“I think you are wrong, Basil, but I won't argue with you. It is only the intellectually lost who ever argue.”

—  Oscar Wilde , book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I think you are wrong, Basil, but I won't argue with you. It is only the intellectually lost who ever argue." by Oscar Wilde?
Oscar Wilde photo
Oscar Wilde 812
Irish writer and poet 1854–1900

Related quotes

William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme photo

“Aye, nay, we won't argue: you're wrong.”

William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925) English industrialist, philanthropist, and politician

William Lever, quoted in: Adam Macqueen (2011) The King Of Sunlight: How William Lever Cleaned Up The World. Phrase he often used with employees — and he never changed his mind.

“You are the first person who has been able to illustrate the book adequately since Tenniel, though I still argue as I think I argued with you years ago that your Alice is a little bit too much of a gamin.”

Mervyn Peake (1911–1968) English writer, artist, poet and illustrator

Graham Greene, quoted in Bandersnatch, 151, July 2011, p. 8

Amitabh Bachchan photo

“I have never ever argued about billings because I don’t think that they mean anything.”

Amitabh Bachchan (1942) Indian actor

Quotable quotes by Amitabh Bachchan.

Terry Goodkind photo

“If you are unwilling to defend your right to your own lives,
then you are merely like mice trying to argue with owls.
You think their ways are wrong.
They think you are dinner.”

Terry Goodkind book Naked Empire

Source: Naked Empire

Robert M. Pirsig photo

“I argued that physical discomfort is important only when the mood is wrong. Then you fasten on to whatever thing is uncomfortable and call that the cause. But if the mood is right, then physical discomfort doesn't mean much.”

Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Steven Pressfield photo

“There is something I must tell you. When Leonidas selected you for the Three Hundred, I went to him in private and argued strenuously against your inclusion. I thought you would not fight. […] I was wrong.”

Steven Pressfield Gates of Fire

Polynikes p. 324
Gates of Fire (1998)

Pete Doherty photo

“If you've lost your faith in love and music
The end won't be long
But if it's gone for you I too may lose it
And that would be wrong…”

Pete Doherty (1979) English musician, writer, actor, poet and artist

"The Good Old Days" (with Carl Barat)
Lyrics and poetry

Philip Pullman photo

“You said I was a warrior. You told me that was my nature, and I shouldn’t argue with it. Father, you were wrong. I fought because I had to. I can’t choose my nature, but I can choose what I do. And I will choose, because now I'm free.”

Philip Pullman His Dark Materials trilogy

Source: His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass (2000), Ch. 31 : Authority's End

Kim Stanley Robinson photo

“The only part of an argument that really matters is what we think of the people arguing.”

Kim Stanley Robinson (1952) American science fiction writer

John Boone
Red Mars (1992)
Context: The only part of an argument that really matters is what we think of the people arguing. X claims a, Y claims b. They make arguments to support their claims with any number of points. But when their listeners remember the discussion, what matters is simply that X believes a and Y believes b. People then form their judgment on what they think of X and Y.

Related topics