Best argument & may Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“What no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish.”

May Doe Shows Belief Ability Argument Climate Rational Abandoned

Author:Austin Farrer

“Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish.”

May Doe Belief Argument Climate Rational

Book:The Intellectual World of C. S. Lewis

Source: The Intellectual World of C. S. Lewis

“Where we desire to be informed 'tis good to contest with men above ourselves; but to confirm and establish our opinions, 'tis best to argue with judgments below our own, that the frequent spoils and victories over their reasons may settle in ourselves an esteem and confirmed opinion of our own.”

Men May Reason Desire Opinion Victory Judgment Argument Arguing Esteem Settling Contests Spoil

Author:Thomas Browne

“We may not understand how the spirit works; but the effect of the spirit on the lives of men is there for all to see; and the only unanswerable argument for Christianity is a Christian life. No man can disregard a religion and a faith and a power which is able to make bad men good. . .”

Men May Able Christian Spirit Christianity Effects Argument Christian Life Disregard Bad Man

Author:William Barclay

“The paradox of the culture wars is that they have made celebrities out of some artists who would otherwise vanish. Censorship has become a growth industry. This may be the best argument, in the end, for unfettered freedom of expression.”

May Made War Ends Artist Culture Growth Freedom Expression Industry Argument Being The Best Paradox Censorship Freedom Of Expression

Author:Michael Kimmelman

“I am a believer in liberty . That is my religion to give to every other human being every right that I claim for myself, and I grant to every other human being, not the right because it is his right but instead of granting I declare that it is his right, to attack every doctrine that I maintain, to answer every argument that I may urge in other words, he must have absolute freedom of speech.”

Giving Humans May Human Beings Answers Liberty Speech Argument Claims Absolutes Believer Doctrine Urges Grants Freedom Of Speech Absolute Freedom

Book:Miscellany

Source: Miscellany

“It is commonly said that if rational argument is so seldom the cause of conviction, philosophical apologists must largely be wasting their shot. The premise is true, but the conclusion does not follow. For though argument does not create conviction, the lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish.”

Ifs May Doe Said Shows Seems Belief Causes Ability Shots Argument Philosophical Climate Conviction Rational Conclusion Abandoned Premises

Author:Austin Farrer

“President Roosevelt and President Truman and President Eisenhower had the same experience, they all made the effort to get along with the Russians. But every time, finally it failed. And the reason it failed was because the Communists are determined to destroy us, and regardless of what hand of friendship we may hold out or what arguments we may put up, the only thing that will make that decisive difference is the strength of the United States.”

May Made States Reason Hands President Differences United Effort United States Argument Determined Communist Truman President Roosevelt President Eisenhower President Truman

Author:John F. Kennedy

“The argument against the persecution of opinion does not depend upon what the excuse for persecution may be. The argument is that we none of us know all truth, that the discovery of new truth is promoted by free discussion and rendered very difficult by suppression.”

Knows May Doe Truth Difficult Opinion Depends Truth Is Discovery Argument Excuse Discussion Persecution Suppression

Book:Religion and Science

Source: Religion and Science

“Arguments are like eels: however logical, they may slip from the minds weak grasp unless fixed there by imagery and style.”

Mind May Style Argument Weak Fixed Logical Slips Imagery Eels

Author:Alain de Botton

“Thou O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all Temples th' upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know'st; Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread Dove-like satst brooding on the vast Abyss And mad'st it pregnant: What is in me dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the heighth of this great Argument I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.”

Source: Paradise Lost Simplified!: Includes Modern Translation, Study Guide, Historical Context, Biography, and Character Index

“Expediency may tip the scales when arguments are nicely balanced.”

May Argument Scales Balanced Expediency

Book:Law is Justice: Notable Opinions of Mr. Justice Cardozo

Source: Law is Justice: Notable Opinions of Mr. Justice Cardozo

“When I say that terrorism is war against civilization, I may be met by the objection that terrorists are often idealists pursuing worthy ultimate aims -- national or regional independence, and so forth. I do not accept this argument. I cannot agree that a terrorist can ever be an idealist, or that the objects sought can ever justify terrorism. The impact of terrorism, not merely on individual nations, but on humanity as a whole, is intrinsically evil, necessarily evil and wholly evil.”

May War Whole Humanity Evil Individual Nations Accepting Objects Civilization Mets Argument Ultimate Aim Agree Independence Impact Worthy Terrorism Terrorist Justify Objections Idealist

Author:Benjamin Netanyahu

“It is of first-rate importance to notice from the start that stupidity is not the same thing, or the same sort of thing, as ignorance. There is no incompatibility between being well-informed and being silly, and a person who has a good nose for arguments or jokes may have a bad head for facts.”

Firsts Wells May Persons Facts Ignorance Jokes Argument Importance Rate Stupidity Silly Noses Being Silly Incompatibility

Book:The Concept of Mind

Source: The Concept of Mind

“To write and speak correctly is certainly necessary; but it is not sufficient. A derivation correctly presented in the book or on the blackboard may be inaccessible and uninstructive, if the purpose of the successive steps is incomprehensible, if the reader or listener cannot understand how it was humanly possible to find such an argument....”

Ifs Writing May Book Purpose Speak Steps Reader Argument Sufficient Listeners Inaccessible Blackboard

Author:George Polya

“Bertrand Russell used to employ the method of "evidence against interest"; in other words of deciding that a critique of capital punishment, say, carried more weight if it came from a prison governor. (My friend John O'Sullivan puts it like this: If the pope says he believes in God, he's only doing his job; if he says he doesn't believe in God, he may be on to something.)”

Ifs Believe May Jobs Used Interest Evidence My Friends Argument Weight Method Prison Punishment Believe In God Governors Pope Critique Capital Punishment Interest In Others

Author:Christopher Hitchens

“Judging from the tendency and effect of his arguments, an atheist does not appear positively to refuse that a God may be... His verdict on the doctrine of God is only that it is not proven. It is not that it is disproven. He is but an atheist. He is not an anti-theist.”

May Doe Atheism Effects Judging Argument Atheist Refuse Positive Atheism Doctrine Tendencies Proven Positively Verdict Theist

Author:Thomas Chalmers

“Whatever advantages may have arisen, in the past, out of the existence of a specially favored and highly privileged aristocracy, it is clear to me that today no argument can stand that supports unequal opportunity or any intrinsic disqualification for sharing in the whole of life.”

May Whole Today Past Opportunity Existence Support Clear Advantage Argument Equality Privileged Aristocracy Equal Opportunity Disqualification

Book:Blkberry Winter

Source: Blkberry Winter

“But the paradox is here: when cultivated people do stay away from a certain portion of the population, when all social advantages are persistently withheld, it may be for years, the result itself is pointed to as a reason and is used as an argument for the continued withholding.”

People Years May Reason Used Certain Social Results Advantage Argument Population Discrimination Paradox Portions Withholding

Book:Twenty Years at Hull House

Source: Twenty Years at Hull House

“From our earliest days in Liverpool, George and I on the one hand and Paul on the other had different musical tastes. Paul preferred 'pop type' music and we preferred what is now called 'underground'. This may have led to arguments, particularly between Paul and George, but the contrast in tastes, I'm sure, did more good than harm, musically speaking, and contributed to our success.”

May Different Hands Music Type Taste Music Is Argument Musical Pops Harm Contrast Liverpool Musical Taste

Author:John Lennon

“Never for a moment believe that the great body of the citizens of any State or States can deliberately intend to do wrong. They may, under the influence of temporary excitement or misguided opinions, commit mistakes; they may be misled for a time by the suggestions of self-interest; but in a community so enlightened and patriotic as the people of the United States argument will soon make them sensible of their errors, and when convinced they will be ready to repair them.”

Source: Life and Public Services of Gen. Andrew Jackson, Seventh President of the United States: Including the Most Important of His State Papers

“The irrationality of disgust suggests it is unreliable as a source of moral insight. There may be good arguments against gay marriage, partial-birth abortions and human cloning, but the fact that some people find such acts to be disgusting should carry no weight.”

People Should Humans May Facts Moral Source Birth Gay Argument Weight Insight Be Good Abortion Disgusting Gay Marriage Unreliable Irrationality Cloning Against Gay Marriage Human Cloning

Author:Paul Bloom

“Does it follow from: 'turn ye' that therefore you can turn? Does it follow from "'Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart' (Deut 6.5) that therefore you can love with all your heart? What do arguments of this kind prove, but the 'free-will' does not need the grace of God, but can do all things by its own power....But it does not follow from this that man is converted by his own power, nor do the words say so; they simply say: "if thou wilt turn,telling man what he should do. When he knows it, and sees that he cannot do it, he will ask whence he may find ability to do it..." 164”

Ifs Knows Men Needs Should Heart Kind May Doe Turns Asks Can Do Ability Lord Grace Prove Argument All Things Free Will Grace Of God

Author:Martin Luther

“The argument from design is ultimately an appeal to miraculous causes, i.e., causes that do not, and cannot, occur in the natural course of events. This is why an explanation via design is not a legitimate alternative to scientific and other naturalistic modes of explanation. To refer to a miraculous cause is to refer to something that is inherently unknowable, and this sanctuary of ignorance explains nothing at all. However much it may soothe the imagination of the ignorant, it does nothing to satisfy the understanding of a rational person.”

Source: Why Atheism?

“He who knows only his own side of the case (argument) knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion”

Ifs Knows May Littles Doe Has Beens Reason Able Sides Opinion Cases Argument Opposites Be Good

Book:J. S. Mill: 'On Liberty' and Other Writings

Source: J. S. Mill: 'On Liberty' and Other Writings

“We recognize the force of the argument that the effects of war under modern conditions may be felt in the economy for years and years, and that if the war power can be used in days of peace to treat all the wounds which war inflicts on our society, it may not only swallow up all other powers of Congress but largely obliterate the Ninth and the Tenth Amendments as well.”

Ifs Years Wells May War Used Force Felt Power Economy Modern Conditions Effects Economics Argument Treats Constitution Congress Wounds Our Society Amendments Effects Of War

Author:William O. Douglas

“Particularly when the war power is invoked to do things to the liberties of people, or to their property or economy that only indirectly affect conduct of the war and do not relate to the engagement of the war itself, the constitutional basis should be scrutinized with care. ... I would not be willing to hold that war powers may be indefinitely prolonged merely by keeping legally alive a state of war that had in fact ended. I cannot accept the argument that war powers last as long as the effects and consequences of war for if so they are permanent -- as permanent as the war debts.”

“[F]riends praise your abilities to the skies, submit to you in argument, and seem to have the greatest deference for you; but, though they may ask it, you never find them following your advice upon their own affairs; nor allowing you to manage your own.”

May Seems Asks Ability Sky Advice Argument Praise Affair Following Manage Allowing Submit Deference

Author:William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne

“Always win fools first. They talk much, and what they have once uttered they will stick to; whereas there is always time, up to the last moment, to bring before a wise man arguments that may entirely change his opinion.”

Men Firsts May Moments Lasts Winning Opinion Wise Fool Argument Sticks

Book:Brevia: Short Essays and Aphorisms

Source: Brevia: Short Essays and Aphorisms

“If any issue should unite liberals and conservatives, anyone who cares about the integrity of human achievement or respect for human accomplishment, may we not all pledge to avoid the silly censoring that can lead to a codification of Orwell's Newspeak? Consider John Milton's reasons for why good arguments are often lost: 'For want of words, no doubt, or lack of breath!'”

Ifs Want Should Humans May Reason Care Lost Issues Doubt Internet Integrity Achievement Argument Breaths Silly Accomplishment No Doubt Free Speech Who Cares Pledge Milton Censoring

Author:Stephen Jay Gould

“It is important not to let emotions get in the way of cold, hard, calculated military planning. Emotions may win arguments, but they don't win wars.”

May War Winning Emotion Argument

Author:Kathleen Troia McFarland

“Earthly minds, like mud walls, resist the strongest batteries; and though, perhaps, sometimes the force of a clear argument may make some impression, yet they nevertheless stand firm, keep out the enemy, truth, that would captivate or disturbe them.”

Mind May Sometimes Force Liberty Enemy Clear Wall Argument Impression Firm Strongest Nevertheless Mud Batteries Stand Firm

Book:An essay concerning human understanding ... The twentieth edition, etc

Source: An essay concerning human understanding ... The twentieth edition, etc

“Another argument of hope may be drawn from this-that some of the inventions already known are such as before they were discovered it could hardly have entered any man's head to think of; they would have been simply set aside as impossible. For in conjecturing what may be men set before them the example of what has been, and divine of the new with an imagination preoccupied and colored by the old; which way of forming opinions is very fallacious, for streams that are drawn from the springheads of nature do not always run in the old channels.”

Thinking Men Way May Has Beens Running Imagination Known Opinion Impossible Example Divine Argument Invention Streams Be A Man Forming Opinions

Book:Selected Philosophical Works

Source: Selected Philosophical Works

“Arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him.”

Men Should May Home Fire Arms Argument

Book:The Notebooks of Samuel Butler

Source: The Notebooks of Samuel Butler

“Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation, all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dismounts all these, and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men.”

“We are bound to maintain public liberty, and, by the example of our own systems, to convince the world that order and law, religion and morality, the rights of conscience, the rights of persons, and the rights of property, may all be preserved and secured, in the most perfect manner, by a government entirely and purely elective. If we fail in this, our disaster will be significant, and will furnish an argument, stronger than has yet been found, in support of those opinions which maintain that government can rest safely on nothing but power and coercion.”

Source: A Discourse, Delivered at Plymouth, December 22, 1820: In Commemoration of the First Settlement of New-England

“In an argument, you may silence your opponent by pressing an advantage of strength or of wealth, or of education. But you do not really convince him. Though he is no longer saying anything, in his heart he still keeps to his opinion, the only way to make him change that opinion is to speak quietly and reasonably. When he understands that you are not trying to defeat him, but only to find the truth, he will listen to you and perhaps accept what you tell him.”

Way Trying Heart May Stills Speak Wealth Silence Accepting Opinion Advantage Argument Defeat Opponents Convince

Author:Kano Jigoro

“...genuine trust implies the opportunity, of checking wherever it may be wanted... That is why it is the evidence, the experience itself and the argument that gives it Order, that we need to share with one another, and not just the unsupported final Claim.”

Needs Giving May Wanted Order Opportunity Share Evidence Argument Claims Finals Genuine

Author:Philip Morrison

“When you set about your composing, it may be necessary for your ease, and better distillation of wit, to put on your worst clothes, and the worse the better; for an author, like a limbeck, will yield the better for having a rag about him: besides that, I have observed a gardener cut the outward rind of a tree (which is the surtout of it) to make it bear well; and this is a natural account of the usual poverty of poets, and is an argument why wits, of all men living, ought to be ill clad.”

Source: The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, D.D. ...: With Notes, Historical and Critical

“Rationalism is an attitude of readiness to listen to contrary arguments and to learn from experience... of admitting that "I may be wrong and you may be right and, by an effort, we may get nearer the truth."”

May Effort Attitude Argument Contrary Readiness Admitting Rationalism Learning Experience

Author:Karl Popper

“However good an argument in philosophy may happen to be, it is generally not good enough.”

May Enough Philosophy Happens Argument Good Enough Not Good Enough

Author:David Berlinski

“Just supposing for the sake of the argument that there is a being of such a kind as that He may with any propriety be called "God", it does seem antecedently very improbable that weak and limited creatures of a day, such as we are, should discover Him by our own efforts.... who could be discovered in that way would hardly be worth discovering. I think we ought to stick to that principle rather firmly. I think we ought to be rather sure that we cannot know God unless God has been pleased to reveal Himself to us.”

Thinking Knows Way Should Kind May Doe Has Beens Seems Effort Principles Ought Creatures Argument Weak Sticks Sake Discovering Knowing God Improbable Propriety Supposing

Author:John Gresham Machen

“An argument may remove doubt, but only the Holy Spirit can convict of truth.”

May Spirit Doubt Holy Argument Holy Spirit Remove Convicts

Author:Ravi Zacharias

“I think we have got to start again and go right back to first principles. The argument I shall advance, surprising as it may seem coming from the author of the earlier chapters, is that, for an understanding of the evolution of modern man, we must begin by throwing out the gene as the sole basis of our ideas on evolution. If there is only one Creator who made the tiger and the lamb, the cheetah and the gazelle, what is He playing at? Is he a sadist who enjoys spectator blood sports? ... Is he manuvering to maximize David Attenborough's television ratings?”

Source: The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary edition

“I think that we may lose the argument, but I think we have to talk about gun control.”

Thinking May Loses Gun Argument Gun Control

Author:Chuck Todd

“At the end of the day, perhaps the best argument against capital punishment may be that it is an issue beyond the limited capacity of government to get things right.”

May Ends Government Issues Capacity Argument Punishment The End Of The Day Capital Punishment

Author:Scott Turow

“Margaret Thatcher was beyond argument a great Prime Minister. Her tragedy is that she may be remembered less for the brilliance of her many achievements than for the recklessness with which she later sought to impose her own increasingly uncompromising views.”

May Views Achievement Argument Tragedy Ministers Remembered Prime Prime Minister Brilliance Uncompromising Recklessness

Author:Geoffrey Howe

“Now when naturalists observe a close agreement in numerous small details of habits, tastes and dispositions between two or more domestic races, or between nearly-allied natural forms, they use this fact as an argument that all are descended from a common progenitor who was thus endowed; and consequently that all should be classed under the same species. The same argument may be applied with much force to the races of man.”

Source: The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

“I wish I were younger. What inclines me now to think you may be right in regarding [evolution] as the central and radical lie in the whole web of falsehood that now governs our lives is not so much your arguments against it as the fanatical and twisted attitudes of its defenders.”

Thinking May Whole Life Is Lying Wish Attitude Our Lives Evolution Argument Radical Falsehood Twisted Defenders Incline

Book:Collected Letters Volume Three: Narnia, Cambridge and Joy 1950–1963

Source: Collected Letters Volume Three: Narnia, Cambridge and Joy 1950–1963

“Negative people are worse than negative occurrences. The argument is over in ten minutes - the person may hang around for years.”

People Years May Persons Minutes Ten Negative Argument Negative People

Author:Jeffrey Gitomer

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