Quotes Tagged "discussion"

The decision is your own voice, an opinion is the echo of someone else's voice.

Discussion is impossible with someone who claims not to seek the truth, but already to possess it.

Do you know, the only people I can have a conversation with are the Jews? At least when they quote scripture at you they are not merely repeating something some priest has babbled in their ear. They have the great merit of disagreeing with nearly everything I say. In fact, they disagree with almost everything they say themselves. And most importantly, they don't think that shouting strengthens their argument.

If there is no disparity of opinions there is nothing of value being discussed

Rational argument can be conducted with some prospect of success only so long as the emotionality of a given situation does not exceed a critical degree.

[Responding to the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce's question whether he traced his descent from an ape on his mother's or his father's side] A man has no reason to be ashamed of having an ape for his grandfather. If there were an ancestor whom I should feel shame in recalling it would rather be a man—a man of restless and versatile intellect—who … plunges into scientific questions with which he has no real acquaintance, only to obscure them by an aimless rhetoric, and distract the attention of his hearers from the real point at issue by eloquent digressions and skilled appeals to religious prejudice.

[Doubt] is not a new idea; this is the idea of the age of reason. This is the philosophy that guided the men who made the democracy that we live under. The idea that no one really knew how to run a government led to the idea that we should arrange a system by which new ideas could be developed, tried out, and tossed out if necessary, with more new ideas bought in - a trial-and-error system. This method was a result of the fact that science was already showing itself to be a successful venture at the end of the eighteenth century. Even then it was clear to socially minded people that the openness of possibilities was an opportunity, and that doubt and discussion were essential to progress into the unknown. If we want to solve a problem that we have never solved before, we must leave the door to the unknown ajar...doubt is not to be feared, but welcomed and discussed.

Priusquam autem ad creationem, hoc est ad finem omnis disputationis, veniamus: tentanda omnia existimo. However, before we come to [special] creation, which puts an end to all discussion: I think we should try everything else.

Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.

Rational discussion is useful only when there is a significant base of shared assumptions.

The subject of bisexuality really needs much more discussion. It's a status that does exist.

Progressive bloggers should not only write on behalf of the members of America's underclass but also empower them to join the discussion.

No one likes when debate gets stifled, when these events get cancelled, whether it's a former president or prime minister of Israel, whether it's a discussion on a panel.

A scientist's aim in a discussion with his colleagues is not to persuade, but to clarify.

When the Senate ceases to engage nominees in meaningful discussion of legal issues, the confirmation process takes on an air of vacuity and farce, and the Senate becomes incapable of either properly evaluating nominees or appropriately educating the public.

I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the Scriptures, but with experiments, and demonstrations.

The theoretical postulate of all diplomatic discussion between nations is the assumed willingness of every nation to do justice.

To prevent discussion of any other explanations of human origins is hardly what I would expect from open-minded educators.

Discussion in America means dissent.

Oftentimes, discussion of war gets flattened to a discussion of trauma.