“Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing.”
“There's nothing I like less than bad arguments for a view that I hold dear.”
“Hear one side and you will be in the dark. Hear both and all will be clear.”
“The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.”
“The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the right.”
“I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing.”
“True disputants are like true sportsman: their whole delight is in the pursuit.”
“A man lives by believing something: not by debating and arguing about many things.”
“In argument similes are like songs in love; they describe much, but prove nothing.”
“He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak.”
“It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle it without debate.”
“The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one's opinion, but rather to know it.”
“The purely agitation attitude is not good enough for a detailed consideration of a subject.”
“Any fact is better established by two or three good testimonies than by a thousand arguments.”
“Arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him.”
“You punch me, I punch back. I do not believe it's good for ones self-respect to be a punching bag.”
“When you argue with your inferiors, you convince them of only one thing: they are as clever as you.”
“Never argue at the dinner table, for the one who is not hungry always gets the best of the argument.”
“One often contradicts an opinion when what is uncongenial is really the tone in which it was conveyed.”
“There is no arguing with him, for if his pistol misses fire, he knocks you down with the butt end of it.”
“But curb thou the high spirit in thy breast, for gentle ways are best, and keep aloof from sharp contentions.”
“I tell you Wellington is a bad general, the English are bad soldiers; we will settle this matter by lunch time.”
“We are not won by arguments that we can analyze, but by tone and temper; by the manner, which is the man himself.”
“We must not contradict, but instruct him that contradicts us; for a madman is not cured by another running mad also.”
“No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other.”
“Never contend with one that is foolish, proud, positive, testy, or with a superior, or a clown, in matter of argument.”
“Argument, as usually managed, is the worst sort of conversation, as in books it is generally the worst sort of reading.”
“There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.”
“He that blows the coals in quarrels that he has nothing to do with, has no right to complain if the sparks fly in his face.”
“Whenever you argue with another wiser than yourself in order that others may admire your wisdom, they will discover your ignorance.”