John J. McLaughlin Quotes

Public discussion demands at least the profession of good faith.

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

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.

Debate is so much better than denial.

The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.

I don’t expect anyone to just sit there and agree with me, that’s not their job.

I have ideas, but those ideas could be wrong. The only way that you would change someone's mind is through dialogue, through productive discussion. If you're not going to have productive discussion, what are you going to do?

I want people to have conversations, to have controversy because it creates dialogue and builds bridges.

We need to in this country begin again to raise civil discourse to another level. I mean, we shout and scream and yell and get very little accomplished, but you can disagree very much with the next guy and still be friends and acquaintances.

Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory.

Truth springs from argument amongst friends.

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

A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That's why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity, two intelligent talkers seldom meet.

Dialogue means debates and everyone's point of view.

You can't just talk politics all the time - it's boring.

I have and I will always work to promote a civil public discourse.

I've slipped on occasion into the realm of irresponsible invective, but I try to avoid it and generally recant when I fall short. Because name-calling does nothing to improve understanding or move the political debate forward.

The true spirit of conversation consists in building on another man's observation, not overturning it.

Civility is not not saying negative or harsh things. It is not the absence of critical analysis. It is the manner in which we are sharing this territorial freedom of political discussion. If our discourse is yelled and screamed and interrupted and patronized, that's uncivil.

We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another - until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.

We may disagree on some things, but we can do so without being disagreeable.

Our civilization is becoming less civil. You don’t have the right to demonize somebody just because they disagree with you.

Hold on. It’s not a fight. It’s a discussion.

Somewhere in this we got into impugning people's character and motives if we didn't like their ideas. We gotta get back to just debating ideas.

I think it's important to have conversation about things instead of shutting things down.