These debate quotes will inspire you. The definition of a debate is a formal discussion of the opposing sides of a specific subject or a formal contest of arguments.
Below you will find a collection of motivating, knowledgeable, and encouraging debate quotes, debate sayings, and debate proverbs.
Best Debate Quotes
- “A man lives by believing something: not by debating and arguing about many things.” ~ Thomas Carlyle
- “For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument, debate.” ~ Margaret Heffernan
- “It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.” ~ Joseph Joubert
-
“There is nothing wrong with intellectual differences flowing from freedom of thought as long as such differences remain confined to intellectual debates.” ~ Pervez Musharraf
- “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.” ~ Socrates
- “Freedom means the right of people to assemble, organize, and debate openly.” ~ Hillary Clinton
- “Let me light my lamp”, says the star, “And never debate if it will help to remove the darkness” ~ Rabindranath Tagore
-
“I wish I could give you a lot of advice, based on my experience of winning political debates. But I don’t have that experience. My only experience is at losing them.” ~ Richard M. Nixon
- “The connections I draw between human nature and political systems in my new book, for example, were prefigured in the debates during the Enlightenment and during the framing of the American Constitution.” ~ Steven Pinker
- “The world organization debates disarmament in one room and, in the next room, moves the knights and pawns that make national arms imperative.” ~ E. B. White
- “A philosopher who is not taking part in discussions is like a boxer who never goes into the ring.” ~ Ludwig Wittgenstein
-
“The arts are an even better barometer of what is happening in our world than the stock market or the debates in congress.” ~ Hendrik Willem van Loon
- “Science cannot resolve moral conflicts, but it can help to more accurately frame the debates about those conflicts.” ~ Heinz Pagels
- “This is not the age of pamphleteers. It is the age of the engineers. The spark-gap is mightier than the pen. Democracy will not be salvaged by men who talk fluently, debate forcefully, and quote aptly.” ~ Lancelot Hogben
- “The Sophists’ paradoxical talk pieces and their public debates were entertainment in 5th century Greece. And in that world, Socrates was an entertainer.” ~ David Antin
-
“Historians don’t really like to carry on speculative debates, but you could certainly argue that the likelihood of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe was extremely, extremely low.” ~ Aldrich Ames
- “I’ve been doing these conventions for 20 years, and we used to at least have debates about issues. Nothing is happening basically at this convention, other than speeches.” ~ Susan Estrich
- “But the need for conflict to expose prejudice and unclear reasoning, which is deeply embedded in my philosophy of science, has its origin in these debates.” ~ Robert B. Laughlin
- “Medicare debates in Congress should result in better Medicare benefits for all our nation’s seniors. We’re not asking for special treatment for rural America, just a fair deal.” ~ Bennie Thompson
-
“That a literature in our time is living is shown in that way that it debates problems.” ~ Georg Brandes
- “You well know, sir, that when the Constitution was submitted to the People of the respective States for their adoption or rejection, it awakened the warmest debates of the several State conventions.” ~ Caleb Cushing
- “Such an emphasis on the immanence of God as Creator in, with, and under the natural processes of the world unveiled by the sciences is certainly in accord with all that the sciences have revealed since those debates of the nineteenth century.” ~ Arthur Peacocke
- “Al Gore adopted three utterly different personas in three national presidential debates.” ~ Rich Lowry
-
“Here’s a guy that inherited $200 million. If he hadn’t inherited $200 million, you know where Donald Trump would be right now?” ~ Marco Rubio
- “Marco Rubio hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. I’ve never heard of this. What – look at those hands. Are they small hands? And he referred to my hands – if they’re small, something else must be small. I guarantee you, there’s no problem. I guarantee you.” ~ Donald Trump
- “Opinions are formed in a process of open discussion and public debate, and where no opportunity for the forming of opinions exists, there may be moods -moods of the masses and moods of individuals, the latter no less fickle and unreliable than the former -but no opinion.” ~ Hannah Arendt
- “The debates of that great assembly are frequently vague and perplexed, seeming to be dragged rather than to march, to the intended goal. Something of this sort must, I think, always happen in public democratic assemblies.” ~ Alexis de Tocqueville
-
“But I do think it’s necessary to have debates.” ~ Geraldine Ferraro
- “I think it’s really unfortunate that academics have been sidelined in most important policy debates.” ~ Juan Cole
- “In my books, I might hold the mirror to my own face. If others would like to borrow the mirror, they’re welcome. The books aren’t there to accuse others – merely to raise issues and keep the debates alive.” ~ John Scott
- “What we have to do… is to find a way to celebrate our diversity and debate our differences without fracturing our communities.” ~ Hillary Clinton
-
“Those who cannot understand how to put their thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of debate.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
- “I will only debate with my equals. All others I teach.” ~ John Henrik Clarke
- “I think that you can disagree with people and debate over their positions with issues without engaging in the politics of personal destruction.” ~ Hillary Clinton
- “Debate is masculine, conversation is feminine.” ~ Amos Bronson Alcott
-
“Debate and divergence of views can only enrich our history and culture.” ~ Ibrahim Babangida
- “One needs to know what the hierarchy of values are from which one takes inspiration, and in a democratic society this is the subject of continuous democratic debate.” ~ Rocco Buttiglione
- “It is not he who gains the exact point in dispute who scores most in controversy – but he who has shown the better temper.” ~ Samuel Butler
- “Deliberation and debate is the way you stir the soul of our democracy.” ~ Jesse Jackson
-
“He who frames the question wins the debate.” ~ Randall Terry
- “Convinced as I am and as I am from my government that the world needs a new moral architecture overall I believe that this should be the first topic to debate in our world of today, ethics, moral.” ~ Hugo Chavez
- “During last night’s debate, John Kerry and John Edwards were so friendly to each other some political experts think that they may end up running together. In fact, Kerry and Edwards were so friendly, President Bush accused them of planning a gay marriage.” ~ Conan O’Brien
- “One of the most surreal moments in this election was after the third debate, when I heard a talking head say, Al Gore won on substance, on the issues. But you have to give the victory to Bush because he seems presidential.” ~ Bradley Whitford
-
“Healthy disagreement, debate, leading to compromise has always been the American way.” ~ Donald L. Carcieri
- “But, also, before I even go on the Medicare prescription drug debate, I always tell the folks in rural Illinois, and I represent 30 counties south of Springfield down to Indiana and Kentucky, that in this bill is the best rural package for hospitals ever passed.” ~ John Shimkus
- “No matter how you cut it, this real debate on personal accounts is about the legitimacy of Social Security; it’s not about the solvency of Social Security.” ~ Joe Biden
- “When every one of your arguments is characterized as an attempt to bring back slavery or resegregate lunch counters, it’s a little hard to have any sort of productive debate.” ~ Ann Coulter
-
“Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled.” ~ Michael Crichton
- “I have been defending Israel’s right to exist, and to defend itself against terrorism, for many years-on college campuses, in television appearances and in debate.” ~ Alan Dershowitz
- “As Congress continues to debate ways to address illegal immigration, we must remember the many hard-working legal immigrants that contribute so much to our nation’s economy and culture.” ~ Bob Filner
- “I don’t feel that an atmosphere of debate and total disagreement and argument is such a bad thing. It makes for a vital and alive field.” ~ Clifford Geertz
-
“It may happen sometimes that a long debate becomes the cause of a longer friendship. Commonly, those who dispute with one another at last agree.” ~ Elbert Hubbard
- “You’ve got to work things out in the cloakroom, and when you’ve got them worked out, you can debate a little before you vote.” ~ Lyndon B. Johnson
- “Reliable data on the outsourcing of American jobs is sorely missing from the debate on globalization.” ~ Dan Lipinski
- “I put forward formless and unresolved notions, as do those who publish doubtful questions to debate in the schools, not to establish the truth but to seek it.” ~ Michel de Montaigne , Debate quotes for high school
-
“I don’t debate with liars.” ~ Evo Morales
- “I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
- “The most important event I covered was the Panama Canal debate, which dragged on for months.” ~ Jessica Savitch
- “I heard Dennis Kucinich say in a debate, ‘When I’m president… and I just wanted to stop him and say, ‘Dude.'” ~ Jon Stewart
-
“I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” ~ Ronald Reagan
- “Debate is the death of conversation.” ~ Emil Ludwig
- “Books and harlots have their quarrels in public.” ~ Walter Benjamin
- “We are all strong-willed, forceful personalities and the president encourages vigorous debate.” ~ Karen Hughes
- “Defining the terms of the debate generally dictates who’s gonna’ win it.” ~ Paul Begala
- “The national debate on Social Security has been cheapened by demagoguery on all sides.” ~ Bill Delahunt
