Andre Maurois Quotes

Good argument is intended to persuade another.

There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion.

That's what we're missing. We're missing argument. We're missing debate. We're missing colloquy. We're missing all sorts of things. Instead, we're accepting.

With guests who are 'in the middle of the fight,' we're able to hear their point-of-view on the topics, as well as advance our own feelings.

I will listen to any argument put to me.

It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them.

Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; argument an exchange of ignorance.

Philosophy is a performance sport - you have to play it with somebody back and forth.

I tend to solicit opinions from all those around me. I like to hear opinions and the rationale behind it from everybody in the room. Perhaps it's the result of going to law school and using the Socratic method.

Convincing yourself doesn't win an argument.

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.

Be Skeptical, but learn to listen.

Neither irony or sarcasm is argument.

In debate, one randomly was assigned to one side or the other. This had at least one virtue - it made one see that there was more than one side to these complex issues.

If I'm in a political argument, I think I can, with reasonable accuracy and without boasting, put the other person's side of the case at least as well as they could. One has to be able to say that in any well-conducted argument.

Information, usually seen as the precondition of debate, is better understood as its by-product.

I always have a point of view. It may not be right, but it's my own.

The point of essays is the point of writing anything. It's not to tell people what they already think or to give them more of what they already believe; it's to challenge people, and it's to suggest alternate ways of thinking about things.

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

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

Scholars will argue with each other about everything.

It is always possible to argue against an interpretation, to confront interpretations, to arbitrate between them and to seek for an agreement, even if this agreement remains beyond our reach.

Students need to learn how to think critically, how to argue opposing ideas. It is important for them to learn how to think. You can always cook.

A good argument, like a good dialogue, is always a proof of life, but I'd much rather go and read a book.

I'm a big believer in debate and difference of opinion.