argument

All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

A novel is an impression, not an argument.

—Hardy,Thomas

My uncleToby would never offer to answer this byany other kind of argument, than that of whistling half a dozen bars of Lillabullero.

—Sterne, Laurence

The primordial argument against giving woman the vote is that that vote would not represent physical force.

—Wright, SirAlmroth Edward

We must now examine whether just people also live better and are happier than unjust ones. I think it's clear already that this is so, but we must look into it further, since the argument concerns no ordinary topic, but the way we ought to live.

—Plato

In argument with men a woman ever Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause.

—Milton,John

My pappy told me never to bet my bladder against a brewery or get into an argument with people who buy ink by the barrel.

—Kirkland, (Joseph) Lane

   Thosewhotalk most abouttheblessings of marriageand the constancy of its vows are the very people who declare that if the claim were broken and the prisoners were left free to choose, the whole social fabric would flyasunder.Youcan't havetheargument both ways.Ifthe prisoner is happy, why lock him in? If he is not, why pretend that he is?

—Shaw, George Bernard

Mr Lloyd George spoke for17 minutes, in which period he was detected only once in the use of an argument.

—Bennett, (Enoch) Arnold

  He read partly for information, partly for comparison, partly for insight, partly for the sheer joy of felicitous statement.He delighted particularly inquotationswhich distilled the essence of an argument.

—Schlesinger, Arthur M(eier),Jr

The first argument that is brought against every new proposal departing from conventional lines is nearly always that it is impracticable.

—Shortlands

Sir,Ihave found youanargument; but Iam not obligedto find you an understanding.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

Wisdom without honesty is mere craft and cozenage. And therefore the reputation for honesty must first be gotten; which cannot be but by living well. A good life is a main argument.

—Jonson, Ben

And chiefly thou O spirit, that does prefer Before all temples th'upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou know'st; thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast abyss And mad'st it pregnant: what in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That to the highth of this great argument I mayassert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men. 580

—Milton,John

It is not metres, but a metre-making argument, that makes a poem.

—Emerson, RalphWaldo

Anger is never without an argument, but seldom with a good one.

—Halifax, George Savile, 1st Marquis of

'There's glory for you!' 'I don't know what you mean by ''glory'','Alice said. 'Imeant,''there's a niceknock-down argument for you!''' 'But ''glory''doesn't mean''a nice knock-down argument'','Alice objected. 'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone,'it means just what I choose it to meanöneither more nor less.'

—Dodgson

I'm not good at precise, coherent argument. But plays are suited to incoherent argument, put into the mouths of fallible people.

—Bennett, Alan

There is no good in arguing with the inevitable.The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.

—Lowell,James Russell

Some of the sharpest men in argument are notoriously unsound in judgment.

—Holmes, Oliver Wendell

Men of business have a solid judgment, a wonderful guessing power of what isgoing to happen, each in his own trade, but they have never practised themselves in reasoning out their judgments and in supporting their guesses byargument; probably if they did so, some of the finer and correcter parts of their anticipations would vanish.

—Bagehot,Walter

The King to Oxford sent a troop of horse, ForTories own no argument but force; With equal skill to Cambridge books he sent, For Whigs admit no force but argument.

—Browne,William