“I think that for most of our history, there was a nuanced reading of the Second Amendment until the decision by the late Justice [Antoine] Scalia and there was no argument until then that localities and states and the federal government had a right, as we do with every amendment, to impose reasonable regulation.” ThinkingStatesGovernmentReadingJusticeDecisionLateArgumentReasonableAmendmentsRegulationFederal GovernmentSecond AmendmentLocality Author:Hillary Clinton
“I am also full of admiration for Chelsea Manning [formerly PFC Bradley Manning]. Regardless of which side of the argument you're on, he stood up for something he felt wasn't right. That was an extraordinarily brave thing to do, and I think he was unfairly punished for it. It's a really big deal what he did, and he did it for the betterment of all us, including the soldiers on the ground, as well as the civilians caught up in those conflicts.” ThinkingWellsBigsFeltSidesDealsConflictArgumentBraveIncludingSoldierCaughtThings To DoAdmirationCaught UpBig DealCiviliansStood UpBettermentChelseaBradley Manning Author:Benedict Cumberbatch
“This willful deafness to religious argument, so new in our history, has had various effects. A principal one is encouragement of the already widespread view that religion doesn't have a lot to do with modern concerns - the way people live, the way they think.” PeopleThinkingWayChristianReligiousViewsModernEffectsConcernArgumentEncouragementVariousPrincipalDeafness Author:William Murchison
“Are there any good arguments in defence of moral nihilism? I think not.” ThinkingMoralArgumentDefenceNihilism Author:Torbjorn Tannsjo
“The indispensability argument seeks to assimilate the epistemology of metaphysical statements to the epistemology of statements that are obviously empirical. I think it fails to achieve this goal. The argument does not refute the Carnapian thesis that scientific theories and metaphysical claims differ epistemologically - observations can provide evidence for the former, but not for the latter.” ThinkingDoeGoalFailingAchieveTheoryEvidenceArgumentClaimsStatementsObservationFormerLatterMetaphysicalEpistemologyThesisScientific Theory Author:Elliott Sober
“On another front of the category-error argument are the insufferable fogeys who think the [Nobel] award is an outrage upon literature itself. That the problem is not simply a mistake may have been made about definitions, but that awful vulgarians are encroaching upon their sacred places. [Bob] Dylan, to them, is the harbinger of the low-culture mob; the latest in an unending number of final straws, or the thin end of a wedge that never seems to get thicker.” ThinkingMayHas BeensMadeEndsProblemSeemsCultureLiteratureNumbersMistakeFrontsLowsArgumentSacredErrorsFinalsDefinitionsAwfulAwardsCategoriesBobDylanOutrageNobelStrawsUnendingWedgesInsufferableHarbingerSacred Places Author:David Bennun
“There's no reason - not yet, anyway - to believe [Bob] Dylan himself endorses such an attitude; or that he would think of himself as a more profound and worthy recipient than, for instance, any of the brilliant Motown or girl-group lyricists who are more likely to be awarded a Nobel prize for chemistry than for literature. Whether there is more truth and humanity in his best lyrics than in Abba's, or less, is unquantifiable, and it would be meretricious to attempt such a calculation in contesting an argument he has been dragged into.” ThinkingBelieveHas BeensReasonWould BeHumanityGirlLiteratureAttitudeGroupsArgumentProfoundWorthyBrilliantInstanceNo ReasonPrizeChemistryBobDylanCalculationsNobelNobel PrizeMotownAbbaLyricistsGirl Groups Author:David Bennun
“I think that the history of the past hundred years has shown us that, by and large, the one linguistic group to whom separatism is being preached is not moved by the arguments which are used.” ThinkingYearsPastUsedGroupsHundredArgumentMoved Author:Pierre Trudeau
“I think the Congress will do the right thing. I think that they've - you know, they got into certain arguments and they start worrying about assessing blame, and there is a little demagoguery, but in the end, something this important, they'll do the right thing. So this really is an economic Pearl Harbor. That sounds melodramatic, but I've never used that phrase before. And this really is one.” ThinkingKnowsLittlesImportantEndsUsedCertainSoundWorryEconomicArgumentBlameCongressPhrasesRight ThingPearlsHarborsDemagogueryAssessing Author:Warren Buffett
“I think we at the faculty level have to model this behavior of having people that really truly disagree with one another be able to discuss those beliefs with one another at the level of discussion and argument and not at the level of, you know, personal attack so that our students can learn how to do that, too.” PeopleThinkingKnowsAbleBeliefLevelsStudentsBehaviorModelsArgumentDiscussionFacultyDisagreePersonal Attacks Author:Mark Schlissel
“Barring a theoretical resolution, which I think is unlikely, you either have to say there are zillions of parallel universes out there that we can't observe at present or you have to say there was a plan. I actually find the argument of the existence of a God who did the planning more compelling than the bubbling of all these multiverses.” ThinkingUniverseExistencePlansArgumentPlanningResolutionCompellingUnlikelyParallelsTheoreticalMultiverseParallel Universe Author:Richard Dawkins
“The soul must be distinct from intellect because even at its best, what the soul does when it's thinking, is it thinks linguistically, it thinks in a temporarily extended way, so it for example, might go through the steps of an argument chain, as if you were going through a syllogism and seeing that something followed from the premises, whereas intellect simply grasps the forms.” IfsThinkingWayDoeSoulMightFormStepsSeeingExampleArgumentIntellectChainsPremises Author:Peter Adamson
“One of the interesting things about the history of poetry in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries is that people who read liked getting their information in rhyme just as much as in prose. The genre that we would think of as nonfiction often was written in verse in forms like the Georgic when people thought that one of the tasks of poetry was conveying arguments and information in a pleasant way.” PeopleThinkingWayFormInterestingWrittenCenturyInformationArgumentTasksGenrePleasantProseNonfictionVersesRhymeInteresting Things18th CenturyConveying Author:Robert Hass
“[Margot Hentoff] thinks - first of all, she - this I hear from a lot of people beside her. She thinks that men have no business getting into this argument at all unless they're going to be pro-choice. But it turns out that a fair number of fetuses are male, and besides that, we are all one part of humankind, it seems to me.” PeopleThinkingMenFirstsSeemsTurnsChoicesNumbersFairsArgumentMalesHumankindFetus Author:Nat Hentoff
“I think the basic problem is that everybody thinks they know what the truth is, and sometimes they're even distorting the truth to make their arguments.” ThinkingKnowsSometimesProblemTruth IsArgument Author:Ray Dalio
“I'm sure Donald Trump will think that he has the truth, and some journalist is arguing that he has truth, and somebody else is arguing that they have the truth. And in fact it's even worse than that because they're so hell bent on their arguments that they will distort the truth consciously. They'll manipulate the facts to support their arguments because they're so hung up in the fight. That's where the problem is, so we argue all the time.” ThinkingFactsProblemFightingSupportHellTrumpArgumentArguingJournalistHungBentManipulate Author:Ray Dalio
“I think, the argument sometimes that I've had with folks who are much more interested in sort of race-specific programs is less an argument about what is practically achievable and sometimes maybe more an argument of "We want society to see what's happened, and internalize it, and answer it in demonstrable ways." And those impulses I very much understand.” ThinkingWayWantSometimesAnswersRaceHappenedProgramArgumentFolksImpulse Author:Barack Obama
“I don't think there would be many examples of South Africa pushing its weight around the African Continent. I don't think the facts would substantiate that argument.” ThinkingFactsWould BeExampleArgumentWeightSouthPushingContinentsSouth AfricaAfrican Continent Author:Thabo Mbeki
“I would have private conversations with [Buckminster Fuller]. I once had an argument, for four hours, about the existence of the Mobius strip. Because he believed in the Klein Bottle, you see. And I said, "How in hell can you claim to believe in the Klein Bottle and think that the Mobius strip is dubious?" He said, "Well, it's a torus." I don't know what he had in his mind as a mathematical background, because I don't think he got topology. Because, in other words, the Mobius strip didn't have angles in it.” ThinkingKnowsMindBelieveWellsSaidHoursExistenceHellFourConversationArgumentClaimsBackgroundsMathematicalBottlesAngleDubiousBuckminster FullerTopology Author:Paul Laffoley
“One of the things I think about with Donald Trump is what are his words actually attached to? With Trump, I'm not sure the words have roots. They are emanations of his psyche, but has he thought it through? Is there an argument, is there a policy implication?” ThinkingPolicyTrumpArgumentRootsNot SureImplications Author:David Brooks
“There's an argument that maybe [The Grinder] was better suited for streaming or cable. I don't know. I still like to think there's a place for smart, subversive, original comedies on networks.” ThinkingKnowsStillsComedySmartArgumentOriginalsCablesSubversiveStreamingGrinder Author:Rob Lowe
“I met Cory Bernardi in Holland. I believe it might be more difficult for him to meet me now. I think he doesn't intend to do that. I understand that this is politics. The friend from yesterday can have an argument not to see you tomorrow. It's sad but true.” ThinkingBelieveMightI BelieveDifficultTomorrowMetsArgumentYesterdaySad But TrueHolland Author:Geert Wilders
“It is much more difficult to get implemented politically what might be desirable economically. Even if you came out with an economic argument in favor of equalization - and I think there are arguments on both sides - I would still come down in favour of some sort of a scheme on strict economic grounds.” IfsThinkingStillsMightDifficultSidesEconomicArgumentFavorsSchemesStrictBoth SidesDesirableFavour Author:James M. Buchanan
“There are people who oppose a federal Constitutional amendment because they think that the law of family should be made by the states. I can see a legitimate argument there. I think it's mistaken, however, because the federal government, through the decisions of life-tenured federal judges, has already taken over that area.” PeopleThinkingShouldMadeI CanStatesGovernmentLawDecisionTakenJudgingAreasArgumentAmendmentsMistakenFederal GovernmentConstitutional AmendmentsAlready TakenFederal Judges Author:Dallin H. Oaks
“The ability of Republican leaders to rile up their base - helped along by folks like Rush Limbaugh, some commentators on Fox News - I think created an environment in which Republican voters would punish Republicans for cooperating with me. That hothouse of back-and-forth argument and - and really sharp partisanship I think has been harmful to America.” ThinkingHas BeensAmericaAbilityLeaderEnvironmentRepublicanNewsArgumentFolksVotersFoxesBack And ForthCommentatorsFox NewsPartisanshipCooperating Author:Barack Obama
“There are some very difficult things to understand that globalization is providing, that people really think are just here but really are a function of some of that. There are some very difficult arguments.” PeopleThinkingDifficultArgumentFunctionProvidingGlobalizationDifficult Things Author:Ken Moelis
“I don't think there's a lot of dispute for this. You can argue that we didn't get everything done that we wanted to get done, but I can make a really strong argument, and I think prove, that by almost every measure the country's better off now than when I started.” ThinkingI CanCountryDoneWantedStrongProveArgumentArguingBetter OffDisputes Author:Barack Obama
“Sometimes people have said that Islam, in its own calendar, is still only in the Middle Ages. It's still in the fifteenth century or whatever. And Christianity in the fifteenth century, after all, was full of inquisitions and burnings at the stake, and so on and so on. So give Islam time, and it will reach the point of maturity that other religions have. But Mormonism is much younger than Islam, and it's got there already. So I don't think that's an argument that works.” PeopleThinkingGivingSaidStillsSometimesAgeChristianityMiddleCenturyArgumentIslamBurningMaturityStakesMiddle AgesCalendarsInquisitionMormonismBurning At The Stake Author:Salman Rushdie
“The humanities prepare students to be good citizens and help them understand a complicated, interlocking world. The humanities teach us critical thinking, how to analyze arguments, and how to imagine life from the point of view of someone unlike yourself.” ThinkingWorldHelpingHumanityViewsTeachImagineStudentsCitizensArgumentComplicatedCriticalPoint Of ViewBe GoodCritical ThinkingGood Citizen Author:Martha C. Nussbaum
“Only in the 20th century, artists started taking the study of perception in a more humane way. They were thinking about the eye as being an instrument, the whole body as being a visual instrument. That sort of gave way a little bit with Cartesian - the "Cogito ergo sum" argument. It's not, "I think therefore I exist." It's, "I feel therefore I think therefore I exist."” ThinkingWayFeelsLittlesWholeBodyEyeArtistBitsStudyCenturyPerceptionLittle BitArgumentInstrumentsVisuals20th CenturyHumaneHumane Way Author:Vik Muniz
“The issue of redistribution of resources and wealth needs to resolved systemically, but in the meantime but there are individual spots you can occupy. There are things that you can do on a daily basis that will make a difference in moving the needle in individual lives. When we look at the mentoring of young black kids, for instance, the number-one mentor group is white women. I think after that maybe it's black women, and then white men, and then black men. We can make all kinds of arguments about that.” ThinkingMenNeedsLooksKindKidsMovingYoungIndividualBlackCan DoDifferencesWealthWhiteNumbersIssuesGroupsHe ManResourcesArgumentBasesAll KindsInstanceSpotsMaking A DifferenceMentorWhite ManBlack WomenNeedlesMentoringIndividual Life Author:Michael Eric Dyson
“A lot of times, candidates for office, especially incumbents, seem to get drawn into their opponents' arguments, and fighting on their turf, because you want to defend yourself. That's wrong. Fight on your own turf. Make them come to you. Make them explain why they don't agree with your position. I think that a lot of times, too many liberals, progressives, lose because they're afraid to really stand up for what they believe in.” ThinkingBelieveFightingOfficeArgumentAgreeTurf Author:Tom Harkin
“I wrote my own first book about the defense of television as an art form in 1992. It was harder to make the argument then. Now it seems absolutely a given. You can argue about when the Platinum Age Of Television begins, but I don't think that anybody can argue that it's not here.” ThinkingArtBookAgeArgumentArguing Author:David Bianculli
“In general, I think every novel is a political novel, in that every novel is an argument about how the world works, who has power, who has a voice, what we should care about. But political novels can be boringly polemical if they end up being too black and white, too one dimensional, like war is bad, killing people is wrong.” PeopleThinkingWorldWarCarePoliticalBlackNovelArgumentKillingBlack And White Author:Micah Perks
“Europe is sort of like the Soviet Union in the '30s and '40s. There was an argument, is it reformable or not? There is a feeling, and I think it's correct, that the European Union, the eurozone, and the euro, is not reformable, as a result of the Lisbon treaties and the other treaties that have created the euro. Europe has to be taken apart in order to be put together not on a right-wing, neoliberal basis, but on a more social basis.” ThinkingFeelingsTogetherTakenArgumentSovietSoviet UnionEuropean UnionEuro Author:Michael Hudson
“I don't think we are all irrational every time we fail to see through an argument in a book, but suppose it's true about you. You are still more rational than you think you are. You are irrational in a minor way - believing a misguided theory of the nature of rationality - but rational in a major way - you respond well to probabilistic evidence as you go through the day.” ThinkingBelieveBookFailingEvidenceArgumentRationalIrrationalRationality Author:Nomy Arpaly
“People mistake self-love for thinking they must always like what they see in the mirror - and yes, of course, that is the goal; that all depends on perspective - but my argument is that you can still have self-love while wanting to make progress or improve things. The main issue is that we attach too much to an idea of what our perfect body may be or what self-love should be. But that's the issue. There is no right or wrong. We can love ourselves and feel bloated. We can love ourselves but feel uncomfortable in our skin. We are a work in progress and human and won't always feel amazing.” PeopleThinkingGoalPerfectMistakeProgressPerspectiveArgumentSkinsUncomfortableWork In Progress Author:Danielle Tabor
“Even if you're trying to remain objective, even if you're trying not to mount any campaigns or endorse anything, when you cover an issue you are at least encouraging people to think about all the possibilities and if you're not covering political reform, electoral reform, you can write stories about them that don't say we must do this but just educate people on the fact that there are various advocates who are tugging us in that direction, that can present the arguments of those advocates, and I do think that's an issue we for some reason completely turned away from.” PeopleThinkingWritingTryingReasonPoliticalPossibilityArgumentVariousEducate Author:Frank Bruni
“I try not to make political arguments personal. It doesn't help and it switches a lot of people off. The real questions: Will we have peace? Will we have justice? Will we have pensions? Will we have free education? Will we have public services? .... those are the sort of things which interest me. I don't think that having a go at individuals really helps get your point across apart from anything else.” PeopleThinkingTryingRealHelpingPoliticalIndividualInterestJusticeArgumentPublic ServicePension Author:Tony Benn
“I'm a big believer in you make your argument to everybody, and you do it in a way that is real and very candid. Even if people don't agree with you, they appreciate that you're telling them what you believe and they know that you care about them. That's I think a very important part of it that sometimes gets missed, is that people will be OK with you saying something they're not totally on-board with as long as they know that you believe it because you want to help them. That means you've got to care about everybody.” PeopleThinkingBelieveMeanLongImportantRealSometimesHelpingCareArgumentAppreciateAgreeBeliever Author:Jason Kander
“Every worldview has its ambiguities - debatable elements that people simply will not see to eye on. There's nothing wrong with that as long as the disagreement is principled and dignified. I actually think that arguments - as opposed to quarrels - are good things because they're the best way to figure out what's true. Share your reasons, listen carefully to each other, be nice, and may the best idea win.” PeopleThinkingLongReasonEyeWinningNiceShareArgumentGood ThingsBeing NiceAmbiguityWorldviewDisagreement Author:Greg Koukl
“I really think that everything that's known about Hillary has been dissected, rehashed. For some people that is an argument that she would be the better candidate against McCain.” PeopleThinkingArgumentMccain Author:Maria Echaveste
“What we're doing now, is to try to eradicate the limited notion of how people are interacting with each other through hyper-racialized ideas. A lot of it deal with, as an example, genre. If I ask you to visualize a trap musician or a hip-hop musician, you'll see one thing. If I say visualize a western classical musician, you'll see a very different thing. A lot of how music is disseminated to us is hyper-racialized. It's not something that we think about all the time, but if you take a minute to look back, it's why you get this argument when there's a white rapper.” PeopleThinkingTryingDifferentMusicianMusic IsArgumentWesternRapperClassical MusicRap Music Author:Christian Scott
“I think the mother of all arguments against eating meat now is the climate change argument. Methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and when we eat meat we wipe away many of the good things that we do when we try to create greener and more sustainable practices in the rest of our lives. So if you add the concern for climate change with other concerns that were there. I think the case for vegetarianism is pretty overwhelming.” ThinkingTryingMotherPowerfulEatingConcernArgumentGood ThingsClimate ChangeGasOverwhelming Author:Dale Jamieson
“I think people resist feminism because they're scared. I think for women, they're scared of being picked on or of being called out. I hear from a lot of young women, you know, I don't want to call myself a feminist because I don't want to get in an argument with someone. And it's just not cool; like it's not a cool thing to be associated with. There's no benefit to saying that you're a feminist.” PeopleThinkingFeminismArgumentScaredFeministYoung Women Author:Jessica Valenti
“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
“I think the way that I delivered my request for acting was undeniable, and I think that I was blessed enough to have parents who saw it as something that there was no argument about. For that, I will always be grateful.” ThinkingEnoughParentActingArgumentBlessedGratefulBe Grateful Author:Nina Arianda
“If you go to the right conservative places you'll find there's a huge argument about this among conservatives, particularly the conservative elites and the conservative intellectuals. There's always an argument among our people over who's the smartest person in the room and they're always trying to outsmart each other with the fanciest smartest most obscure argument. The fact is these arguments are taking place within the conservative movement I think quite a lot.” PeopleThinkingTryingArgumentConservativeObscure Author:Rush Limbaugh
“I find myself speaking through the other characters, putting ideas in their voices and heads. Writing almost becomes a splitting of myself into multiple personalities. But I don't write to make an argument on behalf of any of the characters, or to prove anything about a character. I think that's important that I be serving the story first and not my own point of view.” ThinkingWritingImportantCharacterPersonalityProveArgumentPoint Of ViewMultipleMultiple Personalities Author:Danzy Senna
“I think that as poets, we can get away with stuff because we can ride on the melt of metaphor. We cover a lot of terrain psychically and temporally and linguistically via metaphor, and that can be a stand-in for an argument, whereas in prose, you have to make the argument, and you have to be convincing because the sequence must make sense in time and purpose.” ThinkingPurposePoetArgumentMetaphorMake SenseProseGet AwayConvincing Author:David Biespiel