quotations about arguments & arguing
But yet beware of councils when too full;
Number makes long disputes.
JOHN DENHAM
Of Prudence
He'd undertake to prove, by force
Of argument, a man's no horse;
He'd prove a buzzard is no fowl,
And that a Lord may be an owl,
A calf an Alderman, a goose a Justice,
And rooks, Committee-men or Trustees.
SAMUEL BUTLER
Hudibras
When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.
WILLIAM HAZLITT
Works
Altogether they puzzle me quite,
They all seem wrong and they all seem right.
ROBERT BUCHANAN
Fine Weather on the Digentia
I am bound to furnish my antagonists with arguments, but not with comprehension.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
speech to the House of Commons
I am not arguing with you--I am telling you.
J. MCNEILL WHISTLER
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Testimony is like the shot of a long-bow, which owes its efficacy to the force of the shooter; argument is like the shot of the cross-bow, equally forcible whether discharged by a giant or a dwarf.
ROBERT BOYLE
attributed, A Treatise on Facts as Subjects of Inquiry by a Jury
Argument, of course, is the whole point of history. Disagreement; my word against yours; this evidence against that. If there were such a thing as absolute truth the debate would lose its lustre. I, for one, would no longer be interested.
PENELOPE LIVELY
Moon Tiger
Debate destroys despatch.
JOHN DENHAM
Of Prudence
Nothing firms up a friendship like a good-natured argument.
LEMONY SNICKET
Who Could That Be at This Hour?
This is no time nor fitting place to mar
The mirthful meeting with a wordy war.
LORD BYRON
Lara
A keen wit stabs harder than a finely honed argument.
RACHEL HARTMAN
Tess of the Road
Data levels all arguments.
ANTHONY W. RICHARDSON
Full-Scale
It were endless to dispute upon everything that is disputable.
WILLIAM PENN
Fruits of Solitude
It doesn't matter if I know of what I speak
The arguer's strong if the argument's weak
It's persistance, insistence, and a nice healthy winning streak
I got the last word in, I'm happy to announce
I got the last word in and that's all that counts
SICKO
Last Word
Much may be said on both sides.
HENRY FIELDING
Covent Garden Tragedy