Reflections on Various Subjects (1665–1678), V. On Conversation
“The reference to the source of authority should be definite. Such vague phrases as the following, common though they are, are worthless as proof : —
Statistics gathered with great care show —
It may be said on substantial authority —
Many prominent men agree —
Competent authorities say —
We could give hundreds of cases to show —
Recent writers on this subject declare —
One had better not pretend to prove anything than to seek to cover bare assertions with such flimsy material.”
Source: Argumentation and debating, 1908, p. 59; as cited in: Branham (2013, p. 77)
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William Trufant Foster 13
American economist 1879–1950Related quotes
1900s, God Does Not Exist (1904)
in Aquinas: Selected Political Writings (Basil Blackwell: 1974), p. 183
Commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard
Foreign Affairs, July 1967.
1960s
Source: The Christian Agnostic (1965), p.49, [ellipsis added]