50 Debate Quotes To Find Better Solutions

If you are looking for a good debate, then you need to check out these insightful debate quotes.

Dr. Debasish Mrindha once said, “A true leader debates an idea to find a better solution.”

Unfortunately, when many of us debate others, it is rarely for the sake of finding a better solution and usually because we want to demonstrate that we are right about something.

Depending on the situation, debates can add to our quality of life by exposing us to new ideas and perspectives.

However, debates can also deteriorate into arguments where feelings become the focal point and ideas go out the window.

Writer Bikash Bhander reflected that “Ideological debates won’t solve real world’s problems. Empathetic actions will.”

Debate is an important part of life and can strengthen our development.

Debate lets us know if our ideas and beliefs represent how we think and feel.

Without opposing views, we might only see things in one way.

Check out the debate quotes to broaden how you approach someone with different ideas.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration.

Check out our entire collection of motivational quotes here. 

Debate Quotes On Who You Shouldn’t Debate With

Some debates aren’t worth having. If a debate cannot be performed respectfully, it isn’t worth your time.

1. “You can’t debate an idiot. If you do, you are an idiot.” – M.Rehan Behleem

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2. “In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust interest.” – William Penn

3. “A true leader debates an idea to find a better solution.” – Debasish Mridha, MD

4. “Don’t be loud, lift your logic.” – Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

5. “Ideological debates won’t solve real world’s problems. Empathetic actions will.” – Bikash Bhandari

6. “You don’t win a debate by suppressing discussion; you win it with a better argument.” – Frank Sonnenberg

7. “Discussions, debates, and even arguments will be fruitful if done with an open mind.” -Haresh Sippy

8. “Lions will never debate with hyenas.” – M.Rehan Behleem

9. “All too often what we dismiss as merely someone’s opinion is in fact a fact.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana

10. “You win a debate with a better argument, not by force.” – Frank Sonnenberg, Listen to Your Conscience

Debate Quotes On Improving Your Debate Skills

Winning a debate is not always done through your words at the moment. Many times, your actions and the time you spend preparing are the difference between winning or losing a debate.

11. “If you can’t impress them with your argument, impress them with your actions.” – Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

12. “It always seems as though the definition of love will remain debatable by an opinionated world.” – Criss Jami

13. “The clash of ideas is not weakness. Truth reaches its place when tussling with error.” -Richard Henry Pratt

14. “Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.” – Desmond Tutu

15. “Before debating anything with me, tell me the language of fish?” – Dr.P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar

16. “Free speech and debate are essential in our search for the truth.” – Frank Sonnenberg

17. “Those who make conversations impossible, make escalation inevitable.” – Stefan Molyneux

18. “We need civil debate to present opposing viewpoints and point out our blind spots.” – Eric Overby

19. “If you’ve got the truth you can demonstrate it. Talking doesn’t prove it.” – Robert A. Heinlein

20. “He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of dispute.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Debate Quotes On The Importance Of Debating Topics

If something is important, it is worth taking the time to debate. Take a look at the quotes below to learn more about the importance of debates.

21. “Time spent arguing is, oddly enough, almost never wasted.” – Christopher Hitchens

22. “You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.” – Robert A. Heinlein

23. “It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.” – Joseph Joubert

24. “True friends fiercely debate issues and still walk away as friends.” – Frank Sonnenberg

25. “Is there any point in public debate in a society where hardly anyone has been taught how to think, while millions have been taught what to think?” – Peter Hitchens

26. “The key to holding a logical argument or debate is to allow oneself to understand the other person’s argument no matter how divergent their views may seem.” – Auliq Ice

27. “The love of conflict is most evident when opposing forces join sides to defeat the peacemaker.” – Criss Jami, Killosophy

28. “By the very act of arguing, you awake the patient’s reason; and once it is awake, who can foresee the result?” – C.S. Lewis

29. “Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus or compromise.” – James Surowiecki

30. “Debate, but do not argue. Challenge, but do not force your opinions. – Matshona Dhliwayo

31. “I think in our desire to create a better America,we have to have civilized debate in this country and not just yelling.” – Craig Ferguson

32. “A lively discussion is usually helpful, because the hottest fire makes the hardest steel.” -Tom Clancy, Debt of Honor

33. “Too many people get away with truly awful ‘reasoning’, not because what they are arguing happens to be true, but because they are in the majority.” – Ellie Rose McKee

Debate Quotes On Different Personality Types

One of the most important things to know when debating is the personality of the person you are debating with. Take a look at the quotes below to see more information on debating with different personality types.

34. “In fact, the more each person can remove his or her ego from the discussion and focus on the subject matter, the more fruitful the conversation will be for all involved.” – Matthew Kelly, The Seven Levels of Intimacy: The Art of Loving and the Joy of Being Loved

35. “Sometimes silence is a sign, not of not knowing what to say, but of knowing when to say what you know.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana

36. “Disagreement is necessary in deliberations among mortals. – Steven Pinker, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters

37. “The ‘pre-emption’ versus ‘prevention’ debate may be a distinction without much difference.” – Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left

38. “Where a model exists, copies will be made of it; where success has been gained, boasting follows; where debate exists, there will be outbreaks of hostility.” – Zhuangzi, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu

39. “Never forget, an argument isn’t wrong by line 1,000. It is wrong by the end of line 1. It is wrong in the first, defining claim it makes.” – Thomas Stark, Tractatus Logico-Mathematicus

Debate Quotes On How We Respond To Debates

How you respond to a debate often determines how the opposing party will respond as well. If you are calm and respectful, chances are the other party will be as well.

40. “It takes a great degree of tolerance, and that of humility, to strongly disagree with someone, and not express your disagreement.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana

41. “Banishing doubt and worry avoids overthinking – that busy mind that arises from an internal debate about what we’re doing.” – Ceri evans, Perform Under Pressure

42. “Sometimes responding, or how we respond, proves what we are responding to disprove.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana

43. “In any contentious debate, some people will find it advantageous to align themselves with the crowd, while a smaller number will come to see themselves as persecuted outsiders.” – Nate Silver, The Signal and the Noise:

44. “At times, one can win clever people over to a principle merely by presenting it in the form of an outrageous paradox.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human

45. “At the end of the day, dipping into the attack well of body-shaming, racism, misogyny, and ableism is just lazy. When people resort to these kinds of tactics, I simply think that they have lost the ability to debate the merits and content of a position.” – Bruce Reyes-Chow, In Defense of Kindness

46. “Unfortunately, fools think that shouting makes their arguments convincing, or more convincing.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana

47. “Debate, just not to show your intelligence, but to find out a better solution.” – Debasish Mridha, MD

48. Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus or compromise.” – James Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds

49. To win an argument, but lose a friendship, is a loss. To lose an argument, but retain a friendship, is gain.” – Matshona Dhliwayo

50. As the saying goes, the more we disagree, the more chance there is that at least one of us is right.” – Steven Pinker, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters

Did These Debate Quotes Make You Want To Debate?

The mark of true friendship is tested by debate.

Writer Frank Sonnenberg once said “True friends fiercely debate issues and still walk away as friends.”

This is not always easy to do. A debater is an actual personality type.

People who are debaters are usually extroverted and oftentimes intuitive.

These individuals are somewhat bold and are not afraid of taking an idea apart and reconstructing it so it can be fully understood.

People who have debater personality types have no problem displaying mental agility.

It is not that they prefer conflict, however they are usually comfortable in the face of verbal resistance.

Some of the most creative minds on earth have had debater personalities.

People like Sasha Baron Cohen, Robert Downy Jr, and Amy Poehler are all great examples.

Part of being a debater is being contrarian with an open mind and a good sense of humor.

Did you learn any new debating tricks from the debate quotes?

Please share with your friends and post any comments below.