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ARGUMENT

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see: "DIFFERENCE"
see: "REASON"
see: "COMMUNICATION" for other related links


Much might be said on both sides.
--Joseph Addison (1672—1719)
English essayist, poet, and dramatist.
In _The Spectator_ [1711—1712] # 122.

-

How many a dispute could have been deflated into
a single paragraph if the disputants had dared to
define their terms.
--Aristotle (384—322 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.


We ought in fairness to fight our case with no help
beyond the bare facts: nothing, therefore, should
matter except the proof of these facts.
--Aristotle (384—322 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.
_Rhetoric_ 3.1

-

Vilify, Vilify, some of it will always stick
--Pierre de Beaumarchais (1732—1799)
French playwright and adventurer.

In three moments a laborer will remove an obstructing
rock, but three moons will pass without two wise men
agreeing on the meaning of a single vowel.
--Ernest Bramah [Earnest Bramah Smith]
(1868—1942) British author.

'Twas blow for blow, disputing inch by inch,
For one would not retreat, nor t'other flinch.
--Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron] (1788—1824)
English Romantic poet and satirist.
_Don Juan_ [1818—1824], canto VIII, st. 77

There is only one way under high heaven to get
the best of an argument—and that is to avoid it.
--Dale Carnegie (1888—1955)
American writer and lecturer.
_How to Win Friends and Influence People_ [1936]

I do not love strife, because I have always found that
in the end each remains of the same opinion.
--Catherine the Great (1729—1796)
Empress of Russia fron 1762—1796.
Quoted in Katherine Anthony's _Catherine the Great_ [1926]

People generally quarrel because they cannot argue.
--G.K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton (1874—1936)
English essayist, novelist, and poet.

Passionate expression and vehement assertion are
no arguments, unless it be of the weakness of the
cause that is defended by them, or of the man that
defends it.
--William Chillingworth (1602—1644)
English theologian.

-

Silence is less injurious than a weak reply.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.


The soundest argument will produce no more conviction
in an empty head than the most superficial declamation,
as a feather and a guinea fall with equal velocity in a
vacuum.
--C.C. Colton (1780—1832)
English clergyman and writer.

-

And the combat ceased, for want of combatants.
--Pierre Corneille (1606—1684)
French dramatist.

Let sleeping dogs lie - who wants to rouse 'em?
--Charles Dickens (1812—1870)
English novelist.
_David Copperfield_, Ch. 39 [1850]

I am bound to furnish my antagonists with arguments,
but not with comprehension.
--Benjamin Disraeli (1804—1881)
British Tory statesman, novelist, and
Prime Minister [1868, 1874—1880].

-

Better shun the bait, than struggle in the snare.
--John Dryden (1631—1700)
English poet, critic, and dramatist.


A knock-down argument.
--John Dryden (1631—1700)
English poet, critic, and dramatist.
_Amphitryon_ act I, sc. 1

-

-

It is only when they cannot answer your reasons
that they wish to knock you down.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.
"The Assault upon Mr. Sumner"
(speech), Town Hall, Concord, Massachusetts [26 May 1856].


Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that
I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882)
American philosopher and poet.

-

Fear not those who argue but those who dodge.
--Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830—1916)
Austrian writer.
_Aphorisms_ [1905]

Where two discourse, if the one's anger rise,
The man who lets the contest fall is wise.
--Euripides (485?—406 B.C.)
Greek dramatist.
_Protesilaus_, fragment 656

-

[...] But the gingham dog and calico cat
Wallowed this way and tumbled that,
Employing every tooth and claw
In the awfullest way you ever saw-
And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew!

[...]

Next morning where the two had sat
They found no trace of the dog or cat;
And some folks think unto this day
That burglars stole that pair away!
But the truth about the cat and pup
Is this: they ate each other up!
Now what do you really think of that!

--Eugene Field (1850—1895)
American journalist and writer of children's verse.
"The Duel"

-

In a debate, rather pull to pieces the argument of thy
antagonists than offer him any of thy own; for thus
thou wilt fight him in his own country.
--Henry Fielding (1707—1754)
English novelist and dramatist.

He that scattereth thorns must not go barefoot
--Thomas Fuller (1654—1734)
English writer and physician.
Gnomologia [1732]

When you have the facts on your side, pound the facts; when
you have the law on your side, pound the law; when you have
neither on your side, pound the table.
--Newt Gingrich (1943— )
American politician.

There is no arguing with Johnson; for when his
pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the
butt end of it.
--Oliver Goldsmith (1728—1774)
Anglo-Irish writer, poet, and dramatist.
In James Boswell _Life of Johnson_ [1791]
"26 October 1769"

^

Samuel Goldwyn (1882—1974)
American film producer.

Goldwyn was not given to flights of (uncalculated)
sentiment. He and some colleagues, visiting him
at his home, were once engaged in a bitter dispute
over a script. One of them walked over to the window
looking out on Goldwyn's luxurious lawn. He stood
there for a moment, then called out to the others,
'Come look. Here we are fighting, and this marvelous,
peaceful event is taking place in nature right under
our noses. We should be ashamed of ourselves.' The
others, Goldwyn last, trooped over. Parading across
the lawn were a mother quail and her five little
chicks. They stood there for a short time; then the
silence was broken by the unappeasable Goldwyn:
'They don't belong here.'

--_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

In arguing one should meet serious pleading with
humor, and humor with serious pleading.
--Gorgias of Leontini (c. 483 B.C.—375 B.C.)
Greek sophist and rhetorician.

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 (1901—1987)
Russian-born American violinist.

If a donkey bray at you,
don't bray at him.
--George Herbert (1593—1633)
English religious poet.

Nothing lowers the level on conversation
more than raising the voice.
--Stanley Horowitz

It takes in reality only one to make a quarrel.
It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions
in favour of vegetarianism, when the wolf
remains of a different opinion.
--William Ralph Inge (1860—1954)
English writer and Dean of St. Paul's [1911—1934].
_Outspoken Essays: First Series_ [1919] "Patriotism"

-

An association of men who will not quarrel with one another is
a thing which never yet existed, from the greatest confederacy
of nations down to a town meeting or a vestry.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801—1809].
Letter to John Taylor [1 June 1798].


In stating prudential rules for our government in society,
I must not omit the important one of never entering into
dispute or argument with another. I never saw an instance
of one or two disputants convincing the other by argument.
I have seen many, on their getting warm, becoming rude,
and shooting one another. Conviction is the effect of our
own dispassionate reasoning, either in solitude, or weighing
within ourselves, dispassionately, what we hear from others,
standing uncommitted in argument ourselves.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801—1809].
Letter to Thomas Jefferson Randolph [24 November 1808].


Nothing gives one person so much advantage
over another as to remain always cool and
unruffled under all circumstances.
--Thomas Jefferson (1743—1826)
American statesman and president [1801—1809].
In _Master Thoughts of Thomas Jefferson_
(Selected by Benjamin S. Catchings), p. 82 [1907].

-

-

A man heated in talk, and eager of victory, takes advantage of the
mistakes or ignorance of his adversary, lays hold of concessions to
which he has no right, and urges proofs likely to prevail on his opponent,
though he knows himself that they have no force.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.
Adventurer #85


Prejudice, not being founded on reason,
cannot be removed by argument.
--Samuel Johnson (1709—1784)
English poet, critic, and lexicographer.

-

Though I've belted you and flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you'
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
--Rudyard Kipling (1865—1936)
English writer and poet.
"Gunga Din"

The very man who has argued you down, will
sometimes be found, years later, to have been
influenced by what you said.
--C.S. [Clive Staples] Lewis (1898—1963)
British scholar and novelist.

There is no good in arguing with the inevitable.
The only argument available with an east wind is
to put on your overcoat.
--James Russell Lowell (1819—1891)
American poet, critic, essayist, and diplomat.
"Democracy", Address at Town Hall,
Birmingham, England [6 October 1884].

It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.
--William G. McAdoo (1863—1941)
American senator from California [1933—1938].

^^

Amedeo Modigliani (1884—1920)
Italian painter and sculptor:

Modigliani's admiration of Utrillo was reciprocated. On the
occasion of their first meeting, they began by paying each
other extravagant compliments. 'You are the world's
greatest painter,' said one.

'No, *you* are the world's greatest painter,'
said the other.

'I forbid you to contradict me.'

'I forbid you to forbid me.'

The argument became heated. 'If you say that again,
I'll hit you.'

'You are the greatest--' and they fell to blows.

Later, they made up over several bottles of wine at
a nearby bistro. As they went out into the street, one
said, 'You are the world's greatest painter.'

'No, you are.'

And so the fight broke out again, until both combatants
were down in the gutter, where they went to sleep. In
the early dawn they woke up to discover that they had
been robbed.

_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_
edited by Clifton Fadiman and Andrι Bernard [2000]

^^

He who establishes his argument by noise and
command shows that his reason is weak.
--Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533—1592)
French moralist and essayist.

Agreeing to differ.
[Lat., Discors concordia.]
--Ovid [Publius Ovidius Naso] (43 B.C.—18 A.D.)
Roman poet.
"Metamorphoses" I. 433

To argue with a person who has renounced the
use of reason is like administering medicine to
the dead.
--Thomas Paine [spelled Pane prior to 1774] (1737—1809)
English-American writer and political pamphleteer.
_Age of Reason_ [1794]

-

Who can refute a sneer?
--William Paley (1743—1805)
English theologian and philosopher.
_Principles of Moral and Politcal Philosophy_ [1785]


The fair way of conducting a dispute is to exhibit,
one by one, the arguments of your opponent, and,
with each argument, the precise and specific
answer you are able to make to it.
--William Paley (1743—1805)
English theologian and philosopher.

-

An eagerness and zeal for dispute on every subject,
and with every one, shows great self-sufficiency, that
never-failing sign of great self-ignorance.
--William Pitt, the Elder, also called (from 1766)
1st Earl of Chatham (1708—1778)
British statesman, twice virtual prime minister
[1756—1761, 1766—1768].

You will stir up the hornets.
--Titus Maccius Plautus (254—184 BC)
Roman comic dramatist.
_Amphitruo_, act II, 2

When two discourse, if the one's anger rise,
The man who lets the contest fall is wise.
--Plutarch (A.D. 46?—119?)
Greek philosopher and biographer.

-

When much dispute has past,
We find our tenets just the same at last.
--Alexander Pope (1688—1744)
English poet.
_Moral Essays_ [1731-1735], epis. III, l. 15


What Tully said of war may be applied to disputing: "It should
be always so managed as to remember that the only true end
of it is peace." But generally true disputants are like true
sportsmen,--their whole delight is in the pursuit; and the
disputant no more cares for the truth than the sportsman
for the hare.
--Alexander Pope (1688—1744)
English poet.

-

In excessive altercation, truth is lost.
--Publilius Syrus (85—43 B.C.)
Latin writer of mimes who was originally a slave.
_Maxims_

The Argument from Intimidation is a confession
of intellectual impotence.
--Ayn Rand (1905—1982)
Russian-born American writer.
_The Virtue of Selfishness_ [1964]

It's hard for a fellow to keep a chip on his shoulder
if you allow him to take a bow.
--Billy Rose (1899—1966)
American lyricist and producer.

The most savage controversies are those about matters
as to which there is no good evidence either way.
--Bertrand Russell (1872—1970)
British philosopher, mathematician, and Nobel laureate.

A last trick is to become personal, insulting, rude, as soon as you
perceive that your opponent has the upper hand, and that you are going
to come off worst. It consists in passing from the subject of dispute,
as from a lost game, to the disputant himself, and in some way
attacking his person. It may be called the _argumentum ad personam_,
to distinguish it from the _argumentum ad hominem_, which passes
from the objective discussion of the subject pure and simple to the
statements or admissions which your opponent has made in regard to
it. But in becoming personal you leave the subject altogether, and turn
your attack to his person, by remarks of an offensive and spiteful
character. It is an appeal from the virtues of the intellect to the
virtues of the body, or to mere animalism. This is a very popular
trick, because every one is able to carry it into effect; and so it
is of frequent application.
--Arthur Schopenhauer (1788—1860)
German philosopher.
"The Art of Controversy" tr. by T. Bailey Saunders [1896]

To make another person hold his
tongue, be you first silent.
--Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 B.C.— 65 A.D.)
Roman philosopher and poet.

-

He draweth ot the thread of his verbosity
finer than the staple of his argument.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
"Loves Labour's Lost"


Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
that it do singe yourself.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.


Fluellen:
If the enemy is an ass and a fool and a prating coxcomb, is it meet,
think you, that we should also, look you, be an ass and a fool and a
prating coxcomb? in your own conscience, now?
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_King Henry V_ [1598—1599]


I understand a fury in your words,
But not the words.
--William Shakespeare (1564—1616)
English dramatist.
_Othello_ [1604—1605], act IV, sc. ii

-

If thou continuest to take delight in idle argumentation
thou mayest be qualified to combat with the sophists,
but will never know how to live with men.
--Socrates (470?—399 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.

-

The truth is always the strongest argument.
--Sophocles (496?—406 B.C.)
Greek dramatist.


No honest man will argue on every side.
--Sophocles (496?—406 B.C.)
Greek dramatist.

-

It would be almost unbelievable, if history did not record the
tragic fact that men have gone to war and cut each other's
throat because they could not agree as to what was to become
of them after their throats were cut.
--Walter Parker Stacy (1884—1951)
American jurist, quoted in Sam J. Ervin, Jr.,
_Humor of a Country Lawyer_ [1983]

Argument, as usually managed, is the worst sort of
conversation, as in books it is generally the worst
sort of reading.
--Jonathan Swift (1667—1745)
Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.

Arguments only confirm people in their
own opinions.
--Booth Tarkington (1869—1946)
American novelist and dramatist.

Let us consider that we are all partially insane. It will
explain us to each other; it will unriddle many riddles; it
will make clear and simple many things which are involved
in haunting and harassing difficulties and obscurities now.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
[Chapter epigraph in Marcel Danesi,
_The Liar Paradox and the Towers of Hanoi_]

Our errors and our controversies, in the sphere
of morality, arise sometimes from looking on
men as though they could be altogether bad,
or altogether good.
--Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715—1747)
French moralist and essayist.

A long dispute means both parties are wrong.
--Voltaire (Franηois Marie Arouet) (1694—1778)
French writer and philosopher.

-

Discussion is an exchange of intelligence;
argument is an exchange of ignorance.
--_20,000 Quips & Quotes_, Evan Esar

If you spend all of your time arguing with people who
are nuts, you'll be exhausted and the nuts will still
be nuts.
--"Dilbert", Scott Adams (1957— )

-----

ballyhoo
noun (plural bal·ly·hoos)
1. sensational advertising: sensational,
loud, or sustained advertising
2. uproar: a noisy argument or disturbance
argument/debate

descant [DES-kant], (noun)
To comment freely; to discourse at length.
Ex.: When they start on one of their polarised descants,
whether on state education, water rates, crime, the BBC
or whatever, they sound like a bumble bee and a wasp
fighting in a jam jar.
--Gillian Reynolds, "The biggest things to hit radio,"
"Daily Telegraph" [14 May 1999]

donnybrook [DON-ee-brook], noun:
1. A brawl; a free-for-all.
2. A heated quarrel or dispute.
Ex.: "Wine and talk flow freely, so much so that the meal ends
with a Rooney family donnybrook over, typically enough,
religion and politics."
--Howard Frank Mosher,
"24 Hours in Due East, S.C.,"
New York Times, April 7, 1991
A donnybrook is so called after Donnybrook, Ireland, a suburb
of Dublin that once held an annual fair known for its brawls.

impugn [im-PYOON], transitive verb:
To attack by words or arguments; to call in question; to make
insinuations against; to oppose or challenge as false; to gainsay.
Synonyms: challenge, deny, dispute, gainsay.
Ex.: "Even though it is nowhere alleged that disclosures of sinful
activity by priests impugn the integrity of the entire ministry,
that nevertheless is the passing legacy of the current scandals.
--William F. Buckley Jr.,
"The House of Disillusion,"
National Review, May 14, 2002

quibble (verb) ['kwi-bl]
To raise petty questions, to hesitate or argue over
trivial issues, to cavil.

salient (adj.) ['sey-li-κnt]
Leaping or jumping, saltatorial, as salient animals
like frogs and kangaroos; jumping or, standing out,
prominent, as a salient ledge or a salient point in
an argument.

tendentious (adjective) [ten-'den-chκs]
Exhibiting a strong tendency or point of view,
overbearingly didactic or partisan.
Usage 1: Not to be confused with "tendential" which means
simply "relating to a tendency." "Tendential ideas" are
those with a decided point of view but not an overbearing
one. "Tendentious ideas" so strongly support a tendency as
to become repulsive.

tenebrific (adj.) [te-nκ-'bri-fik]
Causing darkness, darkening,
obscuring, obfuscating


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