Quotes from Anthony Weston

It is not a mistake to have strong views. The mistake is to have nothing else.

you must use arguments to explain how you arrived at your conclusion. That is how you will convince others: by offering the reasons and evidence that convinced you. It is not a mistake to have strong views. The mistake is to have nothing else.

Truly informed sources rarely expect others to accept their conclusions simply because they assert them.

If Churchill recommends optimism, who are you or I to quibble?

Typically we learn to "argue" by assertion. That is, we tend to start with our conclusions—our desires or opinions—without a whole lot to back them up. And it works, sometimes, at least when we're very young. What could be better? Real argument, by contrast, takes time and practice. Marshaling our reasons, proportioning our conclusions to the actual evidence, considering objections, and all the rest—these are acquired skills. We have to grow up a little.

Airy elaboration just loses everyone in a fog of words.

In general, if you can't imagine how anyone could hold the view you are attacking, you probably just don't understand it yet.

Arguing face to face can be a powerful thing, and done deftly and persistently, it can reinforce and build respect itself, even across major differences.

Be ready to be surprised. Be ready to hear evidence and arguments for positions you may not like. Be ready, even, to let yourself be swayed. True thinking is an open-ended process. The whole point is that you don't know when you start where you'll find yourself in the end.

Come to a rousing end. End in style, with flair or a flourish.

Planning is important. Your paper has limits: don't fence more land than you can plow.

Don't jump in with two feet where truly informed people tread with care.

No matter how well you argue from premises to conclusion, your conclusion will be weak if your premises are weak.

People take in their car for servicing and checkups every few months without complaint. Why shouldn't they take similar care of their bodies?4

Note that an informed source need not fit our general stereotype of an "authority"—and a person who fits our stereotype of an authority may not even be an informed source.