Best Debate Quotes

"I don't really understand my own position unless I also understand your opposition to my position even if I still disagree with you."

Dr. Andrew Huberman

"Democracy is based on the ability to debate things and find out who's right or whose ideas resonate the most."

"Yet for all the debate, for me, there's an undeniable brilliance to this chapter of Buffy's story."

"Every single group of human beings argues and debates endlessly... Why is that? That's not just a little byproduct; that is a core feature of reality."

"The battle should be fought in the open space of ideas."

"Debate on matters of public interest should be robust, uninhibited, and wide open."

"For some reason, this must have input a cheat code into the streamer's brain that just sent him into like Debate Club."

"I think that's too bad. I think we need more actually more friction is good. The more public friction, engagement, debate, we'll get to that point where it's like, alright, we're up on stage debating, but then we go to the green room, and we could talk about kids, music, sports, whatever it is, everything, and just be a nice person."

"Consciousness is not a product of brain function."

"If you're not ready to argue uselessly for hours over things that don't even matter, then you're not ready to be a programmer."

"This unprecedented event has sparked intense debates and raised questions about the state of national security and the ongoing issue of illegal immigration."

"There's real believers on both sides. I want to have this discussion, this debate openly and honestly, but also graciously and kind."

"You're basically arguing against the social conditioning of a person."

"Imagine how many debates would end if we simply were forcing each other... to engage in the Socratic method. We would resolve so many issues so quickly."

"If you debate, you must accept that language has meaning."

"Perhaps the largest problem plaguing both online and real-life politics today is our inability to separate people from their ideas."

"Since the dawn of time, circa 2005, children everywhere have debated which Avatar bending style was superior, ironically missing the entire point of the show."

"We have to have respect for both of them (tradition and transformation), and how do we know when something needs to be changed? We don't know, so we have to argue about it."

"You don't deal in morals and ethics, sir, you deal in law."

"I have no problem with points being challenged. Like having a civil debate, that's awesome, I enjoy that."

"We want to create a social club where people who have similar ideas and ideology can come together and even not similar, you know, debate and discuss things."

"When somebody accuses me of having a bunch of bad takes who's marketed themselves as the premier internet debater, then I know that they know that my takes aren't spite driven."

"The reason trans people are often reluctant to debate our rights is that we want the same assumed protections as other groups whose rights liberals have decided are not up for debate."

"Should a nonworking member of the royal family who carries out zero public duties for this country, and has no obligations to the British people and no formal links whatsoever to the work of the monarchy, receive the same taxpayer-funded protections as the rest of his family who do all that? The answer, self-evidently, would have thought, is no."

"Any time a person uses the term 'wrongthink,' you know for a fact their views are indefensible."

"Be it resolved: what you call political correctness, I call progress."

"I like to see debates between both sides where it's no feelings involved, anybody trying to get offended, it's all about just putting ideas on the table and seeing which side makes more sense."

"We collectively have to lose patience more and more and faster and faster with obviously bad arguments."

"I learned through debate... it's getting your brain to work. It's like a muscle working here."

"All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone’s feelings."

"The goal of Sattler College Debate Club is to equip its members with lifelong analytical and rhetorical skills but more importantly, we also seek to hone our ability to discern truth from falsehood and defend the most important truths of all."

"Even if I'm wrong, I should have the freedom to express my false ideas. You should counter my false ideas with arguments and evidence, not by the sword."

"If outrageous opinions are read aloud, they could be challenged and exposed for what they are; if they're silenced, the person holding these views can become a martyr."

"If outrageous opinions are read aloud, they can be challenged and exposed for what they are. If they're silenced, the person holding these views can become a martyr."

"Before we set up a debate on Team USA versus the world, we got to develop a criteria because, like we said, we can't agree on nothing on this show."

"You're certainly willing to risk offending me in the pursuit of truth."

"You just care about winning the debate. You want to aggrandize yourself by way of debating."

"It's arguably more engaging to have visibly and audibly distinct sides providing arguments and counter-arguments."

"One of the reasons why debate is important is because at least you get to hear some of the counter-arguments to positions that you hold, so you think through them a bit more."

"Usually, fans can debate whose driver was in the right, whose driver is in the wrong, who caused the wreck, who was just an innocent bystander."

"Debating with Noam Chomsky is a bit like being ridden out of town on a rail, but weren't for the honor of it, you could forego the pleasure of it."

"We're just not allowed to debate it, so really, whether it works or not isn't the issue. The issue here is, can we have open and honest debate?"

"Get rid of the conferences. Why do we got conferences? Open it up."

"A card so controversial and divisive it eclipses debates around anything we've seen in the game."

"We disagree, we debate, but there's no reason we can't still be friends."

"This has been the best conversation and debate I've heard in years."

"Most people are wanting to live in a free, prosperous, peaceful society, and the argument is how we achieve that."

"Here's where you and I have a different point of view. I think we should be able to express our views regardless of the color of our skin."

"I'll tell you what I am. I'm an Indian American. I'm proud of it, but I think we should have this debate. Black, white doesn't matter."

"Einstein famously said, 'God does not play dice.' Niels Bohr told him, 'Einstein, don't tell God what to do.'"

"He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that."

"Every time a new generation is coming up, we have to sit through yet another debate about whether the moral values of our predecessors are melting away with time."

"It's not helpful for anyone to shout at someone else and say, 'I think I want to use your label differently so therefore I can affect what you actually think.' That's just not a way to have a constructive conversation."

"Nah, dude. I will prove that blue, not even red, not even green, but blue is stronger than yellow."

"Nature vs nurture has long been the topic of debate for researchers as well as the average Joe."

"If your economic system is too weak to resist outside pressure, that sounds like a good argument for my system."

"I really can think of no event that has been more discussed and debated and argued about than the Second Vatican Council."

"In terms of degrees of difficulty, this is right up there. But grapple with the debate we must, and resolve it we must."

"Ben Shapiro...conservative debate lord except he doesn't debate debaters, he debates college kids."

"I just don't understand the whole debate. Like, women should just be able to govern their own bodies."

"Debate is healthy... Debate forces our gears to turn in new ways and allows us to learn more about our own beliefs just as much as it allows us to learn about the beliefs of others."

"The goat conversation in the NBA is three people wide: LeBron, Michael, and Kareem."

"It's the very opposite of a debate. It's not my place to convince you, but I'm happy to learn about your beliefs."

"We are debating trivial issues passionately, but important ones not at all."

"Intellectual freedom is essential to human society: freedom to obtain and distribute information, freedom for open-minded and unfearing debate, and freedom from pressure by officialdom and prejudices."

"You win through your words, never through an argument. If your position cannot withstand vigorous debate, then you need a better position."

"We both value freedom of speech, clearly, though maybe we disagree slightly on the extent to which it's acceptable."

"I think the best section of the debate was when I asked him to name three regulations that Donald Trump has cut and how they've helped the middle class."

"I think if you don't understand the opposing argument, then your argument could have a lot of flaws."

"It's vital to debate and hear differing opinions."

"The boundary between the physical and the spiritual realms remains a subject of intrigue and debate."

"Tonight we're debating whether or not the police are systematically racist, and we're starting right now."

"Disagreement is good if that disagreement is based on logic, facts, and integrity."

"We must make sure we don't give platforms to those who are lying to our faces but we also must make sure we are representing the full spectrum of debate."

"It's super easy to bring on a bunch of people who don't know anything about what they're saying and then just own them and dunk on them. It's more fun, in my opinion, to go back and forth with somebody who is educated in what they're talking about."

"It's important for people to see there's a counterargument, it's not just one side."

"The increasing way this show tore down the borders between fan and creator is a really interesting case and one that opens a lot of debates about whether these borders should be more or less maintained."

"Let the contest begin; let it unfold. I have a high degree of confidence as to whose side of the argument would prevail in that contest across the world if properly executed."

"The argument for Jesus' deity, though it's still very strong, though not airtight, it's still very strong."

"The benefit to allowing freedom of speech for all, even speech with which we disagree, otherwise it's not freedom of speech."

"When I argue this with a Price Waterhouse partner in a face-to-face debate, he said, 'Professor Sikka, you never give us credit for anything. We generate millions of dollars of revenues, and we have lots and lots of satisfied clients. What is your problem?' And my response is very simple: that's the language of drug pushers and pimps."

"I said what I said, and I have strong points behind it."

"The implications of this truth on the debate around the existence of ancient high technology are utterly profound and entirely devastating to the orthodox claims."

"If you can't play devil's advocate, you can't think."

"Burning books is the last resort of people who cannot argue."

"Police calm down, let's have respect for each other. We could have a spirited debate but we can't conduct ourselves this way, guys. We're better than this. Dearborn is better than this. This community is better than this. We're brothers and sisters, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion."

"The only way for the whole truth to emerge is by the reconciling and combining of opposites."

"Many of them are the liberal type who need to fight back against it with reason and trying to claim the mantle of moral and epistemological authority."

"I feel more comfortable being like, I don't really know, and I could go kind of, I could see the argument for both sides rather than being so gung-ho on one side versus another."

"Debate, congenial, respectful debate, is the... sunlight for our democracy. We need to be talking to each other."

"You can't convince me that you got a better team."

"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion but allow very lively debate within that spectrum."

"We are privileged to be part of a community that values debate, and that is open to new information and competing ideas."

"Could this be a big win for Free Speech purists?"

"Going into an argument wanting to defend a position rather than wanting to have your position change is the wrong way to go about things."

"You're giving me like one of the most privileged arguments I've ever heard in my entire life."

"One thing I don't like is to see injustice. It really enraged me, so I pursued them and just said, 'Let's have a debate, let's have a discussion.'"

"The debate we're talking about, the National acceptable debate, is choreographed. The range of argument has been artificially narrowed long before you get to hear it."

"Previously, you were looking at the illusion of debate... but at least you saw something else."

"Don't personalize debates unnecessarily. Give your ideological adversaries the benefit of the doubt until proof to the contrary."

"Every economy is mixed to some extent. Everybody argues for a mixed economy except for absolute extremists."

"I've always been clear with you about my feelings with Trump. I'm not a fan, but what I do like is truth, open discussion, honest debate, respecting people's right to hear things authentically and truthfully."

"The level of prep that you need to get through a debate like this is insane."

"Regardless of whichever side you're on, we can all come to the consensus this was an incredible debate."

"I am not here to debate your ideas. I'm here to demolish them."

"We're going to have ourselves a grown-up discussion about the Epic Games Store, a subject that's gotten very touchy, a little bit emotional, and some might say just a touch ridiculous."

"The new ideas are absent in the Republican Party is obviously untrue. We have a very strong debate that goes on inside sort of the conservative halls of intelligentsia."

"What matters is whether each side's arguments hold up in the face of the evidence. That is truly what science is about."

"Wherever things stand when the dust settles, the very prospect of Musk potentially owning Twitter served to reignite ongoing and deeply visceral debates about how the internet is (and should be) governed."

"Win on the facts, win on the arguments, don't silence the expression of the views."

"What Liberty is he talking about? Liberals are simply asking for common sense solutions to a seemingly endless but solvable problem."

"Free speech as a value means that you're going to have to rebut bad ideas, and that people have a right to speak those bad ideas."

"A person who wins a debate is often the person who is more charismatic or is a better communicator, not necessarily the one with the right answers."

"We should always be arguing principles, issues, and the stuff that works."

"The ability to Google a study that confirms whatever conclusion you'd already landed on and then fling it at the other side after briefly skimming the abstract is not how you win an argument."

"An argument is strong not by virtue necessarily of who makes it but by how strong the argument is."

"A weak argument doesn't become strong just by tacking an insult onto the end of it."

"The best way to have a debate is to remove emotion and just try to look at the facts as objectively as you can."

"First and foremost, you can expect unregulated opinions. We want people to disagree with us. We want to have conversations."

"Inability to entertain opposing ideas. We have a hard time doing that today."

"Forty years ago, you had the televised debate on the Dutch TV with Michel Foucault, probably the most influential contemporary French intellectual."

"My task here is not to win; my task is to illuminate differences. I believe in clarity over agreement."

"Can you accurately argue the other side? If you can't, you probably don't understand the other side enough."

"These are all examples of cryptids, but there is one that stands above all of these: the most popular and debated cryptid of all time."

"The ramifications of curtailing free speech are more dire than what can happen if you allow free speech."

"To the outside viewer, to see one person spouting rhetoric and the other countering hard data provides a clear winner."

"My goal is not to attack people, my goal is to let them speak, and I think by subtlety talking to people you can get them to explain themselves sometimes into a corner if they don't know what they're talking about."

"Despite what classical liberals like John Stewart Mill said about truth always defeating error and falsehood in open rational debate, the historical evidence sadly just doesn't support that idea when it comes to fascism."

"Sometimes it's a healthy debate, a little argument and disagreement, and sometimes it's just supportive and informational."

"Be charitable with your opponent's intentions and be harder on yourself."

"Don't feel the need to agree with people. You can still have a civilized debate."

"I don't usually debate flat earthers. I don't debate established fact."

"The most consequential phenomenon we're dealing with in human culture is the fact that we can't successfully talk to each other and change one another's views in real time based on reasoned argument."

"Freedom of speech means that you can have combat with words... the battleground of ideas."

"The only way to actually move things forward is to discuss, to debate, and to use reason as the guide to truth."

"The shroud is a particular object that opened many debates because it is interesting from a scientific point of view but also from a religious point of view."

"The path to truth runs through free speech and open debate."

"Ideas that one finds objectionable should be challenged and debated. The common good of society depends on the search for knowledge and its free expression."

"I am arguing with facts, logic, and reason here."

"It's not the gun that kills people; it's the person pulling the trigger. A gun is merely a tool."

"When you argue and defend the faith, always do it with gentleness and reverence."

"People who sharpen their arguments properly, can articulate their position and defend it, are always the people who are most successful and compelling."

"Informed respectful debate is central to academia."

"But to get up on stage and debate in front of the entire nation takes courage, and tonight all our participants deserve our thanks and appreciation."

"You don't get to call yourself the Intellectual Dark Web and then refuse to allow me to respond."

"The anti debate is an idea to attract people to the debate format, but it's not about winning, it's about who can be better at understanding."

"Never, never, never, never turn this into a PC vs consoles debate when it's actually a mouse and keyboard versus controller debate."

"In an environment where bullsh*t rains, and there's too much information to absorb, people favor debate not discourse."

"I want to see the right-wing Muslims and the left-wing Muslims and the ex-Muslims and the liberal reforming Muslims. I want to see them all debating and disagreeing, in a civil way of course."

"I don't think that I can objectively win the argument with you or that you could with me."

"The question whether machines can think is too meaningless to deserve discussion."

"I just want to believe in free speech. I want to say make your points and we'll argue it."

"I respect the right of other people to have opinions and debate and share ideas and try and figure out what works."

"Evangelism is more important than arguing with people who are already in the kingdom."

"We've cultivated this culture online where everything needs to be like a debate, even on the simplest topics."

"The fight is whether or not the argument is sound."

"Democrats cannot win their argument on the merits; they must search and destroy."

"If you wanted to, you could come across as very smart and level-headed in any debate by only speaking when you've got a certified unimpeachable banger of a statement."

"Allow dissenting opinions to be heard, confront them, correct them and put the accurate medical info out there."

"It's not that I'm trying to avoid being pinned down on an issue; it's that over the years of doing the TV show and engaging in debates, I am usually very careful about the words that I use so that they're not misused."

"Real political participation coupled with meaningful political debate is crucial for democracy."

"The best way of learning anything is to talk to somebody who disagrees with you."

"What has happened to civic debates in this country is a crisis of incivility."

"Her response was solid, and he has no rebuttal to like 99% of what she says."

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to today's topic: Aliens, are they real? Do they exist?"

"The ability to imagine made-up scenarios and argue about them is what distinguishes sentient life."

"A real debate follows this structure: Someone makes a claim, provides evidence, and then concludes. That's logic. And it's beautiful."

"Debate is a legitimate way of finding out whether something is correct and true."

"It's a category error comparing a human being, a developing human being, to a tumor."

"Wherever you stand in this debate, are you willing to accept that there are human principles that are higher than this that are very much at stake right now?"

"Two Blind Men argued well into the night about the great question: 'Is there really sight?'"

"The problem with the 'what about' arguments is that you're assuming I have views about other politicians that I don't have."

"Turning on my own community...the channel has been taking the stance of bringing up some interesting topics."

"We've touched on a lot of different areas, we've gone deep into them, explain the context, the philosophy, the pragmatic implications, the history, the data, it's been an incredibly rich debate and conversation."

"I believe in treating everybody with respect and even if we're gonna have disagreements in this debate perhaps, that might evolve. I'm not going to sit here and insult anybody."

"DRM vs. consumer rights is a debate about increasingly intrusive DRM that makes demands of the consumer."

"Bad ideas need to be fought with good ideas."

"What happens with ideological conformity is that debate has stopped, so only one side is heard."

"Even if we're going to have an interesting conversation, I'm going to have disagreements in this debate perhaps, but I'm not going to sit here and insult anybody."

"The entire model of free speech...is the idea that a marketplace of ideas is a good thing."

"Unity in a democracy is the unity which is achieved by facing issues, by threshing out our differences, and by standing upon the decision of the majority."

"Capitalism is being held together more by moral arguments than anything else at this point."

"Arguing can be fun even if it's based on science. It doesn't have to be something that's miserable where everybody starts getting threatening and hateful."

"Engaging in debate and conversation with evidence and intellect is crucial in demonstrating the superiority and truth of one's beliefs."

"There is always going to be a lot of nuance in the arguments and a myriad of different opinions and positions."

"The main objective of online debate and discourse is not to learn or to get closer to the truth, rather it is to never, ever be proven wrong."

"There is a big opportunity to get the debate going, get people talking about it, understand what the alternative is, which is really simple and democratic."

"Never interrupt your opponent in making a mistake."

"Any viewpoint is welcome in my audience so long as you're not afraid of having your viewpoint challenged."

"If you want to do away with logic, then you can't have a conversation with anyone about anything."

"Our most critical debates...are instead being closed off in favor of establishment pieties, and I don't regard anything as more dangerous than that."

"You don't have to concede on that point, but I think you and I both understand the importance of empirical evidence."

"Arguments for intentional design are statistical ones."

"This is a debate. We're trying to figure it out, and Julia Thomas is a flashpoint."

"What keeps me up at night is that we've lost the ability to rationally debate one another over core issues."

"Try to find the best arguments on either side and really see how they stack up."

"Be fluent in the other side of the argument."

"Whether or not this is definitive proof of the paranormal remains up for debate, but it certainly has piqued the curiosity and imagination of many."

"How the hell do you think republicanism works if not through the very act of debate and discussion?"

"It's just about perception...if I agree with the argument of the far-left they won't call me white; they'll call me mixed, and if I question their opinion, not even disagree, they'll say I'm the white guy."