Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause.

Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause.

Any fact is better established by two or three good testimonies than by a thousand arguments.

Any fact is better established by two or three good testimonies than by a thousand arguments.

When a thing is said to be not worth refuting you may be sure that either it is flagrantly stupid read more

When a thing is said to be not worth refuting you may be sure that either it is flagrantly stupid -- in which case all comment is superfluous -- or it is something formidable, the very crux of the problem.

And there begins a lang digression
About the lords o' the creation.

And there begins a lang digression
About the lords o' the creation.

Behind every argument is someone's ignorance.

Behind every argument is someone's ignorance.

Lower your voice and strengthen your argument.

Lower your voice and strengthen your argument.

Where we desire to be informed 'tis good to contest with men
above ourselves; but to confirm and establish read more

Where we desire to be informed 'tis good to contest with men
above ourselves; but to confirm and establish our opinions, 'tis
best to argue with judgments below our own, that the frequent
spoils and victories over their reasons may settle in ourselves
an esteem and confirmed opinion of our own.

To strive with an equal is dangerous; with a superior, mad; with an inferior, degrading.

To strive with an equal is dangerous; with a superior, mad; with an inferior, degrading.

Nothing requires a greater effort of thought than arguments to justify the rule of non-thought.

Nothing requires a greater effort of thought than arguments to justify the rule of non-thought.