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
  'Postulates of English Political Economy', in Economic Studies (1880).

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

-Bennett, Alan
  In the Sunday Times, 24 Nov.

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

-Bennett, (Enoch) Arnold
Things That Have Interested Me.

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
Literary  Anecdotes.

'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
Through the Looking-Glass, ch.6,'Humpty Dumpty'.

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

-Emerson, RalphWaldo
 Essays: Second Series,'The Poet'.

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

-Halifax, George Savile, 1st Marquis of
c.1687  Political Thoughts and Reflections,'Of  Anger'.

A novel is an impression, not an argument.

-Hardy,Thomas
  Tess of the D'Urbervilles, preface to 5th edn.

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

-Holmes, Oliver Wendell
^8  The Autocrat of the Breakfast  Table, ch.1.

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

-Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson
  Remark, 31 Mar, on the existence of ghosts. Quoted in James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol.3.

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

-Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson
  Remark,  Jun. Quoted in  James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol.4.

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
Timber: or Discoveries made upon Men and Matter (published 1640).

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
Quoted in David Olive Business Babble (1993).

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
  'On Democracy', Lowell's inaugural address when he became president of the Birmingham and Midland Institute, 6 Oct.

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
  Paradise Lost (published1667), bk.1, l.16^25.

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

-Milton,John
Samson  Agonistes, l.903^4.

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
Republic, bk.1, 352d (translated by G M A Grube, revised by C D C Reeve).

  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
  Of John F Kennedy. AThousand Days.

   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
  DonJuan to AnnWhitefield. Man and Superman, act 3.

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

-Shortlands
Fundamental Principles of Taxation, p.95.