Quotes About Debate

Intellectual freedom is essential -- freedom to obtain and distribute information, freedom for open-minded and unfearing debate and freedom from pressure by officialdom and prejudices. Such freedom of thought is the only guarantee against an infection of people by mass myths, which, in the hands of treacherous hypocrites and demagogues, can be transformed into bloody dictatorship.

Profound thoughts arise only in debate, with a possibility of counterargument, only when there is a possibility of expressing not only correct ideas, but also dubious ideas.

Keeping the future open by refraining from making irrevocable decisions that one could eventually regret, requires vigilance, reflection, and sagacity at all times. Politics, as the art of preserving the possibility of choices and debate on those choices, is therefore at the heart of technological dynamics.

The opening of a public debate about male homosexuality in Britain in 1952 was the conflict of the small back room, in another sphere.

By the time Obama came into office, Washington had already agreed over a period of a few weeks to a $700 billion government infusion into the world banking system. Nothing of the sort had ever been done before, and it was done spit spot with very little national debate.

We're going to hear a lot of spirited discussion about the President's plan in the next few days and weeks and that's fine as long as everyone comes ready to talk and not just snipe, complain and argue.

After we were hit on September 11, 2001, we were in a state of national shock. Less than six weeks later, on October 26 2001, the U.S.A. Patriot Act was passed by a Congress that had little chance to debate it; many said that they scarcely had time to read it.

The dinner table is a lively debate, and everybody weighs in in a different way. I like that, though.

Two sides to a story exist when evidence exists on both sides of a position. Then, reasonable people may disagree about how to weigh that evidence and what conclusion to form from it. Everyone, of course, is entitled to their own opinion.

Don't expect liberals to weigh the costs of their sweet-sounding policies.

The people that elected Donald Trump are Americans. They are every bit as entitled to weigh in on who should lead as any of us. The fact that they disagree with the values some of us hold dear is the point - America has always been about a battle of ideas that plays out over time.

For artists of my caliber, we're not played on the radio, so we don't really get a chance to get involved in that debate at all. We don't get a chance, because this weird kind of ageism exists in pop music. If you're past a certain age, you're not relevant. That's the kind of cliched term.

In Don Mills in the Sixties, nothing comes close to the humiliation of losing an argument. In our weird little creative circle, no one cares who has faster fists, but to lose an argument suggests inferior intelligence.

I'm still very much an atheist, except that I don't necessarily see religion as being a bad thing. So, that's a weird thing that I'm struggling with that seems to be offending both atheists and people that are religious.

I want to find someone on the earth so intelligent that he welcomes opinions which he condemns.

In my books I might hold the mirror to my own face. If others would like to borrow the mirror, they're welcome. The books aren't there to accuse others - merely to raise issues and keep the debates alive.

Leaders don't change their positions mid-debate. They welcome scorn from the masses because it creates the opportunity for dialogue.

Criticism, any amount, we welcome it. Come, let's have a discussion - in Parliament, all the better.

How well he's read, to reason against reading!

I cannot sit here and say I was beaten by Carol Miller. Because Carol Miller did not show up. She did not debate me. She basically avoided everything and just said, 'I'm with Trump, I'm with Trump.' And sadly, that's apparently a victory here in a place like southern West Virginia.

Do you think it's possible to discuss politics without preaching?

We can't lose precious time debating legislation that won't work.

Boris Johnson needs to be challenged, with passion, heart and precision.

The immigrant blame game is one of the most predictable, and most deplorable, elements of public debate in our nation.