Quotes and Sayings about Debate
"Debate is masculine, conversation is feminine."
- Amos Bronson Alcott
(Related: Conversation, Debate)
"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
(Related: Europe, Historians)
"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
(Related: Entertainment, Greece, Public, Talk, World)
"Debate and divergence of views can only enrich our history and culture."
- Ibrahim Babangida
(Related: History, Culture, Debate)
"There is zero debate about whether the world is getting warmer. That is a fact, a measured fact. There is some debate, although not much anymore, about what's causing the world to get warmer. And the consensus, by far is that it's us."
- Peter Barnes
(Related: Debate, Fact, World)
"Politics calls for robust debate and criticism, but this should never descend to personal and demeaning slurs."
- Kim Beazley
(Related: Politics, Criticism, Debate)
"Defining the terms of the debate generally dictates who's gonna' win it."
- Paul Begala
(Related: Debate)
"Instant telecommunication allows better and updated information, lessons learnt and problems encountered to be exchanged and debated, it alerts us more quickly to problems and brings to many households around the world visions and information which hopefully spur us to action."
- Carol Bellamy
(Related: Action, Information, Problems, Visions, World)
"Since we enacted the PATRIOT Act almost three years ago, there has been tremendous public debate about its breadth and implications on due process and privacy."
- Howard Berman
(Related: Act, Debate, Privacy, Public, Years)
"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
(Related: Debate, Security)
"I do think that Social Security reform needs to be bipartisan, and we are going to have to reach that in this debate at some time before we can find really meaningful reform."
- Judy Biggert
(Related: Time, Debate, Needs, Reform, Security)
"We all learned in kindergarten that the beginning is a very good place to start. As we have this debate on illegal immigration and illegal entry into this country, let's begin at the very beginning by sealing the borders to this great Nation."
- Marsha Blackburn
(Related: Beginning, Country, Debate, Nation)
"As has been pointed out with Libya, the debate over Libya, sometimes we allow diplomatic relations with imperfect regimes because progress can best be made through engagement instead of isolation."
- Earl Blumenauer
(Related: Progress, Debate, Isolation)
"Religion enabled society to organise itself to debate goodness, just as Greek drama had once done."
- Edward Bond
(Related: Religion, Society, Debate, Drama, Goodness)
"While the debate on the Patriot Act is far from over, it is important that all Americans continue in this dialogue and work together to ensure greater security for our nation."
- Jo Bonner
(Related: Work, Act, Americans, Debate, Nation, Security)
"One can always debate questions back and forth."
- Robert Bourassa
(Related: Debate, Questions)
"That a literature in our time is living is shown in that way that it debates problems."
- Georg Brandes
(Related: Time, Literature, Living, Problems)
"Let's leave behind the predictable and stale debate between liberals and conservatives. Let's take the resources that we have, and prioritize, and manage, and focus our energy on just doing things that count - on real results."
- Phil Bredesen
(Related: Debate, Energy, Focus, Liberals, Results)
"There's a bit of debate about that; some say it was really Matthew, but the popular consensus is that Mark was the first one, so that's why I did that one first. And I was planning on doing all four."
- Chester Brown
(Related: Debate, First, Planning, Popular)
"The tension between "yes" and "no," between "I can" and "I cannot," makes us feel that, in so many instances, human life is an interminable debate with one's self."
- Anatole Broyard
(Related: Life, Debate, Self, Tension)
"What distinguishes the campaign finance issue from just about every other one being debated these days is that the two sides do not divide along conventional liberal/ conservative lines."
- James L. Buckley
(Related: Finance, Being, Conservative)
"I had hoped that the current presidential campaign debates might educate the public as to what is really involved in the ongoing controversy over campaign financing."
- James L. Buckley
(Related: Controversy, Public)
"I don't really feel like I have to have a debate with my husband over issues."
- Laura Bush
(Related: HusbDebate)
"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
(Related: Society, Inspiration, Values, Debate, Needs)
"I was the candidate first time a Green or any progressive third party has ever been in a national televised debate. I was in five of them. And the response from the public was overwhelming."
- Peter Camejo
(Related: Time, Debate, First, Party, Public)
"Healthy disagreement, debate, leading to compromise has always been the American way."
- Donald L. Carcieri
(Related: American, Compromise, Debate, Leading)
"I come to urge my party to be open to debate and discussion; to move away from a lock-step litmus test which advocates abortion on demand in an effort to reach a broader national consensus."
- Robert Casey
(Related: Abortion, Debate, Effort, Open, Party)
"Convinced as I am and as I am from my government that the world needs a new moral architecture over all I believe that this should be the first topic to debate in our world of today, ethics, moral."
- Hugo Chavez
(Related: Architecture, Government, Debate, Ethics, First, Needs, Today, World)
"A little tough talk in the midst of a campaign or as part of a presidential debate cannot obscure a record of 30 years of being on the wrong side of defense issues."
- Dick Cheney
(Related: Being, Debate, Defense, Talk, Wrong, Years)
"There's always merit to having a debate."
- Ward Churchill
(Related: Debate, Merit)
"What we have to do... is to find a way to celebrate our diversity and debate our differences without fracturing our communities."
- Hillary Clinton
(Related: Debate, Diversity)
"As I have been saying for more than a year now, turning this vital mission over to the Iraqi people as soon as possible should remain a topic of debate for Congress while relying on our military commanders to set up the timetable."
- Howard Coble
(Related: People, Commanders, Congress, Debate, Military, Mission, Now, Saying)
"I think it's really unfortunate that academics have been sidelined in most important policy debates."
- Juan Cole
(Related: Policy)
"Debate is the death of conversation."
- Kitty O'Neill Collins
(Related: Death, Conversation, Debate)
"It was determined, as shown in the report of the Commission, which I can read to you, but I know you are familiar with the report. It states there was disagreement on this issue, particularly as the subject was debated, that there were different opinions about it."
- John Sherman Cooper
(Related: Opinions, states)
"Political debate with liberals is basically impossible in America today because liberals are calling names while conservatives are trying to make arguments."
- Ann Coulter
(Related: America, Arguments, Debate, Liberals, Names, Today, Trying)
"When every one of your arguments is characterized an attempt to bring back slavery or resegregate lunch counters, it's a little hard to have any sort of productive debate."
- Ann Coulter
(Related: Arguments, Debate, Slavery)
"I never let politics get personal. You can have the most intense, heated debate on issues, and so long as you keep it on issues, you can go out and have coffee afterwards and you're good friends."
- Phil Crane
(Related: Politics, Coffee, Debate, Friends)
"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
(Related: Debate, First)
"I've gone from the most trusted man in America to one of the most debated."
- Walter Cronkite
(Related: America, Man)
"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
(Related: People, Adoption, Constitution, Rejection, State, states)
"Upon the Constitution, upon the pre-existing legal rights of the People, as understood in this country and in England, I have argued that this House is bound to revive the Petition under debate."
- Caleb Cushing
(Related: Legal, People, Constitution, Country, Debate, EnglRights)
"Sir, allusion has been made, in an early stage of this debate, to the history of the excitement which once pervaded a considerable part of the country, in reference to the transportation of the mails on the Lord's day."
- Caleb Cushing
(Related: History, Country, Day, Debate, Excitement)
"I refer, of course, to the debts our nation has amassed for itself over decades of indulgence. It is the new Red Menace, this time consisting of ink. We can debate its origins endlessly and search for villains on ideological grounds, but the reality is pure arithmetic."
- Mitch Daniels
(Related: Time, Arithmetic, Debate, Nation, Reality)
"The national debate on Social Security has been cheapened by demagoguery on all sides."
- Bill Delahunt
(Related: Debate, Security)
"What passes for real debate in Washington often seems more like an echo chamber, with politicians talking at politicians."
- Bill Delahunt
(Related: Debate, Echo, Politicians, Talking, Washington)
"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
(Related: College, Debate, Israel, Right, Television, Terrorism, Years)
"Lincoln had no such person that he could talk with. Often, as a result, he debated with himself, and he would draw up a kind of list of the pros and cons of an argument, and carefully figure them out, and he might test them in public."
- David Herbert Donald
(Related: Argument, Public, Result, Talk)
"This country is about, in my judgment, aggressive, open debate. There is an old saying: When everyone is thinking the same thing, no one is thinking very much."
- Byron Dorgan
(Related: Country, Debate, Judgment, Old, Open, Thinking)
"We can know nothing till after this grave debate. The soul must withdraw, for this is not its hour. Now the knife must divide the flesh, and lay the ravage bare, and do its work completely."
- Georges Duhamel
(Related: Work, Soul, Debate, Grave, Nothing, Now)
"Oh leave the Wise our measures to collate. One thing at least is certain, light has weight. One thing is certain and the rest debate. Light rays, when near the Sun, do not go straight."
- Arthur Eddington
(Related: Debate, Light, Rest, Sun, Weight)
"Open debate and full discourse on the topic of torture is a double-edged sword."
- Charles D. Ellison
(Related: Debate, Open)
"As you look around the country there are still a significant number of states where their whole school debate is over school funding and we've been focused on the quality debate for most of the '90s."
- John Engler
(Related: Quality, Country, Debate, School, states)
"I take the debate on the method of promoting democracy seriously."
- Recep Tayyip Erdogan
(Related: Debate, Democracy)
"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
(Related: Nothing, Years)
"But, we have had the debate in our country now for a number of years as to whether or not free trade agreements are good for economic growth and economic opportunity in creating jobs and lifting people out of poverty."
- Donald Evans
(Related: People, Opportunity, Growth, Country, Debate, Jobs, Now, Poverty, Trade, Years)
"We should not use special budget procedures to jam through legislation to drill in the Arctic Refuge. This topic is too important to the public to address it in such a back-door manner. We should be having a full, open discussion of the issue during an energy debate."
- Russ Feingold
(Related: Debate, Energy, Legislation, Open, Public)
"For the life of me, I don't understand what honest motive there is in putting this in front of this body to philosophically debate marriage on a constitutional amendment that is not going to happen, and which is enormously divisive in all of our communities."
- Dianne Feinstein
(Related: Life, Marriage, Body, Debate, Motive)
"See that's a goal that I think it's very good in the debate to find out who the person is."
- Geraldine Ferraro
(Related: Goal, Debate)
"But I do think its necessary to have debates."
- Geraldine Ferraro
"I enjoyed debate on the floor but it's not really debate in the same way."
- Geraldine Ferraro
(Related: Debate)
"I should add that it is open to debate whether what we call the writing of history these days is truly scientific."
- Lion Feuchtwanger
(Related: History, Debate, Open, Writing)
"Most of the debate over the cultures of death and life is about process. The debate focuses on the technology available to determine how we prolong life and how and when we end it."
- Suzanne Fields
(Related: Death, Life, Technology, Debate, End)
"We've become more tolerant because we're tired of the debate."
- Suzanne Fields
(Related: Debate)
"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
(Related: Legal, Congress, Culture, Debate, Economy, Nation)
"There is an ongoing debate about the reform of the U.N. system."
- Joschka Fischer
(Related: Debate, Reform)
"The historical debate is over. The answer is free-market capitalism."
- Thomas Friedman
(Related: Capitalism, Debate)
"Linguistic philosophers continue to argue that probably music is not a language, that is in the philosophical debate. Another point of view is to say that music is a very profound language."
- Robert Fripp
(Related: Music, Debate, Language)
"And so many of the kinds of labels you get stuck with don't really tell the story; Progressive, Art Rock, Noise Music, Downtown - it ends up being a struggle to stay out of debates that other people are having around you."
- Fred Frith
(Related: Art, Music, People, Being, Struggle)
"There was endless controversy as to whether the acts of the New Deal did actually move recovery or retard it, and nothing final could ever come of that bitter debate because it is forever impossible to prove what might have happened in place of what did."
- Garet Garrett
(Related: Controversy, Debate, Nothing)
"The leader must aim high, see big, judge widely, thus setting himself apart form the ordinary people who debate in narrow confines."
- Charles de Gaulle
(Related: Leader, People, Debate)
"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
(Related: Argument, Debate)
"I liked discussion and debate and thought that these skills fit well with law. I also had an interest in justice - and later learned that sometimes law and justice actually agree!"
- Harold H. Greene
(Related: Thought, Debate, Interest, Justice, Law)
"Oh, there's going to be debate because you're dealing with the Bible and religion is supposed to be separate from state and that to me is already a conflict before it even hits the gay issue."
- Pam Grier
(Related: Religion, Bible, Conflict, Debate, Gay, State)
"While this debate today is a belated effort to inform the American people, it is nevertheless an empty gesture. It is time to admit our mistake in Iraq and begin to bring our troops home with honor."
- Raul Grijalva
(Related: Home, Time, Mistake, People, American, Debate, Effort, Honor, Iraq, Today, Troops)
"If this Nation really wants to create an effective border security policy, we need to have a debate that includes a discussion about actual solutions to our problems, which means taking all of the political grandstanding and baiting out of the equation."
- Raul Grijalva
(Related: Policy, Debate, Nation, Problems, Security)
"You can get on with your job. I'm going to get on with mine. And mine is to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland, that's what they expect from me and I'm not going to be deflected by interesting academic or media speculation or attempts to take the whole debate back."
- Peter Hain
(Related: People, Debate, Ireland, Job, Media)
"The federal government seeks to control and regulate the Internet, but the last thing this Congress should be doing is trying to stifle public debate online."
- Dennis Hastert
(Related: Government, Control, Congress, Debate, Internet, Public, Trying)
"After Nashville sushi and a long debate on Bob Dylan, we went into Woodland Studios at 10 pm that night for a look around, and jammed for 5 hours solid."
- Robyn Hitchcock
(Related: Debate, Night)
"You do now have one in three people, as shown by the famous Carlton Monarchy debate poll, saying they want to get rid of the Monarchy. That was unthinkable even three, four years ago."
- Anthony Holden
(Related: People, Debate, Famous, Now, Saying, Want, Years)
"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
(Related: Friendship, Cause, Debate, May)
"Unfortunately, you know, working in a spirit of cooperation and respect requires someone else to reach back, and I don't think that's happened and it's been disappointing because the debate in our country has become so rancorous."
- Karen Hughes
(Related: Cooperation, Country, Debate, Respect, Spirit)
"I can assure you we are all strong-willed, forceful personalities and the president encourages vigorous debate."
- Karen Hughes
(Related: Debate, President)
"Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate."
- Hubert H. Humphrey
(Related: Debate, Dissent, Freedom)
"The network and local TV angle of broadcast television has received a black eye for not properly debating within the news issues that should be debated, instead of shuffling them of to television advertising."
- Mark E. Hyman
(Related: Advertising, Eye, Network, News, Television)
"Much of the debate over global warming is predicated on fear, rather than science."
- James Inhofe
(Related: Science, Fear, Debate, Global warming)
"The US constitution's First Amendment rights only cover Americans, but I believe that in a democracy the competition of ideas and free speech should combat beliefs that it does not agree with - more speech and debate, not censorship."
- Joichi Ito
(Related: Ideas, Americans, Beliefs, Censorship, Competition, Constitution, Debate, Democracy, First, Free speech, Rights)
"If the Union is once severed, the line of separation will grow wider and wider, and the controversies which are now debated and settled in the halls of legislation will then be tried in fields of battle and determined by the sword."
- Andrew Jackson
(Related: Battle, Legislation, Now, Separation, Will)
"Deliberation and debate is the way you stir the soul of our democracy."
- Jesse Jackson
(Related: Soul, Debate, Democracy)
"I've enjoyed doing Wolf Blitzer's program, and I even enjoyed having a heated debate with Bill O'Reilly. I will do it any time."
- Bianca Jagger
(Related: Time, Debate, Will)
"Every candidate goes into every debate hoping that they can own a particular moment."
- Peter Jennings
(Related: Debate)
"To be sure, debates will linger about whether Medicare is too large or too small. Debates remain about the allocation of Medicare dollars. But December 8, 2003, demonstrated that there is no debate about this most fundamental fact: Medicare must survive."
- Michael Johns
(Related: Debate, December, Will)
"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
(Related: Work, Debate, Vote)
"I am convinced that we as a body must conduct a formal and legitimate debate about election irregularities."
- Stephanie Tubbs Jones
(Related: Body, Debate)
"I raise this objection to debate the process, and protect the integrity of the true will of the people."
- Stephanie Tubbs Jones
(Related: People, Debate, Integrity, Will)
"It is reason, and not passion, which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision."
- Barbara Jordan
(Related: Decision, Debate, Passion, Reason)
"It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it."
- Joseph Joubert
(Related: Debate, Question)
"I've led a school whose faculty and students examine and discuss and debate every aspect of our law and legal system. And what I've learned most is that no one has a monopoly on truth or wisdom. I've learned that we make progress by listening to each other, across every apparent political or ideological divide."
- Elena Kagan
(Related: Legal, Wisdom, Truth, Progress, Debate, Law, Listening, School, Students)
"Is there something to be said for the writings of the Marquis? Is there something to be said for pornography? And is there something to be said against both? I hope our film is balanced and rich enough to encourage debate and discussion."
- Philip Kaufman
(Related: Hope, Debate, Film, Pornography)
"With or without a Social Security fix, Americans don't have enough assets to retire on. There has to be a much larger debate."
- Frank Keating
(Related: Americans, Debate, Security)
"The dinner table is a lively debate, and everybody weighs in in a different way. I like that, though."
- Vanessa Kerry
(Related: Debate)
"What takes place in the Security Council more closely resembles a mugging than either a political debate or an effort at problem-solving."
- Jeane Kirkpatrick
(Related: Debate, Effort, Security)
"A politician's goal is always to manipulate public debate. I think there are some politicians with higher goals. But all of them get corrupted by power."
- Dean Koontz
(Related: Power, Goal, Goals, Debate, Politicians, Public)
"I think people have to set up little battles. They have to demonize people whom they disagree with or feel threatened by. But it's the ideological framing of the debate that scares me."
- Barbara Kruger
(Related: People, Debate)
"I have worked to expand the health care debate beyond the current for-profit system, to include a public option and an amendment to free the states to pursue single payer."
- Dennis Kucinich
(Related: Health, Care, Debate, Public, states)
"Debate is healthy and no one in this chamber - starting with me - has a monopoly on being right."
- Ted Kulongoski
(Related: Being, Debate, Right)
"The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information."
- Christopher Lasch
(Related: Debate, Information, Job, Press, Public)
"Information, usually seen as the precondition of debate, is better understood as its by-product."
- Christopher Lasch
(Related: Debate, Information)
"Over the course of time this gave us a deep respect for ideas, both our own and those of others, and an understanding that conflict through debate is a powerful means of revealing truth."
- Robert B. Laughlin
(Related: Time, Truth, Ideas, Conflict, Debate, Deep, Respect, Understanding)
"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
(Related: Science, Conflict, Philosophy, Prejudice)
"People can get their news any way they want. What I love about what's happened is that there are so many different avenues, there are so many different outlets, so many different ways to debate and discuss and to inquire about any given news story."
- Jim Lehrer
(Related: Love, People, Debate, News, Want)
"Al Jazeera aired a new tape of Osama bin Laden. It was the usual stuff, he called Bush evil, the Great Satan, called him a war monger. Basically, the same thing you heard at last night's Democratic debate."
- Jay Leno
(Related: War, Debate, Evil, Night, Osama bin laden, Satan)
"The big debate right now is if Saddam is alive or dead. He's dead, then he's alive, then dead, then alive. It's just confusing. Today they showed videotape, and Saddam was speaking at his own funeral."
- David Letterman
(Related: Debate, Now, Right, Today)
"Reliable data on the outsourcing of American jobs is sorely missing from the debate on globalization."
- Dan Lipinski
(Related: American, Debate, Globalization, Jobs)
"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
(Related: Congress, World)
"Al Gore adopted three utterly different personas in three national presidential debates."
- Rich Lowry
"The debate about the war seems pretty robust and free. Many publications, from the New Yorker to the Nation, feel perfectly comfortable printing anti-American articles and that's fine. That's what the First Amendment is all about."
- Rich Lowry
(Related: War, Debate, First, Nation, Pretty, Printing)
"When I am in the Scottish Parliament chamber, I often feel the need to sit for the entire debate. It's only courteous to listen to what everyone has to say, although I often find myself desperate to say something but too scared to stand up in case I regret it."
- Margo MacDonald
(Related: Debate, Parliament, Regret)
"Just look at who won the third debate between Bush and Gore. I knew Bush won, because people liked him more. People just didn't like Gore. But all the journalists thought Gore won big, he cleaned the guy's clock."
- Chris Matthews
(Related: Thought, People, Debate)
"Our political differences, now matter how sharply they are debated, are really quite narrow in comparison to the remarkably durable national consensus on our founding convictions."
- John McCain
(Related: Founding, Now)
"But beyond the hysteria of phantom death panels, where is the abomination? Show me the provisions that will hurt consumers, because if you think a $110 billion a year tax break for working-class Americans to buy private health insurance is a government takeover, I welcome the debate."
- Jim McDermott
(Related: Death, Government, Health, Americans, Debate, Tax, Hurt, Will)
"I fear that, in the end, the famous debate among materialists, idealists, and dualists amounts to a merely verbal dispute that is more a matter for the linguist than for the speculative philosopher."
- Moses Mendelssohn
(Related: Fear, Debate, End, Famous)
"Let's start to have a grown up debate in this country about who we are and where we want to go and what kind of country we want to build."
- Ed Miliband
(Related: Country, Debate, Want)
"In all intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny."
- John Stuart Mill
(Related: Wrong)
"I can't do a film after having debated it. I am unable to do a film while discussing it with my team. I issue directives. I do not achieve it otherwise."
- Hayao Miyazaki
(Related: Film)
"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
(Related: Truth, Debate, Questions, Schools)
"I don't debate with liars."
- Evo Morales
(Related: Debate)
"I'm working as hard as I can. Yesterday, I had five different debates. I don't get a half an hour a day to talk to my wife. I don't know how much harder I can work."
- James P. Moran
(Related: Work, Wife, Day, Talk, Yesterday)
"Now a great debate has been born. The thesis is Democratic Socialism. The antithesis is free-market capitalism. The Obama Democrats have posed the challenge. It is now up to the Republicans to pick it up and fight along these lines."
- Dick Morris
(Related: Capitalism, Challenge, Debate, Democrats, Fight, Now, Republicans, Socialism)
"There is nothing wrong with intellectual differences flowing from freedom of thought as long as such differences remain confined to intellectual debates."
- Pervez Musharraf
(Related: Thought, Freedom, Nothing, Wrong)
"Let me announce this to the American people tonight one of the best things about this debate, as a Democrat from Massachusetts, I have proposed eliminating, getting rid of the alternative minimum tax."
- Richard Neal
(Related: People, American, Debate, Tax)
"The populations of Central America are very, very small indeed, so that while no one was denying and this was one of the great debates we used to have, whose fault was it that there were communists were able to do so well down there, well, that wasn't the point."
- John Negroponte
(Related: America, Fault)
"In the first debate the bulges create the impression of a letter T with a small feature which appears similar to a wire under the jacket running upward from the right."
- Robert Nelson
(Related: Impression, Debate, First, Right, Running)
"In the second and third debates the jacket has a generally padded shape across a large part of the entire back which tapers inward toward the spine in a downward direction."
- Robert Nelson
(Related: Direction)
"After two years of hard work and debate, Congress has passed a highway bill that will help fuel our economy by creating roughly 500,000 new jobs, as well as address many critical transportation needs in Ohio and the 18th Congressional District."
- Bob Ney
(Related: Work, Congress, Debate, Economy, Hard work, Help, Jobs, Needs, Will, Years)
"Those who cannot understand how to put their thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of debate."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
(Related: Thoughts, Debate)
"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
(Related: Experience, Winning, Advice, Losing)
"I'd always liked the idea that drama acts at its best as a kind of arena for debate, not just about the thing itself, but also producing aesthetic, stylistic, political and moral discussions."
- Jeremy Northam
(Related: Idea, Debate, Drama)
"After a century of striving, after a year of debate, after a historic vote, health care reform is no longer an unmet promise. It is the law of the land."
- Barack Obama
(Related: Health, Care, Debate, Land, Law, Promise, Reform, Vote)
"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
(Related: Marriage, Debate, End, Experts, Fact, Gay, May, Night, Planning, President, Running)
"I remember serving in Vietnam in that war, and many of us at the major Lieutenant Colonel, colonel level were frustrated that no one in the U.S. wanted to debate it that way."
- William Odom
(Related: War, Debate, Vietnam)
"Science cannot resolve moral conflicts, but it can help to more accurately frame the debates about those conflicts."
- Heinz R. Pagels
(Related: Science, Help)
"Earlier feminists were almost universally pro-choice and have dominated political debate until now. Having access to abortion was viewed as the only way women could have full equality with men, who, until recently, couldn't get pregnant."
- Kathleen Parker
(Related: Equality, Women, Abortion, Debate, Now)
"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
(Related: God, World)
"As we begin this debate, I am confident that we will hear the supporters of this bill argue in the name of Ronald Reagan that this research is consistent with his long-held views about the sanctity of life."
- Mike Pence
(Related: Life, Debate, Name, Research, Will)
"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
(Related: Nature, American, Constitution, Example, Human nature)
"Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand."
- Colin Powell
(Related: Argument, Debate, Doubt, Leaders, Solution)
"What scared me in that debate is that it's not about the ownership rules at all. The vast majority of people don't even know what the rules say, to be perfectly candid. Name all six of them."
- Michael K. Powell
(Related: People, Debate, Majority, Name, Ownership, Rules)
"Our country's political discourse and debate are enriched by discussions of the political implications of our faith traditions, whether they are taking place in our communities, at our dinner tables, or in our places of worship."
- David E. Price
(Related: Faith, Country, Debate, Traditions, Worship)
"In the midst of fighting there is no place for public debate."
- Yitzhak Rabin
(Related: Debate, Fighting, Public)
"I believe that the freedom of speech should be protected, but so should a family's right to privacy as they grieve their loss. There is a time and a place for vigorous debate on the War on Terror, but during a family's last goodbye is not it."
- Dave Reichert
(Related: Time, War, Family, Debate, Freedom, Goodbye, Loss, Privacy, Right, Speech, Terror)
"We must shift the energy policy debate in America with an increased focus on alternative and renewable fuels and Congress must pass meaningful alternative fuels and incentive programs to help move the U.S. away from dependence on foreign oil."
- Rick Renzi
(Related: Policy, America, Congress, Debate, Dependence, Energy, Focus, Help, Oil)
"I think church and state should remain entirely separate at all costs, and that the decision of religious marriage should be of each faith to debate and decide free of political influence."
- Adam Rickitt
(Related: Faith, Marriage, Decision, Church, Debate, Influence, Religious, State)
"We now have an opportunity, though, to do something we didn't do in the industrial age, and that is to get a leg up on this, to bring the public in quickly, to have an informed debate."
- Jeremy Rifkin
(Related: Age, Opportunity, Debate, Now, Public)
"Bush is very clever. When the debate should have been about the deterioration of our cities and the lack of action by government, he sent in his idiot to make an outrageous statement about Murphy Brown."
- Tim Robbins
(Related: Government, Action, Cities, Debate)
"I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also."
- Theodore Roosevelt
(Related: Congress, Debate, canal, Zone)
"The subject of criminal rehabilitation was debated recently in City Hall. It's an appropriate place for this kind of discussion because the city has always employed so many ex-cons and future cons."
- Mike Royko
(Related: Future)
"There is always a multitude of reasons both in favor of doing a thing and against doing it. The art of debate lies in presenting them; the art of life lies in neglecting ninety-nine hundredths of them."
- Mark Rutherford
(Related: Art, Life, Debate, Lies)
"While the political debate over abortion will continue for a very long time, the federal government can and should be doing more to support programs and services that provide women with better options."
- Tim Ryan
(Related: Government, Women, Time, Abortion, Debate, Options, Support, Will)
"Mr. Speaker, the goal of stem cell research should be to help our fellow human beings. The debate on this issue has, unfortunately, moved into dangerous unethical territory when perfectly moral alternatives exist."
- Jim Ryun
(Related: Goal, Debate, Help, Research)
"To pass to the deluge, and beyond it, and to come to close quarters with our proper division, the origin of Romance itself is a very debatable subject, or rather it is a subject which the wiser mind will hardly care to debate much."
- George Saintsbury
(Related: Romance, Care, Debate, Mind, Will)
"The most important event I covered was the Panama Canal debate, which dragged on for months."
- Jessica Savitch
(Related: Debate, canal, Months, Panama)
"This isn't a little debate society. That's high school stuff."
- Sydney Schanberg
(Related: Society, Debate, School)
"But the reporter has the responsibility to determine, number one, whether that is true, and number two, to make a judgment as to whether it's in the public interest and whether or not it should be part of the debate."
- Bob Schieffer
(Related: Debate, Interest, Judgment, Public, Responsibility)
"Any debate among politicians about monetary policy is counterproductive."
- Gerhard Schroder
(Related: Policy, Debate, Politicians)
"Another example of the educational inequality is the current debate over publicly financed school vouchers which will provide educational opportunities to a privileged handful, but deprive public schools of desperately needed resources."
- Bobby Scott
(Related: Debate, Example, Inequality, Public, School, Schools, Will)
"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
(Related: Books)
"In a sad twist of fate, the bill to reauthorize the Patriot Act was debated on the floor of the House of Representatives the same day that terrorists struck again."
- Jim Sensenbrenner
(Related: Act, Day, Fate)
"As the 109th Congress continues to debate legislation that will affect the lives of immigrants, it is important for us to remember that we are a nation of immigrants."
- Jose Serrano
(Related: Congress, Debate, Legislation, Nation, Will)
"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
(Related: Debate, Hospitals, Kentucky)
"Sometimes in this whole Medicare prescription drug debate, we focus on the prescription drug benefit, and I am glad we do because it is the first time we have ever offered real help to seniors, especially the poor, those in need."
- John Shimkus
(Related: Time, Debate, First, Focus, Help, Poor)
"Nothing ever gets settled in this town. a seething debating society in which the debate never stops, in which people never give up, including me. And so that's the atmosphere in which you administer."
- George P. Shultz
(Related: Society, People, Debate, Nothing)
"The questions are scientific, but the UN answers are political. The global warming debate is hardly about science."
- Allen Simmons
(Related: Science, Answers, Debate, Global warming, Questions)
"There's been a lot said about Social Security reform. What has been left out of the debate is the double tax on Social Security benefits. I believe it's time to get rid of a tax that punishes seniors and discourages work and retirement savings."
- Rob Simmons
(Related: Time, Work, Benefits, Debate, Tax, Reform, Retirement, Security)
"The reason to split a court is for administrative purposes, and in the past there has been much debate about the liberal decisions of the Ninth Circuit and so forth; and people have wanted to get out of the Ninth Circuit for that reason."
- Michael K. Simpson
(Related: People, Court, Debate, Decisions, Liberal, Past, Reason)
"I heard Dennis Kucinich say in a debate, 'When I'm president... and I just wanted to stop him and say, 'Dude.'"
- Jon Stewart
(Related: Debate, President)
"In debate, one randomly was assigned to one side or the other. This had at least one virtue - it made one see that there was more than one side to these complex issues."
- Joseph E. Stiglitz
(Related: Virtue, Debate)
"I grew up in a family in which political issues were often discussed, and debated intensely."
- Joseph E. Stiglitz
(Related: Family)
"We debated long over the situation for it is a very difficult question and all of us recognize its difficulty."
- Henry L. Stimson
(Related: Difficulty, Question)
"If anything, if you can get somebody interested in something and get them excited, that's great. You should be praised for having opened the debate and having asked the right questions."
- Oliver Stone
(Related: Debate, Questions, Right)
"Nevertheless, the concept of sustainable development is now known - even amongst those who haven't accepted it - and it's recognized, debated and followed by an increasing number of businesses."
- Maurice Strong
(Related: Development, Now)
"I believe our foreign assistance should be scrutinized, should be debated, and that we should strike the right balance, but in all cases the foreign assistance that we provide around the world should be used to further our national security interests."
- John Sununu
(Related: Balance, National security, Right, World)
"Debate is almost non-existent and no one is apparently accountable to anybody apart from their political party bosses. It is bad news for democracy in this country."
- Helen Suzman
(Related: Bosses, Country, Debate, Democracy, News, Party)
"That's what we're missing. We're missing argument. We're missing debate. We're missing colloquy. We're missing all sorts of things. Instead, we're accepting."
- Studs Terkel
(Related: Argument, Debate)
"If we don't believe in moral absolutes and then we get into a cultural-political debate, how are we going to win?"
- Randall Terry
(Related: Debate)
"He who frames the question wins the debate."
- Randall Terry
(Related: Debate, Question)
"I love argument, I love debate. I don't expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that's not their job."
- Margaret Thatcher
(Related: Love, Argument, Debate, Job)
"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
(Related: America, Benefits, Congress, Nation, Result, Treatment)
"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
(Related: Goal, March, Public)
"Today the people from my State of Tennessee would listen to this debate, or even talk about a reference to God on our money or in the Halls of Congress or in our Pledge and say, please, let common sense and logic win the day and prevail versus legal mumbo jumbo."
- Zach Wamp
(Related: Legal, Money, God, People, Common sense, Congress, Day, Debate, Logic, State, Talk, Today)
"Listen, if the mayor wants to have a debate about education in this city, I got three words: bring it on."
- Anthony Weiner
(Related: Education, Debate)
"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
(Related: World)
"Let me explain something when I'm talking about sin, and I'm talking about all sin. One of the biggest ones that has been talked about that has really become a debate in America is homosexuality."
- Reggie White
(Related: America, Debate, Homosexuality, Sin, Talking)
"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
(Related: Victory, Debate, Moments, Talking)
"There was one point in high school actually when I was on the chess team, marching band, model United Nations and debate club all at the same time. And I would spend time with the computer club after school. And I had just quit pottery club, which I was in junior high, but I let that go."
- Rainn Wilson
(Related: Time, Chess, Computer, Debate, Nations, School, United)
"Moreover, environmental health at the local level has become narrowly focused, very much defined around regulations and the attendant regulatory debates."
- Samuel Wilson
(Related: Environmental, Health)
"It is time... to end the long-standing and unproductive methodological debate over 'originalism' versus 'dynamism' or 'evolution' and focus instead on how, as a substantive matter, we should interpret the Constitution in the twenty-first century, and what it has to say on questions unimaginable to our eighteenth-century Framers."
- Diane Wood
(Related: Time, Constitution, Debate, End, Focus, Questions)
"The question was heatedly debated of how much Western culture should be brought into China."
- Chen Ning Yang
(Related: Culture, Question)