Ihappentofeel thatthe degree of a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic.

-Alther, Lisa ne¤  e Reed
  Kinflicks, ch.7.

Now, sir, there isthelibertyof thepress, whichyou know is a constant topic. Suppose you and I and two hundred more were restrained from printing our thoughts: what then? What proportionwould that restraint uponusbear to the private happiness of the nation?

-Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson
  Remark, May. Quoted in  James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol.2.

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).

The death†of a beautifulwomanis, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.

-Poe, EdgarAllan
  'The Philosophy of Composition', in Graham's Magazine, Apr.