“Argument is to me the air I breathe. Given any proposition, I cannot help believing the other side and defending it.”

— Gertrude Stein

"Form and Intelligibility," from The Radcliffe Manuscripts (1949); written in 1895 as an undergraduate at Radcliffe College

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Argument is to me the air I breathe. Given any proposition, I cannot help believing the other side and defending it." by Gertrude Stein?

Gertrude Stein 160

American art collector and experimental writer of novels, p… 1874–1946

Ilona Andrews American husband-and-wife novelist duo

Source: Magic Slays

“[Relativist] Rel. There is a well-known proposition of Euclid which states that "Any two sides of a triangle are together greater than the third side." Can either of you tell me whether nowadays there is good reason to believe that this proposition is true?
[Pure Mathematician] Math. For my part, I am quite unable to say whether the proposition is true or not. I can deduce it by trustworthy reasoning from certain other propositions or axioms, which are supposed to be still more elementary. If these axioms are true, the proposition is true; if the axioms are not true, the proposition is not true universally. Whether the axioms are true or not I cannot say, and it is outside my province to consider.”

Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882–1944) British astrophysicist

Space, Time and Gravitation (1920)

“I believe in what I believe, and I think after all these years I've heard a lot of arguments, and I'm convinced by the superiority of the arguments that are made on the conservative side. I think that's a better way to run a society.”

Charles Krauthammer (1950–2018) American journalist

NewsBusters interview 18 September 2012
2010s, 2012

“I respect the decision of the Court as everyone else should, whether they agree with or not. Respect for the rule of law demands nothing less. I don't think the statements of President (Rodrigo) Duterte has anything to do with it as I believe in the independence of the Court. I cannot comment on the prosecution given that I am not too learned about the day to day arguments both sides made before the Court.”

Francis Escudero (1969) Filipino politician

Escudero, F. [Francis]. (2016, July 20). Retrieved from Official Facebook Page of Francis Escudero https://www.facebook.com/senchizescudero/posts/10154259973445610/
2016, Facebook