The public debate about evolution itself, as opposed to whether to teach it, is something else. It is boring, demeaning, and insufferably dull. – Ian Hacking
This country is about, in my judgment, aggressive, open debate. There is an old saying: When everyone is thinking the same thing, no one is thinking very much. – Byron Dorgan
It’s possible to be hard-boiled and not noir, just as it’s possible to be noir and not hard-boiled. And it is possible to be both. People debate endlessly what is hard-boiled and what is noir. – Allan Guthrie
I have been defending Israel’s right to exist, and to defend itself against terrorism, for many years-on college campuses, in television appearances and in debate. – Alan Dershowitz
We need less theoretical debate and more practical application and acknowledgment of what Europe can and does do so that it is brought home to people in a relevant way. – Charles Kennedy
It is reason, and not passion, which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision. – Barbara Jordan
What passes for real debate in Washington often seems more like an echo chamber, with politicians talking at politicians. – Bill Delahunt
The surveillance of ordinary people is far greater than I would have imagined and far greater than the American public has been able to debate. – Barton Gellman
Decentralisation is controversial – but that’s fine. We should be fearless about having a debate. – Charles Kennedy
We become distracted from productive labors by our perceived opponents; we become focused on them and not on our larger calling to advance our nation; our debate becomes more about scoring points against an adversary and less about advancing our common cause. – Cory Booker
I don’t feel that an atmosphere of debate and total disagreement and argument is such a bad thing. It makes for a vital and alive field. – Clifford Geertz
I’ve enjoyed doing Wolf Blitzer’s program, and I even enjoyed having a heated debate with Bill O’Reilly. I will do it any time. – Bianca Jagger
The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information. – Christopher Lasch
The tension between ‘yes’ and ‘no’, between ‘I can’ and ‘I cannot’, makes us feel that, in so many instances, human life is an interminable debate with one’s self. – Anatole Broyard
Since January 2003, at the height of the debate on the possible unilateral strike against Iraq, I have advocated for a reinstatement of the military draft to ensure a more equitable representation of people making sacrifices in wars in which the United States is engaged. – Charles B. Rangel
In Parliament we debate on and we decide the laws that are going to govern the country. – Diane Abbott
There’s a bit of debate about that; some say it was really Matthew, but the popular consensus is that Mark was the first one, so that’s why I did that one first. And I was planning on doing all four. – Chester Brown
Let’s start to have a grown up debate in this country about who we are and where we want to go and what kind of country we want to build. – Ed Miliband
The word ‘tolerance’ once meant we all have the right to argue rationally for our deepest convictions in the public arena. Now it means those convictions are not even subject to rational debate. – Nancy Pearcey
A little tough talk in the midst of a campaign or as part of a presidential debate cannot obscure a record of 30 years of being on the wrong side of defense issues. – Dick Cheney
As has been pointed out with Libya, the debate over Libya, sometimes we allow diplomatic relations with imperfect regimes because progress can best be made through engagement instead of isolation. – Earl Blumenauer
In a film, you have to externalize things that are internal and of course it becomes a debate about to what extent you do that. – Chris Terrio