Motivational Quotes

Argument

We must not contradict, but instruct him that contradicts us; for a madman is not cured by another running mad also.

- Antisthenes

Best Quotes about Argument

It was completely fruitless to quarrel with the world, whereas the quarrel with oneself was occasionally fruitful and always, she had to admit, interesting.

Sarton, May

It is the briefest yet wisest maxim which tells us to meddle not.

Colton, Charles Caleb

The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the right.

Hailsham, Lord Quintin Hogg

I will name you the degrees. The first, the Retort Courteous; the second, the Quip Modest; the third, the Reply Churlish; the fourth, the Reproof Valiant; the fifth, the Countercheck Quarrelsome; the sixth, the Lie with Circumstance; the seventh, the Lie Direct.

Shakespeare, William

It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.

William G. McAdoo

We must not contradict, but instruct him that contradicts us; for a madman is not cured by another running mad also.

Antisthenes

I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad soldiers; we will settle this matter by lunch time.

Bonaparte, Napoleon

When two quarrel, both are in the wrong.

If you go in for argument, take care of your temper. Your logic, if you have any, will take care of itself.

Joseph Farrell

10.

People generally quarrel because they cannot argue.

Chesterton, Gilbert K.

11.

The most important thing in an argument, next to being right, is to leave an escape hatch for your opponent, so that he can gracefully swing over to your side without too much apparent loss of face.

Harris, Sidney J.

12.

An association of men who will not quarrel with one another is a thing which has never yet existed, from the greatest confederacy of nations down to a town meeting or a vestry.

Jefferson, Thomas

13.

He who strikes the first blow admits he's lost the argument.

Chinese Proverb

14.

When you argue with your inferiors, you convince them of only one thing: they are as clever as you.

Layton, Irving

15.

We are not won by arguments that we can analyze, but by tone and temper; by the manner, which is the man himself.

Butler, Samuel

16.

Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument.

Whately, Richard

17.

It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle it without debate.

Joubert, Joseph

18.

When much dispute has past, we find our tenets just the same as last.

Pope, Alexander

19.

No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other.

Jascha Heifetz

20.

Neither irony or sarcasm is argument.

Butler, Samuel

21.

The argument is at an end.

Saint Augustine

22.

If you argue with a woman and win, you lose.

23.

Concerning God, freewill and destiny: Of all that earth has been or yet may be, all that vain men imagine or believe, or hope can paint or suffering may achieve, we descanted.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe

24.

In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth.

Publilius Syrus

25.

The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments.

Friedrich Nietzsche

26.

Argument is conclusive... but... it does not remove doubt, so that the mind may rest in the sure knowledge of the truth, unless it finds it by the method of experiment. For if any man who never saw fire proved by satisfactory arguments that fire burns. his hearer's mind would never be satisfied, nor would he avoid the fire until he put his hand in it that he might learn by experiment what argument taught.

Bacon, Roger

27.

Weak arguments are often thrust before my path; but although they are most insubstantial, it is not easy to destroy them. There is not a more difficult feat known than to cut through a cushion with a sword.

Whately, Richard

28.

When all are wrong, everyone is right.

La Lehaussee

29.

An argument is like a country road, you never know where it is going to lead.

30.

I learned an important lesson in the art of debate. Present your argument clearly, arm yourself with cutting wit and of course, bob and weave!

Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata

31.

With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plea; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.

William Lloyd Garrison

32.

The purely agitation attitude is not good enough for a detailed consideration of a subject.

Nehru, Jawaharlal

33.

Most of the arguments to which I am party fall somewhat short of being impressive, knowing to the fact that neither I nor my opponent knows what we are talking about

Benchley, Robert

34.

It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them.

Pierre Beaumarchais

35.

The Argument from Intimidation is a confession of intellectual impotence.

Ayn Rand

36.

Never contend with one that is foolish, proud, positive, testy, or with a superior, or a clown, in matter of argument.

Fuller, Thomas

37.

Any fact is better established by two or three good testimonies than by a thousand arguments.

Emmons, Nathaniel

38.

A long dispute means that both parties are wrong

Voltaire

39.

Hear one side and you will be in the dark. Hear both and all will be clear.

Haliburton, Thomas C.

40.

Argument, as usually managed, is the worst sort of conversation, as in books it is generally the worst sort of reading.

Swift, Jonathan

41.

Behind every argument is someone's ignorance.

Louis D. Brandeis

42.

I had a lovers quarrel with the world.

Frost, Robert

43.

The sounder your argument, the more satisfaction you get out of it.

Howe, Edgar Watson

44.

A sure way of getting the last word in an argument is to say you right.

45.

The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.

G. K. Chesterton

46.

When you have no basis for an argument, abuse the plaintiff.

Cicero, Marcus T.

47.

There are usually two sides to every argument but no end.

48.

Two dogs strive for a bone and the third one runs off with it.

Proverb

49.

When good people have a falling out, only one of them may be at fault at first; but if the strife continues long, usually both become guilty.

Fuller, Thomas

50.

I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me.

Dave Barry