Thomas Jefferson Quotes
Never [enter] into dispute or argument with another. I never yet saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many on their getting warm, becoming rude and shooting one another.
Jefferson, Thomas. "Letter to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, 24 November 1808." The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, edited by Barbara B. Oberg, vol. 33, Princeton University Press, 2006, p. 445.
See {618046} for an even earlier statement of this point.
Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels.