Debate Quotes - Page 35

• When we observe contemporary society one thing strikes us. We debate but make no progress. Why? Because as peoples we do not yet trust each other.

  Albert Schweitzer

  Progress, Strikes, Contemporary Society

  Albert Schweitzer (1984). “The Words of Albert Schweitzer”

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• But, once you get a taste for shutting people up, it's hard to stop. Why bother winning the debate when it's easier to close it down?

  Mark Steyn

  Winning, People, Taste

  Mark Steyn (2014). “The Undocumented Mark Steyn”, p.373, Regnery Publishing

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• Until the late-nineteenth-century the House of Commons maintained a formal ban on the reporting of its debates.

  Clive Ponting

  House, Bans, Century

  Clive Ponting (1990). “Secrecy in Britain”

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• Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.

  Michael Crichton

  Matter, Way, Firsts

  "Aliens Cause Global Warming". A lecture at the California Institute of Technology, January 17, 2003.

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• Let’s be honest. Who here thinks your professors can say what they really believe? It scares me to death, and should scare you too, that the superstition of political correctness rules the halls of reason. What does all of this mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say, so telling us what to do can’t be far behind. Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me: Why did political correctness originate on America’s campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who’re supposed to debate ideas, surrender to their suppression?

  Charlton Heston

  Believe, Mean, Thinking

  "Why Johnny can't disobey" by Sarah J. McCarthy, www.wnd.com. March 20, 1999.

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• In education, it is said that the state must impose schooling on all children, else the parents and communities will neglect it. Only the state can make sure that no child is left behind. The only question is the means: will we use the union and bureaucracies favored by the left, or the market incentives and vouchers favored by the right. I don't want to get into a debate about which means is better, but only to draw attention to the reality that these are both forms of planning that compromise the freedom of families to manage their own affairs.

  Llewellyn Rockwell

  Children, Mean, Reality

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• When permitted to listen to alternative opinions and engage in substantive debate, people have been known to change their minds. It can happen.

  Carl Sagan

  People, Mind, Alternatives

  Carl Sagan (2011). “Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark”, p.550, Ballantine Books

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• The government's collection authority, under the Patriot Act, is basically limitless. They can get the medical records and financial records, gun purchase records. And it also becomes part of another important issue that relates to the FISA court and the rest of the debate. It almost becomes a secret law, like there are two Patriot Acts. The one you read on the laptop essentially leads you to believe that there's some connection to terror .

  Ron Wyden

  Believe, Gun, Government

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• We deal with all varieties of information. Somebody's always upset no matter what we do. We have to make a decision; otherwise there's a never-ending debate.

  Sergey Brin

  Decision, Upset, Information

  "Google Guys". Playboy Interview, kottke.org. September 2004.

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• The founding American generations did something that almost no others have ever done. They read the fine print! They taught their children to read bills, laws, court cases, legislative debates, executive decrees, and bureaucratic policies. They read them in schoolrooms and at home....They said they would consider their children uneducated if they didn't read such things.

  Oliver DeMille

  Children, Home, Law

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• On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this Supreme Being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly.

  Barry Goldwater

  Religious, Jesus, Powerful

  "Excerpts From Goldwater Remarks". Remarks in the Congressional Record, www.nytimes.com. September 15, 1981.

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• Build an "inclusive narrative" that goes beyond race, class, religion, etc., so that all may participate in the "the great debates".

  Neil Postman

  Race, Class, May

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• The spring of 1942 was given over to a very impassioned, strategic debate about where we should first attack in counterpunching against the Germans and Italians. The British argued very persuasively on the part of Winston Churchill, prime minister, that this was a very green American Army, green soldiers, green commanders.

  Rick Atkinson

  Spring, Army, Soldier

  "Military Historian Writes Of Wars Past And Present". Interview with Neal Conan, www.npr.org. July 1, 2010.

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• Let me say something at the outset. The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media. This is not a cage match. And, you look at the questions - "Donald Trump, are you a comic-book villain?" "Ben Carson, can you do math?" "John Kasich, will you insult two people over here?" "Marco Rubio, why don't you resign?" "Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen?" How about talking about the substantive issues the people care about?

  Ted Cruz

  Book, Math, Media

  Ted Cruz at the third GOP debate at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, www.nytimes.com. October 28, 2015.

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• Everyone seems to have internalized the fact that you can say anything you want at a televised debate, and only a tiny fraction of the audience will ever see a fact-check. So why not claim the moon is square?

  Ted Cruz

  Moon, Squares, Say Anything

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• Donald Trump lied about criticizing Mark Zuckerberg.Ben Carson lied about Mannatech.Carli Fiorina lied about the size of the tax code.Marco Rubio flatly refused to answer a question ("discredited attacks from Democrats") that I guess he didn't think he could just lie about. This is quite a debate.

  Kevin Drum

  Lying, Thinking, Zuckerberg

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• When you are interviewing someone, you have a chance to follow up, to press, to dig in. In a debate there's 30 seconds for the other guy, too. And the goal is to get them to engage with each other, not to engage you necessarily.

  Gwen Ifill

  Goal, Guy, Chance

  Source: www.motherjones.com

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• The drilling idea is spherically senseless - it's senseless from whatever point of view you look at it. It'd take 10 years to bring any oil online, and it would probably go to Japan. It sure wouldn't help gasoline prices here. All the economists say gasoline is still too cheap in the United States anyway. So here we're having this huge debate over offshore drilling that is just straightforward nonsense, which won't surprise you.

  Paul R. Ehrlich

  Japan, Views, Years

  "Q&A: Paul Ehrlich". Interview with Jesse Finfrock, www.motherjones.com. 2008.

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• There's all of this stuff where we have so much debate over nonsense; it could be cured if we had a better educational system, if we trained people to really try and look into things on their own. That's a tough thing to do, particularly with the educational system staggering.

  Paul R. Ehrlich

  Educational, People, Trying

  "Q&A: Paul Ehrlich". Interview with Jesse Finfrock, www.motherjones.com. 2008.

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• To me, the fun part of both jobs is to always try to push the discussion and debate forward in some way. The most fun part of being a theater critic for the Times was always to try and champion something that maybe other people didn't like, or that was produced under obscure circumstances or had to fight for its life. And I would say in the column what I try to do is in some ways related in that I'm trying to fight for a point of view. I'm not trying to be a kingmaker in either job, and don't want to be, and shouldn't be.

  Frank Rich

  Jobs, Fun, Fighting

  "The MoJo Interview: Frank Rich". Interview with Kiera Butler, www.motherjones.com. November 26, 2008.

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• A number of individuals tried to make my homosexuality a topic of debate. I admittedly found that rather upsetting.

  Jens Spahn

  Numbers, Upset, Topics

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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• The lobbying over China most favored nation trading status was disgusting. There's no way in hell that MFN would have passed in '95, '96, '97, '98, '99, 2000 if all these companies hadn't come in flooding and making campaign contributions and ask for people's support. That drove the debate. Every year was the allure of corporate dollars flooding into members' bank accounts.

  Mark Shields

  Years, People, Support

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• One of the candidates at the early GOP debate, George Pataki, said his routine before every debate is to drink a diet lemon Snapple iced tea and pray. Which is also the advice Chris Christie gets from his doctor.

  Jimmy Fallon

  Doctors, Advice, Tea

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• Donald Trump said prior to the debate that he wants to be very civil. He said that instead of referring to all Hispanics as criminals, he'll call them criminal Americans.

  Conan O'Brien

  Criminals, Want, Trump

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• Easterly, a celebrated economist, presents one side in what has become an ongoing debate with fellow star-economist Jeffrey Sachs about the role of international aid in global poverty. Easterly argues that existing aid strategies have not and will not reduce poverty, because they don't seriously take into account feedback from those who need the aid and because they perpetuate western colonial tendencies.

  Amy Lockwood

  Stars, Poverty, Sides

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