: Alvin Plantinga (1974). “The Nature of Necessity”, p.221, Oxford University Press on Demand

topic: Religion, Argument, Said

A defeated argument that refuses to be obliterated can remain very alive.

- Amartya Sen

topic: Alive, Argument, Defeated

GRAPESHOT, n. An argument which the future is preparing in answer to the demands of American Socialism.

- Ambrose Bierce

topic: Answers, Demand, Argument

However, if you do start crying in an argument and someone asks why, you can always say, 'I'm just crying because of how wrong you are.'

- Amy Poehler

topic: Argument, Cry

Whenever my mother talks to me, she begins the conversation as if we were already in the middle of an argument.

- Amy Tan

topic: Mother, Argument, Middle

The bestway to diffuse an argument is to listen first, second, and last.

- Anabel Jensen

topic: Lasts, Firsts, Argument

The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one's opinion but rather to know it.

- Andre Maurois

source: "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

topic: Opinion, Arguing, Argument

The only real argument for monolithic systems was performance, and there is now enough evidence showing that microkernel systems can be just as fast as monolithic systems.

- Andrew S. Tanenbaum

source: "The "Linux is Obsolete" Debate". In a Usenet message, January 29, 1992.

topic: Real, Argument, Enough

We had an argument once, yeah. It was the best thing that could have happened to our working relationship. After that, we understood each other and got along much better. I always respected Barry Bonds, and I wanted to let him know that I did in a certain way.

- Andy Van Slyke

source: "Answer Man: Andy Van Slyke talks slugging Bonds, coaching first". Interview with David Brown, sports.yahoo.com. May 01, 2008.

topic: Sports, Way, Argument

A day without an argument is like an egg without salt.

- Angela Carter

source: Angela Carter (1997). “Shaking a Leg: Journalism and Writings”, Vintage

topic: Eggs, Salt, Argument

Contempt is the emotion we feel for an opponent whose arguments are too formidable to refute.

- Ann Coulter

topic: Opponents, Emotion, Argument

... I have noticed that no sooner do people embark on a course of action which they do not find wholly satisfactory than they muster every argument to persuade others to imitate it ...

- Anne Morice

topic: People, Action, Argument

Although I was once sharply critical of the argument to design, I have since come to see that, when correctly formatted, this argument constitutes a persuasive case for the existence of God.

- Antony Flew

topic: Design, Argument, Persuasive, Existence Of God

To invoke solely the weaker arguments and yet triumph is an art worth more than a hundred thousand drachmae.

- Aristophanes

topic: Art, Triumph, Argument

It is impossible, or not easy, to alter by argument what has long been absorbed by habit

- Aristotle

topic: Long, Impossible, Argument

History is, indeed, an argument without end.

- Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

topic: History, Argument, Ends

Rudeness is better than any argument; it totally eclipses intellect.

- Arthur Schopenhauer

topic: Argument, Rudeness, Eclipse

There should be no argument in regard to morality in art. There is no morality in nature.

- Auguste Rodin

topic: Art, Morality, Argument

I would like to be judged on the validity of my arguments, not as a victim.

- Ayaan Hirsi Ali

topic: Argument, Victim, Judged, Infidel

The Argument from Intimidation is a confession of intellectual impotence.

- Ayn Rand

topic: Intellectual, Liberty, Argument, Impotence

This is the heart of my argument: We can put more pressure on the antagonist for whom we show human concern.

- Barbara Deming

source: Barbara Deming (1984). “We Are All Part of One Another: A Barbara Deming Reader”

topic: Heart, Pressure, Argument, Antagonist

The strangest thing about the low quality of Internet argument is that effective argument isnt really so difficult. Sure, not everyone can be Clarence Darrow, but anyone who wants to be at least competent at argument can do it.

- Barry Eisler

topic: Quality, Want, Argument

If you really understand something, you can: 1) explain it using a clear metaphor and 2) explain the strongest counter-argument to the idea.

- Ben Casnocha

source: Twitter post from Jul 10, 2012

topic: Ideas, Argument, Metaphor

You cannot reason people out of a position that they did not reason themselves into.

- Ben Goldacre

topic: People, Argument, Reason

It must be that there is something in the hearts of human beings, some natural fluid perhaps, that insists on happiness, even confronted with the most powerful arguments against it.

- Ben H. Winters

topic: Powerful, Heart, Argument

A good life is a main argument.

- Ben Jonson

topic: Good Life, Inspirational Life, Argument

Expediency may tip the scales when arguments are nicely balanced.

- Benjamin Cardozo

topic: May, Argument, Scales

I am bound to furnish my antagonists with arguments, but not with comprehension.

- Benjamin Disraeli

topic: Argument, Comprehension, Antagonist

When we think about global warming at all, the arguments tend to be ideological, theological and economic.

- Bill McKibben

topic: Thinking, Global Warming, Argument

America is the longest argument in the world.

- Bill Moyers

topic: America, World, Argument

A silly row which got out of hand.

- Bill Vaughan

topic: Silly, Hands, Argument

Liberals want Conservatives to shut up. Conservatives want Liberals to keep talking. Because our arguments make sense and theirs don't

- Bill Whittle

topic: Talking, Want, Argument, Keep Talking

Even if I was a bad right wing guy, to the extent of whether my arguments are right or wrong, they're right or wrong independently if I'm right or left.

- Bjorn Lomborg

topic: Wings, Guy, Argument

We must reinforce argument with results.

- Booker T. Washington

topic: Argument, Results

If I had an argument with a player we would sit down for twenty minutes, talk about it and then decide I was right!

- Brian Clough

topic: Player, Twenties, Argument

Love is a very compelling argument.

- Brian Houston

source: Twitter post from Apr 23, 2015

topic: Love Is, Argument, Compelling

I've had a few arguments with people, but I never carry a grudge. You know why? While you're carrying a grudge, they're out dancing.

- Buddy Hackett

topic: People, Dancing, Argument

By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient's reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result?

- C. S. Lewis

topic: Arguing, Patient, Argument, Screwtape Letters

The Banh Mi sandwich is really the only good argument for colonialism.

- Calvin Trillin

topic: Colonialism, Sandwiches, Argument

The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.

- Carl Sagan

topic: Science, Ideas, Argument, Suppression, Pale Blue Dot

One of the great commandments of science is, 'Mistrust arguments from authority'. (Scientists, being primates, and thus given to dominance hierarchies, of course do not always follow this commandment.)

- Carl Sagan

topic: Hierarchy, Dominance, Argument, Primates

One of the great commandments of science is: 'Mistrust arguments from authority.'

- Carl Sagan

topic: Argument, Authority, Mistrust

Liberals are sometimes defined as people who can't take their own side in an argument.

- Cass Sunstein

topic: People, Sides, Argument

A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question." Charles Darwin

- Charles Darwin

topic: Facts, Sides, Argument, Creation And Evolution, Origin Of Species

It is difficult to be emphatic when no one is emphatic on the other side.

- Charles Dudley Warner

source: Charles Dudley Warner (1870). “My Summer in a Garden”, p.120

topic: Sides, Argument, Difficult

There is no satisfaction to be derived from having had many of our arguments borne out by events.

- Charles Kennedy

topic: Events, Satisfaction, Argument

On the other hand, it is not fair to say that changes in federal policy have caused our tuition to rise faster. Every economic argument imaginable would indicate that we should raise tuition at a faster rate than we do.

- Charles M. Vest

source: "An Interview with MIT President Charles M. Vest". news.mit.edu. December 10, 1997.

topic: Hands, Tuition, Argument

We argue with our biology, and the result of that argument is civilization.

- Charles Siebert

topic: Civilization, Arguing, Argument

Faith never makes herself her own plea, she rests all her argument upon the blood of Christ.

- Charles Spurgeon

topic: Blood, Argument, Christ

Of course, there were huge disagreements in the arguments of military intervention, .. There is no point at the moment on focusing on those disagreements.

- Chris Patten

topic: Military, Argument, Moments, Military Intervention

That's the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you're never wrong.

- Christopher Buckley

source: Jason Reitman, Christopher Buckley (2007). “Thank You For Smoking: The Shooting Script”, Newmarket Press

topic: Arguing, Argument

There can be no progress without head-on confrontation.

- Christopher Hitchens

topic: Progress, Argument, Confrontation

Arguments that explain everything... explain nothing

- Christopher Hitchens

topic: Argument

[Flürscheim] was good at unanswerable arguments.

- Christopher Kelk Ingold

topic: Science, Biographies, Argument

Ultimately, whether we are writing posts, paragraphs, essays, arguments, memoirs, monographs or even just the Great American Tweet, writing is and should be a grand adventure.

- Constance Hale

topic: Writing, Adventure, Argument

The function of art is to make that understood which in the form of argument would be incomprehensible.

- Constantin Brancusi

topic: Art, Would Be, Argument

With all the arguments and discussions about the Vietnam War, what did the visual image do? It ended the war.

- Cornell Capa

topic: War, Vietnam, Argument, Visual Images

Small quarrels and tensions were expected because of our new environment. Every relationship has them. Each quarrel was soon forgotten and floated away on a wave. And then sometimes, on our silly days, the arguments returned on the wave, but the wave returned taller, a Tsunami, and neither of us knew where to run or what to do.

- Craig Stone

topic: Running, Silly, Argument, New Environment

Sometimes we deny being worthy of praise, hoping to generate an argument we would be pleased to lose.

- Cullen Hightower

topic: Would Be, Generations, Argument

Forget the Bible, the greatest argument against human evolution is a YouTube comment thread.

- Damien Fahey

source: Twitter post from May 11, 2012

topic: Funny, Evolution, Argument, Human Evolution

Supreme Court arguments and decisions are fascinating to a few of us and really pretty boring to most.

- Dan Abrams

source: Personal Quote, www.imdb.com.

topic: Decision, Argument, Boring, Really Pretty, Supreme Court

The dominance of conclusions over arguments is most pronounced where emotions are involved.

- Daniel Kahneman

topic: Dominance, Emotion, Argument

It's all very boring to say that we get along great and all that and sometimes we mock up come aggravation to make it interesting but the truth of it is that we get along so well we've never had an argument.

- Dave Edmunds

topic: Aggravation, Interesting, Argument

One could drive a prairie schooner through any part of his argument and never scrape against a fact.

- David F. Houston

topic: Facts, Argument, Prairie

I'm vey bad at marshaling arguments. I can't, at a dinner party, explain why I'm a socialist and why others should be socialists as well.

- David Hare

topic: Party, Dinner, Argument

First of all, you can make the argument that there's no such thing as the past. Nobody lived in the past.

- David McCullough

source: Interview with Bruce Cole, www.neh.gov.

topic: Past, Firsts, Argument, Perceived Reality

You have overburdened your argument with ostentatious erudition." Spoken by Abigail Adams

- David McCullough

topic: Argument, Abigail, Ostentatious, Erudition

Public discourse requires making an argument for a point of view, not having an argument - as in having a fight.

- Deborah Tannen

source: Deborah Tannen (2012). “The Argument Culture: Moving from Debate to Dialogue”, p.4, Ballantine Books

topic: Fighting, Views, Argument, Public Discourse

Rational arguments don't usually work on religious people. Otherwise, there wouldn't be religious people.

- Doris Egan

source: Doris Egan @AtheistQOTD, twitter.com. March 11, 2012.

topic: Religious, People, Argument, Right Stuff

All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others.

- Douglas Adams

source: "The Salmon of Doubt". Book by Douglas Adams, en.wikiquote.org. 2002.

topic: Opinion, Logic, Argument

The more arguments you win, the less friends you will have

- E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax

topic: Winning, Argument, Contention

You can not have an argument with a fully conscious person.

- Eckhart Tolle

source: Eckhart Tolle (2010). “The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment”, p.182, New World Library

topic: Argument, Conscious, Can Not

The same arguments which go to show that knowledge is power, that the condition of a people is improved in proportion as the masses are educated, have their application with equal weight to the deaf...

- Edward Miner Gallaudet

topic: People, Weight, Argument

Surely: the adverb of a man without an argument.

- Edward St Aubyn

source: Edward St Aubyn (2016). “The Patrick Melrose Novels: Picador Classic”, p.190, Pan Macmillan

topic: Men, Argument, Adverbs

The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian.

- Ellen G. White

source: Ellen G. White (1942). “The Ministry of Healing”, p.253, Digital Inspiration

topic: Christian, Favors, Argument

There's always that argument to make - that you're in better company historically if people don't understand what you're doing.

- Elliott Smith

topic: Music, People, Argument

Debate is the death of conversation.

- Emil Ludwig

source: "Dictionary of Quotations in Communications". Book by Lilless McPherson Shilling, Linda K. Fuller, 1997.

topic: Argument, Debate, Conversation

Faith is not uprooted by dialectic proof; it must already be deeply shaken by other causes to be unable to withstand the shock of argument.

- Emile Durkheim

topic: Causes, Argument, Proof, Dialectics

Money is far more persuasive than logical arguments.

- Euripides

topic: Money, Argument, Logical, Logical Arguments

Those whose cause is just will never lack good arguments.

- Euripides

topic: Causes, Argument

Reducing every issue to an argument can become stale but it's often a very good way of clarifying issues.

- Evan Davis

topic: Issues, Way, Argument, Clarifying

The only thing worse than being on the wrong side of an argument is to be on the right side with no one listening.

- Evan Esar

topic: Listening, Sides, Argument, No One Listening

Addressing the conclusions of The God Delusion point by point with the devastating insight of a molecular biologist turned theologian, Alister McGrath dismantles the argument that science should lead to atheism, and demonstrates instead that Dawkins has abandoned his much-cherished rationality to embrace an embittered manifesto of dogmatic atheist fundamentalism.

- Francis Collins

topic: Atheist, Atheism, Argument, Manifestos

The purpose of argument is to change the nature of truth.

- Frank Herbert

source: Frank Herbert (2008). “Children of Dune”, p.68, Penguin

topic: Purpose, Argument, Thrive

Father sighed. “Please spare me these arguments of yours.” “Whose arguments should I use?

- Franny Billingsley

topic: Father, Use, Argument

He always had a chip on his shoulder that he was ready to use to kindle an argument.

- Fred Allen

topic: Anger, Use, Argument

Now you can begin to see quite transparently that nothing purchased life is one of argument, If other people don't agree with you you're in big trouble. How far would you get in your work if nobody agreed that what you were doing had value?

- Frederick Carl Frieseke

topic: People, Argument, Life Is

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.

- Frederick Douglass

topic: Irony, Argument, Needed, Scorching

The irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence, rather a condition of it.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

topic: Philosophical, Spirituality, Argument, Irrationality

Most couples have not had hundreds of arguments; they've had the same argument hundreds of times.

- Gay Hendricks

topic: Relationship, Couple, Argument

Arguments are often like melodramas - they have a predictable beginning, middle, and end.

- Gay Hendricks

topic: Argument, Ends, Middle, Melodrama

A handful of soldiers is always better than a mouthful of arguments.

- Georg C. Lichtenberg

topic: Soldier, Argument, Handful

All that stock of arguments [the skeptics] produce to depreciate our faculties, and make mankind appear ignorant and low, are drawn principally from this head, to wit, that we are under an invincible blindness as to the true and real nature of things.

- George Berkeley

topic: Real, Ignorant, Argument, Depreciate

You have such strong words at command, that they make the smallest argument seem formidable.

- George Eliot

topic: Strong, Argument, Command, Formidable, Strong Words

Inclination snatches arguments To make indulgence seem judicious choice.

- George Eliot

topic: Choices, Argument, Indulgence

... the majority of us scarcely see more distinctly the faultiness of our own conduct than the faultiness of our own arguments, orthe dulness [sic] of our own jokes.

- George Eliot

topic: Majority, Argument, Jokes

The strength of the donkey mind lies in adopting a course inversely as the arguments urged, which, well considered, requires as great a mental force as the direct sequence.

- George Eliot

topic: Lying, Mind, Argument

No deeply rooted tendency was ever extirpated by adverse judgment. Not having originally been founded on argument, it cannot be destroyed by logic

- George Henry Lewes

topic: Logic, Argument, Judgment

Several of them would have protested if they could have found the right arguments.

- George Orwell

topic: Argument, Found

Strive not with your superiors in argument, but always submit your judgment to others with modesty.

- George Washington

topic: Humble, Modesty, Argument

The idea comes before the logical argument.

- Gerald Abrahams

topic: Ideas, Chess, Argument, Logical Arguments

The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.

- Gilbert K. Chesterton

topic: Hate, Argument, I Hate, Things I Hate

Answer them critics with silence and indifference. It works better, I assure you, than anger and argument. . . .

- Gioachino Rossini

topic: Silence, Answers, Argument

You explain right well, and you shew that you understand argument and are not a mere sophist since you accept that which cannot be denied.

- Giordano Bruno

topic: Atheism, Argument, Accepting

I don't have a 'side'—I'm responsible for what I say and nothing else.

- Glenn Greenwald

topic: Independence, Sides, Argument

An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a definite proposition... A contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says." No, it's not...

- Graham Chapman

topic: Argument, Contradiction, Connected, Definite

Don't start an argument with somebody who has a microphone when you don't. They'll make you look like chopped liver.

- Harlan Ellison

topic: Looks, Argument, Microphones, Chopped Liver

Who is apt, on occasion, to assign a multitude of reasons when one will do? This is a sure sign of weakness in argument.

- Harriet Martineau

topic: Inspirational, Weakness, Argument

I don't write about certain arguments I have with my wife. I'd get my head torn off if wrote about certain things.

- Harvey Pekar

topic: Writing, Wife, Argument

Use soft words in hard arguments.

- Henry George Bohn

topic: Use, Argument

There is nothing that a New-Englander so nearly worships as an argument.

- Henry Ward Beecher

topic: Worship, Argument

Sophistry is the fallacy of argument.

- Henry Ward Beecher

topic: Sophistry, Argument, Fallacy

If you are ignorant, you certainly can get into some interesting arguments.

- Herbert V. Prochnow

topic: Interesting, Ignorant, Argument, Some Interesting

All information is treated equally; only an accurate argument will work.

- Hiroyuki Nishimura

topic: Information, Argument, Accurate

But curb thou the high spirit in thy breast, for gentle ways are best, and keep aloof from sharp contentions.

- Homer

topic: Way, Spirit, Argument, Aloof, Curb

I do insist on making what I hope is sense so there's always a coherent narrative or argument that the reader can follow.

- Howard Nemerov

topic: Literature, Narrative, Argument

An argument is always about what has been made more important than the relationship.

- Hugh Prather

source: Hugh Prather (2009). “Notes to Myself: My Struggle to Become a Person”, p.138, Bantam

topic: Relationship, Important, Argument

An Argument needs no reason; Nor any friendship.

- Ibycus

topic: Needs, Argument, Reason

This argument has been codified in the twentieth century as meritocracy, in which those on top in the process of capitalist accumulation have merited their position.

- Immanuel Wallerstein

topic: Argument, Century, Process, Meritocracy

When you argue with your inferiors, you convince them of only one thing: they are as clever as you.

- Irving Layton

source: Irving Layton (1969). “The whole bloody bird: obs, aphs & pomes”

topic: Clever, Arguing, Argument

Never preach a sermon without a text from the Bible, a text containing the theme which you can elaborate. The text is the best proof in support of your argument. A sermon without a text is an argument without a proof.

- Isaac Mayer Wise

topic: Support, Argument, Proof

People may refuse to see the truth of our arguments, but they cannot evade the evidence of a holy life.

- J. C. Ryle

topic: People, May, Argument, Holy Life

Argument need not be heated; it can be punctuated with courteous smiles - or sympathetic tears.

- J. Sidlow Baxter

source: J. Sidlow Baxter (1994). “Awake, My Heart: Daily Devotional Studies for the Year”, p.332, Kregel Publications

topic: Tears, Needs, Argument

I became the stage for the great argument between Nietzsche and Rousseau. I was the extra ready to take on all the roles.

- Jacques Derrida

topic: Roles, Argument, Stage

Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do.

- James Harvey Robinson

topic: Believe, Argument, Rationality

Nothing sways the stupid more than arguments they can't understand.

- Jean Francois Paul de Gondi

topic: Stupid, Stupidity, Argument

Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

topic: Comeback, Insult, Argument, Insult To Injury, Insulted

Rhetoric is nothing but reason well dressed and argument put in order.

- Jeremy Collier

topic: Order, Argument, Reason

History is a long and endlessly interesting argument, where evidence is everything and storytelling is everything else.

- Jill Lepore

source: "Just the Facts, Ma'am" by Jill Lepore, www.newyorker.com. March 24, 2008.

topic: Long, Interesting, Argument

You could start an argument in an empty house.

- Jill Shalvis

topic: House, Argument, Empty, Empty Houses, Southerner

Frank was the BOSS and was not open to anything that was not from his head. There were no arguments about music because if you did, he would show you where the door was. Period.

- Jimmy Carl Black

source: Jimmy Carl Black Interview by Stephen Moore in Munich, Germany, www.stevemoorebooks.com. March 29, 2000.

topic: Doors, Boss, Argument

When you're on tour you definitely don't want lots of arguments. It's very important that everybody gets on because you're in close proximity a great deal of the time.

- Joan Armatrading

topic: Important, Want, Argument, Proximity

There are 435 members of Congress. There's one 'Morning Joe' show. Hopefully, we can keep hammering the argument that you can disagree with other people and have debates but remain civil.

- Joe Scarborough

topic: Morning, People, Argument

An ounce of algebra is worth a ton of verbal argument.

- John B. S. Haldane

source: "Obituary". "Nature", Volume 260, April 17, 1965.

topic: Argument, Algebra

Arguments are healthy. They clear the air.

- John Deacon

topic: Health, Air, Argument

We are all familiar with the argument: Make war dreadful enough, and there will be no war. And we none of us believe it.

- John Galsworthy

topic: War, Believe, Argument

Insight makes argument ridiculous.

- John Lancaster Spalding

topic: Ridiculous, Argument, Insight

This self-defeating behavior, so the argument goes, must be the result of warped domestic politics.

- John Mearsheimer

source: John J. Mearsheimer (2003). “The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (Updated Edition)”, p.228, W. W. Norton & Company

topic: Self, Argument, Behavior, Self Defeating Behavior

In argument with men a woman ever Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause.

- John Milton

topic: Men, Causes, Argument

My argument has always been that this is not an anti-Bush film, it's a pro-democracy film. And if Bush comes out on the wrong side of democracy, that's his problem.

- John Sayles

source: "Liberal America's last stand" by John Sayles, www.theguardian.com. July 21, 2005.

topic: Democracy, Sides, Argument

Living with the liberals, you get to hear their arguments, fight with them all the time. Keeps me alert.

- John Stossel

topic: Fighting, Argument

It is senseless to argue with someone whose sole purpose in life is to not be convinced of anything.

- Jon Campbell

topic: Purpose, Arguing, Argument

An Inconvenient Truth is so convincing that it makes opposers of the argument as credible as Holocaust deniers.

- Jon Niccum

topic: Holocaust, Argument, Truth Is, Inconvenient Truth, Opposers

If you have high IQ, you're really good at finding post-hoc arguments to support your feelings of truthiness.

- Jonathan Haidt

topic: Support, Feelings, Argument

Argument is the worst sort of conversation.

- Jonathan Swift

topic: Opinion, Argument, Conversation

He realized at last that the arguments of pessimism were powerless to comfort him

- Joris-Karl Huysmans

source: Joris-Karl Huysmans (2015). “Against the Grain: (À rebours)”, p.170, BoD – Books on Demand

topic: Comfort, Lasts, Argument

Arguments out of a pretty mouth are unanswerable.

- Joseph Addison

topic: Mouths, Argument

Lincoln once said that America was founded on a proposition that was written by Jefferson in 1776. We are really founded on an argument about what that proposition means.

- Joseph J. Ellis

source: Joseph J. Ellis (2003). “Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation”, p.16, Vintage

topic: Mean, America, Argument

The best argument for anarchism is the twentieth century.

- Joseph Sobran

topic: Argument, Century, Anarchism

A novel should be an experience and convey an emotional truth rather than arguments.

- Joyce Cary

source: Joyce Cary, Alan Bishop (1976). “Selected essays”, Michael Joseph

topic: Emotional, Crafts, Argument

Philosophy has to be enquiring; it can take nothing on faith, and its methods are based not on the blind acceptance of authority, but on establishing truths by reason and argument.

- Julian Baggini

topic: Philosophy, Acceptance, Argument, Blind Acceptance

The person who knows only his side of the argument knows little of that.

- Karl Barth

topic: Littles, Sides, Argument

Marriage is a series of desperate arguments people feel passionately about.

- Katharine Hepburn

topic: Marriage, People, Argument

There are a lot of good arguments for birth control, but as far as terminating a life that has already come into existence, I haven't found any.

- Kathy Ireland

topic: Birth Control, Argument, Found

Responsible Development is the style of development I aspire to now. It can be summarized by answering the question, How would I develop if it were my money? I'm amazed how many theoretical arguments evaporate when faced with this question.

- Kent Beck

topic: Style, Development, Argument

Most arguments with teenagers are setups. Your darling, simply stated, is manipulating you.

- Kevin Leman

source: Kevin Leman (2011). “Have a New Teenager by Friday: From Mouthy and Moody to Respectful and Responsible in 5 Days”, p.135, Baker Books

topic: Teenager, Argument, Darling, Setups

My argument is not that I shouldn't have been punished, but that the punishment didn't fit the crime.

- Kevin Mitnick

topic: Punishment, Argument, Fit

In these troubled times we live in, we should remain vigilant and see through populist arguments.

- King Albert II

source: "Belgium King Albert II Christmas Speech Sparks Controversy". www.bbc.com. December 27, 2012.

topic: Argument, Should, Troubled Times

I grew up in a family that despised displays of strong emotion, rage in particular. We stewed. We sulked. When arguments did occur, they were full-scale conniptions, and we regarded them as family failings.

- Koren Zailckas

topic: Strong, Emotion, Argument, Strong Emotions

I have an amazing relationship with my wife, but sometimes there are arguments. It happens.

- Kris Allen

topic: Wife, Argument, Sometimes, Amazing Relationship

My pappy told me never to bet my bladder against a brewery or get into an argument with people who buy ink by the barrel.

- Lane Kirkland

source: Quoted in David Olive Business Babble (1993).

topic: People, Ink, Argument, Pappy, Bladder

Heat is in proportion to the want of true knowledge.

- Laurence Sterne

topic: Want, Heat, Argument

Using insult instead of argument is the sign of a small mind.

- Laurie R. King

source: Laurie R. King (2016). “The Mary Russell Series 9-Book Bundle: O Jerusalem, Justice Hall, The Game, Locked Rooms, The Language of Bees, The God of the Hive, Pirate King, Garment of Shadows, Dreaming Spies”, p.273, Bantam

topic: Mind, Insult, Argument, Small Minds

It's very hard to make arguments about the effects of cloning on family relations if family relations are in tatters.

- Leon Kass

topic: Cloning, Argument, Relation

It's a powerful instrument, dynamite -- nothing like it for a convincing argument!

- Leonid Andreyev

topic: Powerful, Argument, Instruments

The necessary precondition for the birth of science as we know it is, it would seem, the diffusion through society of the belief that the universe is both rational and contingent. Such a belief is the presupposition of modern science and cannot by any conceivable argument be a product of science. One has to ask: Upon what is this belief founded?

- Lesslie Newbigin

topic: Belief, Birth, Argument, Diffusion

Unlike every other nation in the world, the United States defines itself as a hypothesis and constitutes itself as an argument.

- Lewis H. Lapham

source: Lewis H. Lapham (1997). “Waiting for the Barbarians”, p.64, Verso

topic: United States, World, Argument

To those who think that the law of gravity interferes with their freedom, there is nothing to say.

- Lionel Tiger

topic: Thinking, Law, Argument

It's the duty of a lawyer to represent anyone for whom a responsible argument could be made.

- Lloyd Cutler

topic: Lawyer, Argument, Responsible

Hear one side and you will be in the dark. Hear both and all will be clear.

- Lord Chesterfield

topic: Dark, Sides, Argument

Behind every argument is someone's ignorance.

- Louis D. Brandeis

source: "Mr. Justice Brandeis, Great American". Book by Irving Dilliard, 1941.

topic: Ignorance, Argument, Behinds

The final argument of kings

- Louis XIV

topic: Kings, Finals, Argument

The fly in her argument is that when she says, 'they' will feel like lemons, we don't know who 'they' are. And 'they' might BE lemons.

- Louise Rennison

topic: Might, Argument, Feels

An argument which proves too much, proves nothing.

- M. M. Mangasarian

topic: Too Much, Argument, Prove

Tears are not arguments.

- Machado de Assis

topic: Political, Tears, Argument

Those who insist on transferring the Iranian nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council have received an additional argument for doing so.

- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

topic: Nuclear, Argument, Council, Security Council

I was an adult before I began to learn that there is a difference between a conversation and an argument.

- Marion Dane Bauer

source: Marion Dane Bauer (1995). “A Writer's Story: From Life to Fiction”, p.24, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

topic: Differences, Adults, Argument

True wisdom, laboring to expound, heareth others readily; False wisdom, sturdy to deny, closeth up her mind to argument.

- Martin Farquhar Tupper

topic: Wisdom, Mind, Argument, Sturdy, True Wisdom

What I've learnt is when you walk into a family argument and people tell you it's about principle don't get involved. There is more to life than principles.

- Maurice Glasman, Baron Glasman

source: "'Ed Miliband Has an Angry, Insurgent Side’". Interview with Gary Gibbon, www.channel4.com. September 26, 2011.

topic: People, Principles, Argument

Notwithstanding these major arguments the wave theory initially did not meet with complete acceptance.

- Max von Laue

topic: Acceptance, Argument, Wave

Your assignment,' he bellowed at Kelly, 'was to make a persuasive argument. Demanding to know whether detractors of your position are on crack is not arguing persuasively.

- Meg Cabot

topic: Cracks, Arguing, Argument

It's difficult to love someone you don't respect, which is hard to remember when you're having an argument.

- Mehmet Oz

topic: Remember, Argument, Remember When

For hundreds of pages the closely-reasoned arguments unroll, axioms and theorems interlock. And what remains with us in the end? A general sense that the world can be expressed in closely-reasoned arguments, in interlocking axioms and theorems.

- Michael Frayn

source: Michael Frayn (2009). “Constructions: Making Sense of Things”, Faber & Faber

topic: World, Pages, Argument

I am very cautious of people who are absolutely right, especially when they are vehemently so.

- Michael Palin

source: Michael Palin (2010). “The Python Years: Diaries 1969-1979 Volume One”, p.92, Hachette UK

topic: People, Argument, Cautious

Lutherans, whose arguments and mistakes will not be difficult to contest or discover, do not want to attribute any value to works, and they do not understand enough the scope of the justification.

- Michael Servetus

topic: Mistake, Want, Argument, Lutherans

In science , all conclusions are provisional, subject to new evidence and better arguments, the very antithesis of religious faith.

- Michael Shermer

source: Michael Shermer (2010). “Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown”, p.197, Macmillan

topic: Faith, Religious, Argument

He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.

- Michel de Montaigne

source: Attributed to "Essais" by Michel de Montaigne, 1595.

topic: Noise, Arguing, Argument

Nothing requires a greater effort of thought than arguments to justify the rule of non-thought.

- Milan Kundera

topic: Effort, Argument, Justify