Peter Medawar Quotes

There's nothing I like less than bad arguments for a view that I hold dear.

Obviously something is wrong with the entire argument of "obviousness".

Sophistry is the fallacy of argument.

Logic is a feeble reed, friend.

To be clever in argument is not rationality but rationalization.

It doesn't stand up to huge intellectual scrutiny.

I don’t attack people. I attack ideas. And some very good people can have some very bad ideas.

Argument is not always truth.

He that thinks amiss, concludes worse.

Logic might be unanswerable because it was so absolutely wrong.

Using insult instead of argument is the sign of a small mind.

Extrapolations are the last refuge of a groundless argument.

How it chanced that a man who reasoned on his premises so ably, should assume his premises so foolishly, is one of the great mysteries of human nature.

The argument holds no water at all, not even a thimbleful.

Insight makes argument ridiculous.

Your reasoning is excellent, it's only your basic assumptions that are wrong.

In a debate, rather pull to pieces the argument of thy antagonists than offer him any of thy own; for thus thou wilt fight him in his own country.

Start out understanding religion by saying everything is possibly wrong... As soon as you do that, you start sliding down an edge which is hard to recover from.

Do not allow yourselves to be deceived: Great Minds are Skeptical.

To expect reason is where the fallacy lies.

Forbear to spew out reason from your mind, but rather ponder everything with keen judgment; and if it seems true, own yourself vanquished, but, if it is false, gird up your loins to fight.

Arguments that explain everything... explain nothing

To be avoided at all costs is the solace of opinion without the pain of thought.

The civilized man has a moral obligation to be skeptical, to demand the credentials of all statements that claim to be facts.

Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence.