“Don't raise your voice, improve your argument."
Address at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa, 23 November 2004
― Desmond Tutu
“You cannot reason people out of a position that they did not reason themselves into.”
― Ben Goldacre, Bad Science
“Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of ignorance.”
― Robert Quillen
“If you argue with a fool, you become a fool.”
― L.A. Hilden
“The volume of your voice does not increase the validity of your argument.”
― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
“I am very cautious of people who are absolutely right, especially when they are vehemently so.”
― Michael Palin, Diaries: The Python Years, 1969-1979
“It does take great maturity to understand that the opinion we are arguing for is merely the hypothesis we favor, necessarily imperfect, probably transitory, which only very limited minds can declare to be a certainty or a truth.”
― Milan Kundera, Encounter
“The number of people that reside on our side will be the determination for a good result. Or a terrible one"
― Shannon A. Thompson, November Snow
“Argument cannot be answered with insults. Kindness is strength; anger blows out the lamp of the mind.”
― Robert Green Ingersoll, Lectures of Col. R. G. Ingersoll, Vol. I
“A mistake made by many people with great convictions is that they will let nothing stand in the way of their views, not even kindness.”
― Bryant McGill
“The clash of ideas is not weakness. Truth reaches its place when tussling with error.”
― Richard Henry Pratt
“That's the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you're never wrong.”
― Christopher Buckley
“Nothing so sharpens the thought process as writing down one's arguments. Weaknesses overlooked in oral discussion become painfully obvious on the written page.”
― Hyman G. Rickover
“First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.”
― Epictetus
I have come to the conclusion that there is no way that you can present a strong argument on any side of a serious issue unless you are able to also give a reasonable, cogent, fair argument for the other side. I have tried to live up to this whenever called upon to state my views. I have been accused of sometimes switching sides while the argument is still in process. If I did, it was probably that I convinced myself by listening to the other sides' arguments. - Jon Brill
