Argument Quotes - Page 24

• Give no answer to contentious arguments or irresponsible accusations. Let such things "fly out open windows" until they spend themselves.

  Stephen Covey

  Giving, Answers, Window

  Stephen R. Covey (1992). “Principle Centered Leadership”, p.124, Simon and Schuster

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• Indeed, in Russia there is a terrible poverty of facts, and a terrible abundance of reflections of all sorts.

  Anton Chekhov

  Russia, Suffering, Poverty

  "Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends: With Biographical Sketch". Book by Anton Chekhov, 1920.

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• The worst, most insidious effect of censorship is that, in the end, it can deaden the imagination of the people. Where there is no debate, it is hard to go on remembering, every day, that there is a suppressed side to every argument.

  Salman Rushdie

  Death, People, Imagination

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• Arguments are like eels: however logical, they may slip from the minds weak grasp unless fixed there by imagery and style.

  Alain de Botton

  Eels, Style, Mind

  "The Consolations of Philosophy". Book by Alain de Botton, Chapter III, Consolation For Frustration, 2000.

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• But when the good people do know, as they certainly do, that three million persons (at the least estimate) were starved to death in one year by the methods they approve, why do they still fraternize with the murderers and support the measures? Because they have been told that the lingering death of the three millions might ultimately benefit a greater number. The argument applies equally well to cannibalism.

  Isabel Paterson

  Numbers, Years, People

  Isabel Paterson (2017). “God of the Machine”, p.323, Routledge

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• It is surprising to see what superficial, inconsequential reasonings satisfy the most part of mankind. A piece of wit, a jest, a simile, or a quotation of an Author, passes for a mighty argument.... This weakness and effeminacy of mankind in being persuaded where they are delighted, have made them the sport of orators, poets, and men of wit.

  John Arbuthnot

  Sports, Men, Pieces

  George Atherton Aitken, John Arbuthnot (1892). “The Life and Works of John Arbuthnot, M.D.: Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians”

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• Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians, among whom armchair arguments about war are being glibly bandied about in the name of state politics, have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.

  Isoroku Yamamoto

  War, Sacrifice, White

  "At Dawn We Slept". Book by Donald M Goldstein, Gordon Prange, and Katherine V. Dillon, 1981.

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• Art has no need of philosophical arguments, it does not follow the signposts of philosophical systems; Art like life, dictates systems to philosophy.

  Naum Gabo

  Art, Philosophy, Philosophical

  Naum Gabo (2000). “Gabo on Gabo: Texts and Interviews”

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• The effort of painting from life has cost my models a great deal of physical discomfort, and cost me a great deal of money in model fees... I have wanted to make the camera obsolete... because, in my reading about early 20th century art, I found that the most frequently used argument made in favor of abstraction was that the camera made realist painting obsolete.

  Philip Pearlstein

  Photography, Art, Reading

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• I don't get that - people going to war over religion. I don't know, I could see going to war over justice or democracy or even revenge. But if you're going to war over religion, now you're just killing people in an argument over who has the better imaginary friend.

  Richard Jeni

  Revenge, War, People

  "Comedy Central Presents: Richard Jeni". Documentary, Comedy, www.cc.com. May 05, 2002.

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• Good editorial writing has less to do with winning an argument, since the other side is mostly not listening, than with telling the guys on your side how they ought to sound when they’re arguing.

  Adam Gopnik

  Writing, Winning, Your Side

  "Facing History" by Adam Gopnik, www.newyorker.com. April 9, 2012.

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• We can't be anti-everything - we need an energy plan that adds up. But there's a lack of numeracy in the public discussion of energy. Where people do use numbers, they select them to sound big and score points in arguments, rather than to aid thoughtful discussion.

  David J. C. MacKay

  Thoughtful, Numbers, People

  "Think big on renewables scale" by David J. C. MacKay, www.theguardian.com. April 29, 2009.

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• Although people who had achieved a great deal in science and technology talked
  of the inscrutability of creativity, I was not convinced and disbelieved them immediately and without argument. Why should everything but creativity be open
  to scrutiny? What kind of process can this be which unlike all others is not subject
  to control?…What can be more alluring than the discovery of the nature of
  talented thought and converting this thinking from occasional and fleeting flashes
  into a powerful and controllable fire of knowledge.

  Genrich Altshuller

  Powerful, Creativity, Technology

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• A very weighty argument is this namely, that neither does the light which descends from thence, chiefly upon the world , mix itself with anything, nor admit of dirtiness or pollution, but remains entirely, and in all things that are, free from defilement, admixture, and suffering.

  Saint Augustine

  Light, Suffering, World

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• Inclination snatches arguments To make indulgence seem judicious choice.

  George Eliot

  Choices, Indulgence, Inclination

  GEORGE ELIOT (1868). “THE SPANISH GYPSY”, p.59

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• Philosophy is not politics, and we do our best, within our all-too-human limitations, to seek the truth, not to score points against opponents. There is little satisfaction in gaining an easy triumph over a weak opponent while ignoring better arguments against your views.

  Peter Singer

  Philosophy, Views, Triumph

  "'Last Generation': A Response". opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com. June 16, 2010.

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• The diversity of physical arguments and opinions embraces all sorts of methods.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Diversity, Opinion, Embrace

  Michel de Montaigne (1872). “All the Essays of Michael Seigneur de Montaigne”, p.868

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• If Christ is the wisdom of God and the power of God in the experience of those who trust and love Him, there needs no further argument of His divinity.

  Henry Ward Beecher

  And Love, Needs, Divinity

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers". Book by Henry Ward Beecher, p. 58, 1895.

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• Rhetoric is the counterpart of logic; since both are conversant with subjects of such a nature as it is the business of all to have a certain knowledge of, and which belong to no distinct science. Wherefore all men in some way participate of both; since all, to a certain extent, attempt, as well to sift, as to maintain an argument; as well to defend themselves, as to impeach.

  Aristotle

  Men, Way, Logic

  Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes (1823). “Aristotle's Treatise on Rhetoric”, p.1

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• In my work, you get used to criticisms. Of course you do, because there are a lot of people trying to get you down, but I always cheer up immensely if one is particularly wounding because I think well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left. That is why my father always taught me: never worry about anyone who attacks you personally; it means their arguments carry no weight and they know it.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Cheer, Father, Mean

  TV Interview with Enzo Biagi for Italian Television (RAI), www.margaretthatcher.org. March 10, 1986.

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• Advertising is the modern substitute for argument, its function is to make the worse appear the better article. A confused competition of all propagandas -- those insults to human nature -- is carried on by the most expert psychological methods -- for instance, by always repeating a lie.

  George Santayana

  Confused, Lying, Competition

  George Santayana (1937). “The Works of George Santayana”

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• It seems idle to rail at ambition merely because it is a boundless passion; or rather is not this circumstance an argument in its favor? If one would be employed or amused through life, should we not make choice of a passion that will keep one long in play?

  William Shenstone

  Passion, Ambition, Play

  William Shenstone (1804). “Essays on Men and Manners”, p.99

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• Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss And mad'st it pregnant: What is in me dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the heighth of this great Argument I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.

  John Milton

  God, Heart, Dark

  John Milton (2013). “Paradise Lost Simplified!: Includes Modern Translation, Study Guide, Historical Context, Biography, and Character Index”, p.9, BookCaps Study Guides

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• I have no mockings or arguments; I witness and wait.

  Walt Whitman

  Waiting, Witness

  Walt Whitman, Sculley Bradley, Harold W. Blodgett (2008). “Leaves of Grass: A Textual Variorum of the Printed Poems, 1855-1856”, p.5, NYU Press

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• Insight makes argument ridiculous.

  John Lancaster Spalding

  Ridiculous, Insight

  John Lancaster Spalding (1901). “Aphorisms and Reflections: Conduct, Culture and Religion”

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