Jennifer Egan Quotes

You can tell if someone is about social intercourse or just about browbeating somebody with their opinion. It's no fun arguing with a closed-minded person.

A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don't have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.

I decided to get to know my opponents and their arguments.

Let us agree here today to adopt among ourselves a simple and unwritten rule. We will not rise to criticize someone else's idea unless we are prepared to offer an alternative idea of our own.

Well, to tell you truth, I have learned a long time ago that the trick when doing a debate, any kind of debate, is to just turn off the judgment switch in my head.

Don't pay attention to the critics - don't even ignore them.

What we say is an opinion it's the best that we can reach, if anybody can bring a better opinion we will accept it.

You need people who have their own views, whose views you respect, whom you can have a productive disagreement with, and work out ideas which you might not have come up with, or who improve on ideas you had.

If you disagree with me about a position I have taken, or what I've done, tell me, argue with me, debate. Sometimes, right and good are not that clear; at other times, it is only deliberate and respectful debate that leads us to understand what road we should take.

I spend a lot of time bathing in a glow of consensus, but you have to be willing to say something to people who might not agree with you and take the consequences of what follows.

Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.

Any lazy or biased fool can have opinions; making judgments is the hard work of responsible and compassionate people.

It's a very important thing to learn to talk to people you disagree with.

I think it's interesting to me to talk to people who don't agree with me all the time.

I enjoy being around people who disagree with me; and I enjoy being in non-political contexts and activities.

I think that just because you've been through an experience doesn't make you the ultimate arbiter of what it means. We figure things out; we work things out through the help of other people who can engage with us but also be intelligently critical.

You should be able to voice your opinion and respect the voice of the other side. You should be willing to educate yourself and know what it is you're dealing with.

Take heed of critics even when they are not fair; resist them even when they are.

We can be critical of the things that we love. That is possible.

I have never been shy about listening to the input of others and weighing it seriously.

I've always been really opinionated, and mixed with being really open hearted, open to people shifting what I think all the time, but I like to speak with conviction.

We don't necessarily always agree, but hopefully we make each other think, and that's what matters.

What I generally tell a class is that if you're not interested in anybody else's work but your own, take another class.

The power of real debate is in the language and intellectual honesty of the debaters, alongside the engagement of spectators.

Trust and belief are two prime considerations. You must not allow yourself to be opinionated.