“Anger is never without an Argument, but seldom with a good one.”
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (1633–1695) English politician
Of Anger.
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Reflections (1750), Political Thoughts and Reflections
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
“Anger is never without an Argument, but seldom with a good one.”
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (1633–1695) English politician
Of Anger.
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Reflections (1750), Political Thoughts and Reflections
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
Horace Greeley (1811–1872) American politician and publisher
As quoted in New York Tribune (28 February 1860).
1860s
“Inclination snatches arguments
To make indulgence seem judicious choice.”
George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator
Book 1
The Spanish Gypsy (1868)
“Arguments are to be avoided, they are always vulgar and often convincing.”
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet
Variant: I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar and often convincing.
Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz (1890–1963) Philosopher, logician
Source: Problems and theories of philosophy, 1949, p. 166–167, as cited in Łukasiewicz, 2016.
“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed.”
Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) American social reformer, orator, writer and statesman
1850s, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (1852)
Context: At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.
David Hume book An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Section 10 : Of Miracles Pt. 2
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
