Barry Eisler Quotes

Though we cannot out-vote them we will out-argue them.

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

Convincing yourself doesn't win an argument.

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

Rhetoric is cheap, evidence comes more dearly.

Logic is the technique by which we add conviction to truth.

I am bound to furnish my antagonists with arguments, but not with comprehension.

At the end of reasons comes persuasion.

A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven.

Neither irony or sarcasm is argument.

Because an appeal makes logical sense is no guarantee that it will work.

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

Rhetoric and dialectics can't change what I have learned from observation and experience.

Argument is conclusive … but … it does not remove doubt.

Neither irony nor sarcasm is argument.

When you get me a good man made out of arguments, I will get you a good dinner with reading you the cookery book.

You can change my mind, but you gotta work harder at it.

If you believe you are right, then you should believe that you can make the case that you're right. This requires you to deal with serious objections properly.

The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one's opinion but rather to know it.

I did a lot of fast talking as a youth; I was pretty good at it. I was never talked into it - I was always the one doing the talking.

I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you an understanding.

I'm a talker. I love a good debate.

The only good reason to embrace a philosophical position is that you are convinced it is true or at least makes sense of the world better than the alternatives.

I'm not out to convince anybody of anything.

Arguments, like children, should be like the subject that begets them.