Roger Bacon Quotes

Convincing yourself doesn't win an argument.

Neither irony or sarcasm is argument.

He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.

Persuasion is clearly a sort of demonstration, since we are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated.

Ignorance never settles a question.

Neither irony nor sarcasm is argument.

Good argument is intended to persuade another.

The best way to win an argument is to begin by being right.

A proof tells us where to concentrate our doubts.

Let one persuade many, and he becomes confirmed and convinced, and cares for no better evidence.

I often begin a thought with spirit and finish it with nonsense. The chain of my argument often escapes me, and when lost can seldom be retrieved. These faults are so overpowering that I should sink into perpetual silence were it not that sometimes in ardor of debate, when my feelings are wound up to a high tone, elocution pours itself along with unusual rapidity, and I have passages which would not shame a good speaker; this is the only thing that makes me tolerable to others or to myself.

The truth is always the strongest argument.

To convince someone of the truth, it is not enough to state it, but rather one must find the path from error to truth.

Analogies prove nothing, that is quite true, but they can make one feel more at home.

He who replies to words of doubt doth put the light of knowledge out.

That's the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you're never wrong.

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.

It would be awesome to be so impressive that we could sway people to our way of thinking just by declaiming our thoughts, but probably most of us lack such gravitas. Luckily, there's something even better: evidence, logic, and argument.

I believe that, too, it's hard to believe that anybody could not believe that.

The facts are on our side.

I wish I was as cocksure of anything as Tom Macaulay is of everything.

For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible.

The word 'belief' is a difficult thing for me. I don't believe. I must have a reason for a certain hypothesis. Either I know a thing, and then I know it - I don't need to believe it.

Well, I am not 100 percent sure of the definition of polemic, but it wasn't meant to convince anybody of anything.

To acquire immunity to eloquence is of the utmost importance to the citizens of a democracy.