"I never saw an instance of one..." - Quote by Thomas Jefferson
I never saw an instance of one or two disputants convincing the other by argument.
More by Thomas Jefferson
“And where else will [Hume,] this degenerate son of science, this traitor to his fellow men, find the origin of just powers, if not in the majority of the society? Will it be in the minority? Or in an individual of that minority?”
“[The Federal Convention] is really an assembly of demigods.”
“Our bills shall not be killed.”
More on Argument
“The partisan when he is engaged in a dispute, cares nothing about the rights of the question, but is anxious only to convince his hearers of his own assertions.”
“Did you ever notice how difficult it is to argue with someone who is not obsessed with being right?”
“When an objection cannot be made formidable, there is some policy in trying to make it frightful; and to substitute the yell and the war-whoop, in the place of reason, argument and good order.”
More on Debate
“Please proceed, Governor.”
“To me consensus seems to be - the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no-one believes, but to which no-one objects - the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner "I stand for consensus"?”
“Immigration laws are the only laws that are discussed in terms of how to help people who break them.”