“I think America is a really interesting place. In New Zealand, we don't sue each other really commonly. There's a really specific reason, like someone's arguing over a fence that's been put up that's too high. Sort of practical things. And journalists are rarely sued for things. Whereas in America, you have a culture where that's the first thing you do. There's an ongoing pattern here where if you've got money, you can bully other people into doing what you want them to do. You don't need to be in it to win, you just need to be in it to be a pest.” PeopleThinkingReasonCultureWinningInterestingArguingJournalistFenceBullyReally Interesting Author:David Farrier
“We need to be honest with the American people about the problems and the challenges ahead and the solutions that are needed to fix them. And I would argue it's the president who has been missing in action on this front. He knows we have a debt crisis coming. All independent experts show us this. And so he hasn't even given us a budget yet. I mean, the law required that he was supposed to submit a budget the first Monday in February.” PeopleMeanProblemActionPresidentChallengesHonestMissingSolutionsIndependentCrisisArguingBeing HonestSubmitMondayFebruary Author:Paul Ryan
“When you look at the people that Donald Trump is actually put around him on his Cabinet, this is a pretty - I would argue a very conservative Cabinet. And whether it's on issues of immigration, his pick for the attorney general, very conservative on that issue.” PeopleConservativeArguingImmigrationAttorney Author:Amy Walter
“You're like, "I don't want to argue with Dr. Drew on national radio." You're like the invited guest. But at the same time, as a thinking person, it's very difficult just to stand by and go, "Yeah, man, it's cool."” ThinkingMenDifficultArguing Author:John Flansburgh
“Maybe one day, I would write a story about arguing in public, and those would come in handy in some way.” WritingOne DayArguingHandy Author:David Sedaris
“Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones wrote a great piece in Harvard Business Review titled "Managing Authenticity." In it, they argue that establishing authenticity as a leader is a two-part challenge: "First, you have to ensure that your words are consistent with your deeds; otherwise, followers will never accept you as authentic. The second challenge of authentic leadership is finding common ground with the people you seek to recruit as followers.” PeopleChallengesCommonLeaderAcceptingArguingAuthenticityConsistent Author:Chip Espinoza
“In the world of comedy, there's this: "If it's going badly, get off. If it's going well, get off". You can't argue with that either.” WorldComedyArguing Author:Al Murray
“I think Donald Trump does want a result. He clearly, in the meeting that we had was trying to sort of push the process along, realizing that the Senate has a role to play and that there are differences of opinion. I think he wants it to be a health care plan, proposal that we can go out there and defend and that he can defend and argue for to the American people.” PeopleThinkingTryingCareRealizingOpinionMeetingsArguingHealth CareProposal Author:John Thune
“I would argue that we are in the middle of the biggest cable-news bull market that we have seen in some time. Clearly outside of any war that has taken an ongoing story that has taken several weeks at a time. It's anyone's guess as to when it ends, if it ever does. And I think all of that is remarkable. No one predicted it.” ThinkingWarTakenWeekArguingRemarkable Author:Bill Hemmer
“When I first became a judge on the district court, I had one lawyer who came to argue before me, and he was looking off to the side as he was talking. I started asking him questions, and all of a sudden he whipped around and looked at me intently. I could see in his eyes that he had finally figured out, "This is no dummy, I'd better pay attention." It is satisfying to see that.” EyeAttentionJudgingLawyerArguingPay AttentionDummy Author:Sonia Sotomayor
“I've always argue against emotions. You're seeing intimidating threats against anchors by people in the Trump campaign. You see physical violence at rallies, you see a man handling of a reporter, Michelle Fields. You have Trump talking about opening this liberal law - these libel laws to protect feelings. What you're seeing here is kind of a mob mentality.” PeopleMenKindFeelingsEmotionViolenceProtectThreatArguingMentalityIntimidating Author:Eric Bolling
“Donald Trump talks to a lot of people. That doesn't change his ultimate views. If you go back on YouTube and you look at Donald Trump talking about trade in the 1980s, in the 1990s, this is the same person today. He's no different. So, while a lot of people like to talk and argue about who's talking to President Trump and who's influencing him to make decisions, it's Donald Trump. It's his agenda. It's always been his agenda. And it always will be his agenda.” PeopleDifferentTodayPresidentDecisionInfluenceUltimateTradeArguing Author:Reince Priebus
“We're very aggressive speakers. I remember when I was with one of my roommates in New York - and she's Portuguese, too - and we were in an Apple store talking about a computer in Portuguese. Some guy comes up to us and goes, "Hey, hey! Peace, peace! Stop arguing." It's not arguing. This is really just how we talk.” RememberGuyComputerArguingAggressiveSpeakersRemember WhenPortugueseRoommate Author:Daniela Ruah
“I would argue, for perspective's sake, that the arc of a really literary work is precisely that it both intensely reflects, and simultaneously transcends the conditions of its making. I would say that is the difference between literature and other kinds of writing. That is what the literary is - it ultimately doesn't matter what his circumstances were. And the thing that you were just saying about being sympathetic to Brontë and the fact that she could only write what she wrote when she wrote it... that's true. But look at that novel, which means so much to so many people.” PeopleWritingKindMeanLiteratureNovelCircumstancesArguingSympatheticJust Saying Author:Daniel Mendelsohn
“Vulnerability of artists is definitely what makes organizations like PEN necessary because, as I tried to argue, the actual work that writers and artists do has an ornery way of surviving. Particularly in this age of the internet, it is very easy for forbidden work to be found online somewhere if you know where to look. Artists themselves, however, are in increasing danger, and not just artists. The great concern is that year after year, rising numbers of journalists are being killed in pursuit of their work.” AgeArtistEasyDangerInternetConcernArguingJournalistVulnerabilityOnlinePensForbiddenSurviving Author:Salman Rushdie
“I'm a very serious person, but I don't take myself very seriously and I would rather laugh all day than argue.” LaughingSeriousArguing Author:Stone Cold Steve Austin
“Are you going to divest in the banks and pension funds? Plenty of people are willing to invest in stock of those companies. You can argue that when a lot of people divest, it makes the stock price artificially low, which makes their price-to-earnings ratio more favorable, which makes it a better investment for the people who don't give a damn - - and is it really going to change corporate behavior? It begins to create a climate of antagonistic opinion, the result might be that the corporate executives will retreat even more into their own selfjustifying narratives.” PeopleGivingOpinionBehaviorInvestmentArguingPlentyFundPension Author:Charles Eisenstein
“Trump walked into a media setting for which he was far better suited than the other contenders because he actually knows how to do reality TV and made them all look like pretenders. And I would argue that our news media has only gotten worse since Trump got in office. Trump is media crack. The ratings have never been higher. The reason CNN would run an hour of an empty podium waiting for him to show up during the campaign is because they were terrified if they turned away from Trump their rating would go down.” ReasonRealityRunningWaitingHoursOfficeEmptyArguingPretender Author:Naomi Klein
“It was three breakups going on at the same time. It was breaking up with my band, and my boyfriend, and right after that, my record label. I was arguing a lot with my record label during that whole time, so maybe they all affected each other. This record, Mondo Amore, came out of a time that was really heartbreaking and confusing, and that's why I switched the sound up a lot, to make it sound a little bit grittier and more raw.” ArguingBreakupConfusingHeartbreakingMy Boyfriend Author:Nicole Atkins
“American managers often say they would like to pay their employees more, they argue that they can't afford to do so and, at the same time, keep the prices of their products competitive. As one CEO recently explained, "I would treat my employees as well as Starbuck's treats theirs, if I could charge the equivalent for my product of three dollars for a cup of latte!"” ArguingEmployeeCeo Author:James O'Toole
“I always go with the dictionary definition of feminism, which is just social, political and economic equality for women. And that's kind of a strategic thing on my part, because I think that it's the hardest definition to argue with. You know, who doesn't want that? Everyone wants equality for women.” ThinkingKindPoliticalFeminismEconomicArguingDictionary Author:Jessica Valenti
“I think the most important thing is to, without belligerence, stand up for what want. Argue compellingly if someone tries to change your script. Yeah, legally they can if they want to. But rather than give up, as some of the writers do, and just wail about how your script got rewritten, it's much more difficult - but well within the realm of possibility - to argue very sincerely, calmly, and reasonably from your point of view, such that the director or the producer might decide, "All right, let's do it that way."” ThinkingGivingTryingImportantDifficultPossibilityGiving UpPoint Of ViewArguingProducersSincerelyRealm Of Possibility Author:Shane Black
“You can win as long as you chose your battles. You can win more arguments then you might think as a writer, even though you legally have no recourse, and your script can get muddied and altered in any way possible. You can use reason, logic, and passion to argue persuasively for a case in your favor. So what I've learned is to just basically not buckle - not be belligerent, not be angry, not throw fits, but just not buckle.” ThinkingLongReasonPassionWinningFitBattleArgumentLogicArguingYou Can Win Author:Shane Black
“There's crucial distinction that has to be drawn between the Shari'a, which is this hugely expansive vision of cosmic order that I've been describing, and principles of Islamic law, known in Arabic as "Fiqh" - a word that means understanding. If you're a devout Muslim, you don't argue against the Shari'a; the Shari'a is the path that God has laid down. But what you can do, and what people are doing all the time, is arguing over the correct interpretation of the Shari'a, arguing over the Fiqh. That's something that has been going on throughout Islamic history.” PeopleMeanUnderstandingVisionPathArguingIslamicCosmic Author:Sadakat Kadri
“I think it's important to understand Shari'a to be rooted in history - what we know about the history and what we don't know about the history. So then, if people want to argue, at least they're arguing from the same point and we know what we know, and we know what we don't know.” PeopleThinkingImportantArguing Author:Sadakat Kadri
“There's a reason why trainspotters are not girls, there's a reason why there's the myth of the slightly autistic male genius, there's a reason why Gertrude Stein believed that her self-presentation was male. One could argue that was Susan Sontag also. The things that we associate with femaleness are not the single-minded, exclusive pursuit of a vocation, whether it be art or anything else. It is not a model that is widespread in our culture, it's not something we think of for women.” ThinkingArtReasonCultureGirlGeniusMythArguingVocationAutistic Author:Claire Messud
“The chances of human beings being the only intelligent form of life in the universe are so minuscule that it's really kind of crazy to actually - no scientist could ever argue that we would be alone. It's much more likely that there are hundreds of thousands of other intelligences and other life forms out there in the universe just based on a strictly mathematical formula. And what that means is that artificial intelligence has probably already occurred in the universe.” KindMeanUniverseChanceCrazyScientistIntelligentArguingMathematicalArtificial Intelligence Author:Zoltan Istvan
“I don't think I have enough of an interest in today's cultural mood to connect with or reject it. I'm compelled by the ideas that arrive when I'm not trying, and I follow them through almost every time. I feel fortunate that these days, there are a lot of them. You could argue that they are informed by everything I'm experiencing culturally around me but I don't, for example, look online for new music or art very often, and I don't think there is much in contemporary culture for me. It's a needle in a haystack kind of thing, and I'd rather spend that time working on a new song.” ThinkingTryingKindArtEnoughSongCultureInterestArguingMoodOnline Author:Jorge Elbrecht
“Of all the things about de Sade, I would argue he is funny. A lot of people didn't understand de Sade. No. 1, he is a very good writer, and No. 2, he had the courage to talk about a lot of things that in public, even now, almost nobody has the courage to talk about. He would do it with a kind of funny way - not the stories themselves, but the way he tells them. He is never serious.” PeopleKindSeriousVery GoodArguing Author:Jesus Franco
“Those who become hyperpolyglots are those who meet two criteria. One, they are exposed to language material. Two, they undertake learning languages as a mission as well as acquiring the personal identity as a language learner.I describe the "neural tribe theory" of hyperpolyglots, arguing that they possess an atypical neurology that is selected by some environments and not others; presumably, there have always been humans walking around with that set of neurological traits or factors, only some of whom actually use those things for languages.” LanguageEnvironmentIdentityWalkingArguingTraits Author:Michael Erard
“I have made a career out of arguing that we shouldn't be criminalizing political differences. I've made a career out of arguing that the grand jury is an abusive institution. I have made a career out of arguing that we shouldn't stretch and expand the criminal law. I'm not going to change it because you think these are abnormal times. When Thomas Jefferson told the Justice Department that they had to prosecute Aaron Burr, and that he was going to have the chief justice impeached unless he found Aaron Burr guilty, those were special times too.” ThinkingPoliticalJusticeSpecialArguingGuiltyJuryAbusiveCriminal Law Author:Alan Dershowitz
“In marriage people get in fights because they don't communicate, because you don't want to hurt the other person. If you do want to hurt the other person, then shame on you - you're an asshole. My wife and I do not argue. We communicate. We talk. But we've never fought in our entire relationship.” PeopleFightingHurtWifeShameCommunicateMy WifeArguing Author:Aaron Paul
“Great companies create an environment in which employees act like owners. They do this through clear communication, articulation of clear vision and priorities, coaching and openness to debate/discussion. I would argue that this type of environment helps people to be at their best - and helps the company to be at its best.” PeopleHelpingVisionEnvironmentCommunicationArguingDebatePrioritiesDiscussionCoachingEmployeeOpennessGreat Company Author:Robert S. Kaplan
“I am proud to be American. We wouldn't have our big dreams without this quality, but if we can't agree on the shape of reality, when a White House, on the second day of a new administration, is arguing for alternative facts, that's problematic.” DreamRealityHouseQualityProudAgreeArguing Author:Kurt Andersen
“You know, compromise can't be a dirty word in American politics. There's plenty to argue about. Trump administration is still talking about ridiculous tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy. That should be resisted with every fiber of our being.” CuttingTaxesArguingRidiculousCompromisePlentyDirtyWealthy Author:Hillary Clinton
“The image is a great reminder how we create our world through interpretations made up of language and symbols. Our language and symbols are always incomplete versions of a greater reality. Here is why inquiry is such a powerful tool when compared to simple advocacy. Inquiry allows us to discover what might be outside the cave instead of arguing about the shadows on the wall.” WorldRealityLanguageSimplePowerfulWallShadowArguingIncompleteAdvocacy Author:Alan Briskin
“Everyone who is in a financial situation argues with his or her spouse. Many people argue with their children. Or they lose the respect of their children. I, fortunately, was not in that case, but I have friends, who've opened up to me, and their children turned on them! Not because they're bad kids, but because they say, "Well, you don't have the money that I need to do such-and-such a thing." You recede from the world. Because you don't want to deal with people. You don't want to socialize, because you have this deep, dark secret, which is absolutely, y'know, hollows you out.” PeopleWorldChildrenKidsDarkSecretSituationFinancialArguingSpouseDeep Dark Author:Neal Gabler
“Freedom of speech is about expressing your opinion, however bad or good, however right or wrong, and being able to defend it and argue it and be argued with about it in public forums. But that's not what academic freedom is about. That's not what the classroom is about.” OpinionArguingAcademicClassroomFreedom Of Speech Author:Joan Wallach Scott
“Churches typically argue is that God wants God's people to have a good life, and that a good life involves prosperity. This prosperity is not just emotional well-being, spiritual well-being, or physical well-being - it's also having good stuff. Having a nice house, a nice car, good clothing, etc. It's a package deal.” PeopleSpiritualHouseChurchNiceCarEmotionalProsperityArguingGood Life Author:Anthony B Pinn
“The ministers argue that within the context of scripture there's a requirement given by God that you've got to give ten percent of your income to the church. And if you give ten percent - here's the hook - God is going to reward your faithfulness by giving you that ten percent back, and a whole lot more.” GivingChurchArguingScriptureHookFaithfulness Author:Anthony B Pinn
“An mp3 is a compressed form of data. It's not the full spectrum. It's never going to sound as good as a record. I think one thing people forget is that every technological advance we fetishize had its place in time. CDs are usually an hour long because that's the amount a CD could hold - not because that's the optimal amount of time for any given musical expression. Side one and side two? That's a product of vinyl. But that's not necessarily dramatic form - you could argue that that was three acts.” PeopleThinkingLongHoursForgetMusicalArguingDramaticTechnologicalVinyl Author:Annie E. Clark
“Not to be too doctrinaire, but we live in the patriarchy! And therefore anything explicitly associated with the female gender, including motherhood, needs to be defensively claimed, because it's either devalued or sentimentally idealized, but not supported. I so thoroughly believe that female human beings have worth that I don't feel the need to argue it, but I think that there's a part of me that very specifically wants to make space for those ideas to be centralized, if only for the moment.” ThinkingBelieveMomentsFemaleGenderMotherhoodArguingPatriarchy Author:Maggie Nelson
“People who follow the principles of the Bible - even unknowingly - tend to have a dramatic impact on their world. For instance, no one would argue that it's a bad idea "to love your neighbor as yourself". On the other hand, those who don't follow it's principles or misuse the principles of the Bible for their own purposes can have equally devastating impact.” PeopleWorldPurposeLove YouNeighborArguingDramatic Author:Steve Green
“In North Carolina, for example, it takes 15 years to move a teacher's salary from $30,000 to $40,000. So it's really difficult to argue that pay doesn't have something to do with the lack of prestige.” MovingDifficultArguingPrestige Author:Dana Goldstein
“When people hear that I have a chronic illness, they'll say things like "Focus on you." Well, my spiritual and emotional fulfillment is based not on who I am but on what I can give. Plus, many of my favorite philosophers suggested that self-fulfillment is found through service. Who am I to argue with them?” PeopleGivingSpiritualFocusEmotionalMy FavoritePhilosopherIllnessArguingFulfillment Author:Karen Duffy
“I argue that science would be much richer if it were multisensory. The problem with instrumentation is that instruments, unlike our senses, can be monosensory. Since the discovery of the electromagnetic spectrum - which is really the discovery that all energy coming from something has a wave form - in theory we could image anything along that spectrum. In fact, we don't, because only certain parts of the spectrum have been instrumentalized. But the new thing is computerization. You can take all the data, the measurement of the frequencies, and transform it into an image.” ProblemEnergyWaveArguing Author:Don Ihde
“I argue that in the long run, the US would be on a far more financially secure footing if we recalibrate how we spend about two-to-three percent of the country's GNP, using state and federal taxes to create pools of money for spending on America's poor - which would, as numerous economists have argued in recent years, create virtuous spending circles, since those on lower incomes spend more of each extra dollar in their possession than do those on higher incomes.” LongRunningPoorTaxesPossessionArguingExtrasPoolVirtuousEconomist Author:Sasha Abramsky
“I'm kind of interested in visual communication. For me it's more about suggesting than arguing a point.” KindCommunicationArguing Author:Iron & Wine
“The song succeeds or fails just based on whether you argue your point successfully.” SongFailingSucceedArguing Author:Iron & Wine