Best Argumentative Quotes & Sayings

Poets are accepted in Canada as practically nowhere else in the West because of their place in an officially supported and popularly endorsed Canadian culture. Yet, they are still bitter and argumentative, as poets elsewhere are, because they have no audience as such, only a sanctioned role in the cultural scheme of things. — George Fetherling

Like other parties of the kind, it was first silent, then talky, then argumentative, then disputatious, then unintelligible, then altogether, then inarticulate, and then drunk. When we had reached the last step of this glorious ladder, it was difficult to get down again without stumbling. — Lord Byron

If you are without contention and still have the ability to make people think, their ego is going to take a hit and as a result they're not going to like you. They don't want to think. They want to be right, unrivaled or entertained. — Donna Lynn Hope

I'd been put into a box long before, after all. Each of us has. Are you the "difficult" child or the "histrionic" lover, the "argumentative" sibling or the "long-suffering" spouse? Boxes make us easier to understand, but they also imprison us because people don't see past them. — Martin Pistorius

Human nature is violent, argumentative, fallible, and given to endless fantasizing. — Donald A. Wollheim

I am a combative, inquisitive, argumentative person, and I will never allow anyone to change that. — Leah Remini

I do, however, feel reasonably strongly the sense that the job of a piece of argumentative scholarly non-fiction is not the same as the job of a piece of fiction. — China Mieville

We must nevertheless present all possible interpretations for each observation, so that competing theories can be formulated and defended. In science, as elsewhere, intellectual inertia, the fashions of the moment, the weight of institutions, and authoritarianism are always to be feared. Heresies play an essential role by keeping our minds argumentative and alert. — Hubert Reeves

In the absence of the great majority of guests, all manner of rumors came into the Shalimar Bagh, hooded and cloaked to shield themselves against the elements, and filled the empty places around the dastarkhans: cheap rumors from the gutter as well as fancy rumors claiming aristocratic parentage - an entire social hierarchy of rumor lounged against the bolsters, created by the mystery that enveloped everything like the blizzard. The rumors were veiled, shadowy, unclear, argumentative, often malicious. They seemed like a new species of living thing, and evolved according to the laws laid down by Darwin, mutating randomly and being subjected to the amoral winnowing processes of natural selection. The — Salman Rushdie

Dwarfs are very argumentative, sir. Of course, many wouldn't agree. — Terry Pratchett

I reluctantly concluded that there was no way for me to help bring into being the Muslim culture I'd dreamed of, the progressive, irreverent, skeptical, argumentative, playful and unafraid culture which is what I've always understood as freedom ... Actually Existing Islam ... which makes literalism a weapon and redescription a crime, will never let the likes of me in. — Salman Rushdie

There are prophets, there are guides, and there are argumentative people with theories, and one must be careful to discriminate between them. — Peter Brook

RACK, n. An argumentative implement formerly much used in persuading devotees of a false faith to embrace the living truth. As a call to the unconverted the rack never had any particular efficacy, and is now held in light popular esteem. — Ambrose Bierce

No matter the terrible fighting and shooting in the desert, the riffle fires can never dry the oasis. — Auliq Ice

At the root of fear is low self-esteem. This explains why angry people have low self-esteem, are argumentative, stubborn, and quick to flare up yet slow to forgive. Those behaviors are defenses against the underlying fear. — David J. Lieberman

I do flip between being chatty and argumentative - and being a psycho-loner werewolf. — Peter Hammill

He was a conservative all right, but invariably he gave the impression that he was a conservative because he was surrounded by liberals; that he had been a revolutionist if that had been required in order to be socially disruptive. — William F. Buckley Jr.

Storm happens to be a very argumentative young woman,' Jason said
drily, and Storm's eyes flashed. He smiled at her icily. 'People who are cursed with a quarrelsome disposition shouldn't start a fight without getting their facts right. It's a bad mistake, don't you think?'

'Certainly,' she retorted with frigid politeness. All her resolutions
about starting afresh with Jason flew to the winds. 'But people who have a lot of control over other people's lives should have some sense of responsibility, don't you think? — Madeleine Ker

The most important lesson to learn about devil's advocacy isn't the need for a formal contrarian position; it's the need to interpret criticism as a noble function. An effective promotor fidei is not a token argumentative smarty-pants; it's someone who deeply respects the Catholic Church and is trying to defend the faith by surfacing contrary arguments in situations where skepticism is unlikely to surface naturally. — Chip Heath

In life, ninety-nine per cent is about good luck! Just remember that, son.' In a slightly argumentative tone I asked, 'But uncle, what about the balance one per cent? Surely that must be hard work or talent?' Laughing loudly, he declared triumphantly, 'The final one per cent? That's called bloody good luck, my boy! Simply keep at it and wait for your bloody good luck to kick in! — Ashwin Sanghi

Among all the liberal arts, the first is logic, and specifically that part of logic which gives initial instruction about words ... [T]he word "logic" has a broad meaning, and is not restricted exclusively to the science of argumentative reasoning. [It includes] Grammar [which] is "the science of speaking and writing correctly-the starting point of all liberal studies." — John Of Salisbury

Argumentative exhibitions bring issues to life in a way that very much irritates traditional curators who want to see their pictures valued for themselves. — Jonathan Miller

Men sucked. They were the root of every problem any woman could ever have. They were the reason for bras, the need for makeup, hair stylists, shaving legs,
and high heels that made the arch feel like it had a steel rod slammed up it. They were picky, arrogant, argumentative, and so damned certain of themselves < ... >. — Lora Leigh

Hollom was going forward along the larboard gangway: Nagel, an able seamen but one of the most sullen, bloody-minded and argumentative of the Defenders, was coming aft on the same narrow passage. They were abreast of one another; and Nagel walked straight on without the slightest acknowledgement other than a look of elaborate unconcern. — Patrick O'Brian

The less you respond to rude, critical, argumentative people ... the more peaceful your life will become. — Mandy Hale

Jesus' example is one of patience and keeping the peace. He was never argumentative or disrespectful. Never rolled His eyes or sighed with exasperation. Never turned red in the face or stomped his foot with His hands on His hips. He taught the same lesson again and again. He made eye contact and gathered his friends close to Himself. He used different illustrations. His goal was not to be right, but that they would understand. This wasn't a battle to win, it was an opportunity to teach. — Lee Peoples

The kid's driving me bat-shit," Cam complained as he stalked into the kitchen. "You can't say boo to him without him squaring up for a fight."
"Mm-hmm."
"Argumentative, smart-mouthed, troublemaker."
"Must be like looking in a mirror."
"Like hell."
"Don't know what I was thinking of. You're such a peaceable soul. — Nora Roberts

When we lose the contemplative mind, or non-dual consciousness, we invariably create violent people. The dualistic mind is endlessly argumentative, and we created an argumentative continent, which we also exported to North and South America. We see it in our politics; we see it in our Church's inability to create any sincere interfaith dialogue - or even intra-faith dialogue. The Baptists are still fighting the Anglicans as "lost" and the Evangelicals are dismissing the Catholics as the "Whore of Babylon," and we Catholics are demeaning everybody else as heretics, and each of us is hiding in our small, smug circles. What a waste of time and good God-energy, while the world suffers and declines. We have divided Jesus. — Richard Rohr

The people on their part may think that cognition is knowing all about things, but the philosopher must say to himself: When I analyze the process that is expressed in the sentence, 'I think,' I find a whole series of daring assertions, the argumentative proof of which would be difficult, perhaps impossible: for instance, that it is I who think, that there must necessarily be something that thinks, that thinking is an activity and operation on the part of a being who is thought of as a cause, that there is an 'ego,' and finally, that it is already determined what is to be designated by thinking - that I KNOW what thinking is. — Friedrich Nietzsche

Tate did anything he wanted to and expected me to put up with it or give into it. This was annoying. I was all for Tate being a macho man, badass, bounty-hunting biker because all that was immensely attractive but I'd spent more than ten years being in the control of a man. I wasn't looking for that kind of thing again no matter what form it came in. That said, as Caroline noted, Brad thought he was all that and wasn't but Tate was. No man liked a bitchy, nagging, argumentative shrew and, I would guess, definitely not a man like Tate. If I didn't cool that too maybe I'd turn him off and lose him. — Kristen Ashley