Spring 2021: Forensics Society Alumni News
You May Quote Me on This
I can directly trace at least one of my many quirks to my experience as a Central Catholic debater.
The truth is I can't live without "quotes." It pains me to express a position on an issue if I can't simultaneously present the "proof" serving as the basis of my opinion. Sometimes this takes of form sharing facts or whatever might be recognized by a majority as truthful or accurate in our current societal context. Even then, I take care to cite sources.
Often, I use words written or spoken by others to support my point. Over the course of my post-Central life (and yes, I know "Tradition Never Graduates"), I have habitually gathered hundreds of quotations, clipped from print materials or cut, pasted and e-filed for my collection. Given my proclivity (or malady, if you prefer) I thought it might be fun to amass and annotate quotes about debate voiced over the centuries.
Let's begin with Socrates (470-399 BC): "When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the losers."Perhaps that was what he taught Plato, however, I vividly recall that in the 20th century, the usual tool was whining.
Jumping ahead to THE Renaissance Man Leonardo DaVinci:(1452-1519): "Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory." Hey Leo, who needs either when you have quote cards and a flow chart?
Next up William Penn (1644-1718): "In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust interest." Poor Billy wouldn't have lasted a week in the CCFS.
- Let's hear from Teacher and Transcendentalist Amos Bronson Alcott (1799-1888): "Debate is masculine, conversation is feminine." While this is necessarily true at Central, I think the fact that his female offspring Louisa May became far more famous may have prompted this intemperate remark.
- Here's what English Novelist Samuel Butler (1835-1902) had to say: "Arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him." And to think I wasted all that money on briefcases and file drawers.
- What do you think American writer Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) had in mind when he said: "It may happen sometimes that a long debate becomes the cause of a longer friendship." It's safe to say, for more reasons than one, that Elbert wasn't around in 1972 for our debates with the boys of Chicagoland's Fenwick High School.
- Another American writer, Pittsburgh native Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) blurted this out one day in Paris: "Argument is to me the air I breathe. Given any proposition, I cannot help believing the other side and defending it." It would be awful to have Gert as a partner.
- Renowned Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu (1931-still among the living) opined: "Don't raise your voice, improve your argument." On the other hand, if you can't improve your argument, maybe it's best to mumble."
In closing, let's return to Ancient Greece and Plato's student Aristotle (384-399 BC): "It's the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it." Thanks Ari. This means it makes no difference if you win the coin toss or not. It is my hope that you find these quotations useful conversation starters among very few of your friends or family members who might appreciate words of wisdom about the wonders of debate. And you may quote me on that.
Dennis P. McManus '72