Quotes About Debate

The question up for debate between Socrates and Phaedrus is whether the written word kills memory or aids it--whether it cripples the mind's power, or whether it cures it of its forgetfulness.

attempts to nail down "who we really are" most often serve as rhetorical pawns in unwinnable arguments fueled by competing agendas

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.

Answer a fool according to his folly" (Proverbs 26:4).

The fact of the matter is that nothing is achieved in this world, particularly politically, other than with persistence, and persistence involves repetition and it involves argument and re-argument... The public interest in free speech is not just in truthful speech, in correct speech, in fair speech... The interest is in the debate. You see, every person who has ultimately changed the course of history has started off being unpopular.

Wir müssen es auch riskieren, anfechtbare Dinge zu sagen, wenn dadurch nur lebenswichtige Fragen aufgerührt werden.

things changed when the debate broadened out to include the general public at large, and not just the political classes.

Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.

I have saved many young girls from marrying the wrong man and have kept others from going wrong," she announced. "My religion goes back to Jesus Christ. Houdini does not know I am a Christian." "Jesus was a Jew," Houdini shot back, "and he did not charge two dollars a visit.

it is a mark of the kingdom's political maturity that in times of crisis its leading men would generally come together to debate their differences rather than immediately reaching for their swords.

Let her [Truth] and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter? Her confuting is the best and surest suppressing.

Though all winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple, who ever knew truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter.

Who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?

Of all people who engage in controversy, we, who are called Calvinists, are most expressly bound by our own principles to the exercise of gentleness and moderation.

Mostly, matters of any consequence are three-sided, or four-sided, or polygonal; and the trotting around a polygon is severe work for people in any way stiff in their opinions. For myself, I am never satisfied that I have handled a subject properly till I have contradicted myself at least three times.

but up in the northwest, have been talking to a hard-right

She wins all arguments by the use of vehemence and the conviction that a difference of opinion is a personal affront.

I'd rather die fighting over great poets than over gods.

Literature is by definition opinionated. It is bound to provoke the arguments in many quarters, not excluding the hometown or even the family of the author.

Controversy is a last resort for the talentless.

Controversy is only dreaded by the advocates of error.

People generally quarrel because they cannot argue.

Much of the debate over global warming is predicated on fear, rather than science.

Do we fear terrorism so much that we throw out our Constitution, and are we unwilling and afraid to debate our Constitution?