Argument Quotes - Page 34

• We maintain, and have said in the Ethics, if the arguments there adduced are of any value, that happiness is the realization and perfect exercise of virtue, and this not conditional, but absolute. And I used the term 'conditional' to express that which is indispensable, and 'absolute' to express that which is good in itself.

  Aristotle

  Exercise, Perfect, Realization

  Aristotle (2013). “The Essential Aristotle”, p.380, Simon and Schuster

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• Teen fiction should be about teenagers - no matter how many arguments there are about what YA lit should be, this seems like the one thing we can all agree on.

  Robin Wasserman

  Teenager, Fiction, Matter

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• Nothing will do more damage to the pro-European movement than giving room to the suspicion that we have something to hide, that we do not have the “cojones” to carry our argument to the people.

  Nick Clegg

  People, Giving, Cojones

  "We need an EU referendum". www.theguardian.com. October 15, 2003.

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• When (an advocate) is not thoroughly acquainted with the real strength and weakness of his cause, he knows not where to choose the most impressive argument. When the mark is shrouded in obscurity, the only substitute for accuracy in the aim is in the multitude of the shafts.

  John Quincy Adams

  Real, Weakness, Obscurity

  John Quincy Adams (1810). “Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory: Delivered to the Classes of Senior and Junior Sophisters in Harvard University”, p.99

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• Infinite are the arguments of mages.

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  Infinite

  Ursula K. Le Guin (2012). “The Farthest Shore”, p.45, Simon and Schuster

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• There is nothing - no program, no hobby, no vice, no crime - that does not 'create jobs'. Tsunamis, computer viruses and shooting convenience store clerks all 'create jobs'. So that claim misses the plot; it applies to all so is an argument in favor of none. Instead of an argument on the merits, it is an admission that one has no such arguments.

  Chris Horner

  Jobs, Missing, Clerks

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• The important thing isn't the soundness or otherwise of the argument, but for it to make you think.

  Albert Camus

  Thinking, Make You Think, Important

  ALBERT CAMUS (1971). “NOBEL PRIZE LIBRARY”

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• The nobility of Teresa Leo's poems is that they are not disposed to hide from the dark-rather, they display a mind that tends toward obsession and brooding, that works against fatality like fingers at a knot. The firm, attentive mind on display and the lucid unfolding of the poems are the life instinct seeking and finding its way through again and again. Love and beauty are the argument, but they don't win easily. Bloom in Reverse works through elegy toward survival with moving persistence, both driven and compelling.

  Tony Hoagland

  Moving, Dark, Winning

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• 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

  Causes, Proof, Shock

  Emile Durkheim (2005). “Suicide: A Study in Sociology”, p.124, Routledge

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• Of all the arguments against voluntary euthanasia, the most influential is the slippery slope: once we allow doctors to kill patients, we will not be able to limit the killing to those who want to die.

  Peter Singer

  Doctors, Want, Able

  Peter Singer (2016). “Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things That Matter”, p.89, Princeton University Press

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

  Allan Lichtman

  Water

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• Never for a moment believe that the great body of the citizens of any State or States can deliberately intend to do wrong. They may, under the influence of temporary excitement or misguided opinions, commit mistakes; they may be misled for a time by the suggestions of self-interest; but in a community so enlightened and patriotic as the people of the United States argument will soon make them sensible of their errors, and when convinced they will be ready to repair them.

  Andrew Jackson

  Mistake, Believe, Patriotic

  John Stilwell Jenkins, Andrew Jackson (2011). “Life and Public Services of Gen. Andrew Jackson, Seventh President of the United States: Including the Most Important of His State Papers”, p.353, New Leaf Publishing Group

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• Through Plato, Aristotle came to believe in God; but Plato never attempted to prove His reality. Aristotle had to do so. Plato contemplated Him; Aristotle produced arguments to demonstrate Him. Plato never defined Him; but Aristotle thought God through logically, and concluded with entire satisfaction to himself that He was the Unmoved Mover.

  Edith Hamilton

  Plato, Believe, Reality

  Edith Hamilton (1957). “The Echo of Greece”, New York : W. W. Norton

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

  Jill Lepore

  Long, Interesting, Storytelling

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

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• Nothing will ruin an interesting intelligent argument more quickly than the arrival of a pretty girl.

  William Feather

  Girl, Sex, Intelligent

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• The Catholic clergy seldom bother to make their arguments plausible; it is plain that they have little respect for human intelligence, and indeed little belief in its existence.

  H. L. Mencken

  Catholic, Littles, Superstitions

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• The goal of a definition is to introduce a mathematical object. The goal of a theorem is to state some of its properties, or interrelations between various objects. The goal of a proof is to make such a statement convincing by presenting a reasoning subdivided into small steps each of which is justified as an "elementary" convincing argument.

  IU?. I. Manin

  Goal, Definitions, Steps

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• Theology is a non-subject. I'm not saying that professors of theology are non-professors. They do interesting things, like study biblical history, biblical literature. But theology, the study of gods, the study of what gods do, presupposes that gods exist. The only kind of theology that I take account of are those theological arguments that actually argue for the existence of God.

  Richard Dawkins

  Biblical, Interesting, Literature

  "Richard Dawkins at the Sydney Writers' Festival". "The Science Show" with Robyn Williams, www.abc.net.au. September 8, 2007.

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• Filmmaking materials are in the hands of more people now than ever before. I would like to think that the more people have these tools, the more people will learn how to use them, it's another argument I would argue for, personally, for art's education. Because there are kids who aren't that literate in screen language and they've got to know how people select shots, how people edit audio, how people combine things to make what they see on the screen. It would be like the 15th century or the 16th century in Germany, and somebody amends a printing press and you don't know how to read and write.

  Murray Horwitz

  Art, Kids, Writing

  Source: www.npr.org

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• Universities are fantastic places to gain knowledge on a subject, develop a personal network, explore your character and learn new techniques to approach problems. I do however believe that there is a strong argument for students who have an idea they are passionate about to just try and turn it into a reality. I fell into this category and I don't regret not going to University.

  Richard Branson

  Strong, Regret, Believe

  "The Richard Branson Interview". Interview with Sabian Phippen, theworldly.co.uk. February 21, 2015.

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• If you work through the existing structures you are going to be corrupted. By working through political system that poisons the atmosphere, even the progressive organizations, you can see it even nowadays in the US, where people on the "Left" are all caught in the electoral campaign and get into fierce arguments about should we support this third party candidate or that third party candidate. This is a sort of little piece of evidence that suggests that when you get into working through electoral politics you begin to corrupt your ideals.

  Howard Zinn

  Party, Organization, People

  "Rebels Against Tyranny". Interview with Ziga Vodovnik, www.counterpunch.org. May 12, 2008.

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• There is indeed something deeply wrong with a person who lacks principles, who has no moral core. There are, likewise, certainly values that brook no compromise, and I would count among them integrity, fairness, and the avoidance of cruelty. But I have never accepted the argument that principle is compromised by judging each situation on its own merits, with due appreciation of the idiosyncrasy of human motivation and fallibility.

  Sonia

  Appreciation, Motivation, Integrity

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• Unlike mathematical theorems, scientific results can't be proved. They can only be tested again and again, until only a fool would not believe them. I cannot prove that electrons exist..........if you don't believe in them I have a high voltage cattle prod I'm willing to apply as an argument on their behalf. Electrons speak for themselves.

  Seth Lloyd

  Believe, Fool, Speak

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• Obama is not just a powerful speaker, but a thinker engaged with the ideas of his country and his age--this argument by historian James Kloppenberg should therefore fascinate anyone interested in American politics or how ideas shape public life. Tracing the influences of Obama's family, educational, and work experiences on his ideas, Reading Obama locates a unique individual in the crosscurrents of American democracy and continuing fights over American ideals.

  Martha Minow

  Country, Powerful, Educational

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• The irrationality of disgust suggests it is unreliable as a source of moral insight. There may be good arguments against gay marriage, partial-birth abortions and human cloning, but the fact that some people find such acts to be disgusting should carry no weight.

  Paul Bloom

  Gay, People, Abortion

  "To urgh is human" by Paul Bloom, www.theguardian.com. July 21, 2004.

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