Quotes About Debate

Elliot told me that bigots could be "slippery" if you accused them outright.

I find it a pity that freedom to disagree was not tolerated here today." Cooper

Decision has greater virtue and force if taken after there has been eloquent dissent.

So oft in theologic wars, / The disputants, I ween, / Rail on in utter ignorance / Of what each other mean, / And prate about an Elephant / Not one of them has seen.

The university is the last remaining platform for national dissent.

It is reason, and not passion, which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision.

Since when was an emotional argument won by logic?

It is dangerous to mention any subject having high emotional content without hastily saying where you are for or agin it.

... why are so many religious people arguing about the origin of the species but so few concerned about the extinction of the species?

Equality is a nice idea, but it's entirely impossible to prove.

EQUAL RIGHTS and FREE DISCUSSION will be fearlessly advocated and maintained. Sectarian dogmas or tenets will be investigated and compared.

Regarding the debate about faith and works: It's like asking which blade in a pair of scissors is most important.

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.

Faith strikes me as intellectual laziness, but I don't argue with it - especially as I am rarely in a position to prove that it is mistaken. Negative proof is usually impossible.

...those who think that faith is superior to reason, and try to reason me into thinking that way; why don't they faith me into it?

Atheists sometimes come across as a bit arrogant in this regard, and characterizing faith as something only an idiot would attach themselves to.

To prove religious faith by human reason is rationalistic claptrap.

There is no wild beast so ferocious as Christians who differ concerning their faith.

It is curious that atheists have proved to be so intolerant of those who have a faith.

Many, many times I would shake my head in dismay at the goings-on in the House of Commons, but that never caused me to lose my fundamental faith in the values of our parliamentary institutions.

Most atheists bristle at the thought that atheism has anything to do with faith, but not Penn Jillette.

If a religious person says "No, no, no" and they won't listen to science, it makes me think that they don't have faith in their own religion.

The problem with closed minded people, is that their mouth is always open.

It's a waste of time arguing with a fool because if you do, you will only end up making yourself one too.