"Argument is unnecessary for an enlightened disciple. ... Argument implies a desire to win, strengthens egotism, and ties us to the belief in the idea of a self."

"Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes Error a fault, and truth discourtesy."

"I find you want me to furnish you with argument and intellects too. No, sir, these, I protest you, are too hard for me."

"In arguing, too, the parson own'd his skill, For even though vanquished he could argue still."

"His conduct still right with his argument wrong."

"Reproachful speech from either side The want of argument supplied; They rail, reviled; as often ends The contests of disputing friends."

"A knock-down argument; 'tis but a word and a blow."

"While the Hindu elaborates his argument, the Moslem sharpens his sword."

"He whose will and desire in conversation is to establish his own opinion, even though what he says is true, should recognize that he is sick with the devil's disease."

"The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it."

"When Bishop Berkeley said, "there was no matter," And proved it—'twas no matter what he said."

"'Twas blow for blow, disputing inch by inch, For one would not retreat, nor t'other flinch."

"I've heard old cunning stagers Say, fools for arguments use wagers."

"Whatever Sceptic could inquire for, For every why he had a wherefore."

"He'd undertake to prove, by force Of argument, a man's no horse. He'd prove a buzzard is no fowl, And that a Lord may be an owl, A calf an Alderman, a goose a Justice, And rooks, Committee-men or Trustees."

"And there began a lang digression About the lords o' the creation."

""Or he might say: 'Whereas some recluses and brahmins, while living on the food offered by the faithful, engage in wrangling argumentation, (saying to one another): "You don't understand this doctrine and discipline. I am the one who understands this doctrine and discipline." — "How can you understand this doctrine and discipline?" — "You're practising the wrong way. I'm practising the right way." — "I'm being consistent. You're inconsistent." — "What should have been said first you said last, what should have been said last you said first." — "What you took so long to think out has been confuted." — "Your doctrine has been refuted. You're defeated. Go, try to save your doctrine, or disentangle yourself now if you can" — the recluse Gotama abstains from such wrangling argumentation.'"

"Where we desire to be informed 'tis good to contest with men above ourselves; but to confirm and establish our opinions, 'tis best to argue with judgments below our own, that the frequent spoils and victories over their reasons may settle in ourselves an esteem and confirmed opinion of our own."

"To get to know a truth properly, one must polemicize it."

"Let your left hand turn away what your right hand attracts."

"Miserum est tacere cogi, quod cupias loqui."

"Under the rose, since here are none but friends, (To own the truth) we have some private ends."

"Latere semper patere, quod latuit diu."

"Alium silere quod voles, primus sile."

"Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets of Askelon."

"Wer den kleinsten Theil eines Geheimnisses hingibt, hat den andern nicht mehr in der Gewalt."

"There is not a crime, there is not a swindle, there is not a vice which does not live by secrecy."

"I have play'd the fool, the gross fool, to believe The bosom of a friend will hold a secret Mine own could not contain."

"Nothing is secret which shall not be made manifest."

"Vitæ poscænia celant."

"How can we expect another to keep our secret if we cannot keep it ourselves."

"Rien ne pèse tant qu'un secret: Le porter loin est difficile aux dames; Et je sais même sur ce fait Bon nombre d'hommes que sont femmes."

"Toute révélation d'un secret est la faute de celui qui l'a confié."

"L'on confie son secret dans l'amitié, mais il échappe dans l'amour."

"There is a skeleton on every house."

"Arcanum neque tu scrutaveris ullius unquam, commissumve teges et vino tortus et ira."

"As witnesses that the things were not done in a corner."

"The secret things belong unto the Lord our God."

"But that I am forbid, To tell the secrets of my prison-house, I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul."

"If you have hitherto conceal'd this sight, Let it be tenable in your silence still. And whatsoever else shall hap to-night, Give it an understanding, but no tongue."

"Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state."

"The trouble with secrecy isn't that it inhibits science. ... The trouble with secrecy is that it denies to the government itself the wisdom and the resources of the whole community ... of the whole country ..."

"Every true secret must exclude itself from the profane. Anyone who understands it is, through ones own accord, legitimately a person in the know."

"Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity."

"Is a secret still a secret if everyone knows it?"

"Nothing circulates so rapidly as a secret."

"Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest."

"“Secrets in Contact: Secrecy as a Promoter of Contacts between Religious Traditions,” edited by Knut Martin Stünkel, Anna Akasoy, and Georgios Halkias (Leiden: Brill, 2026), is a notable academic volume that challenges a pervasive yet often unexamined prejudice. For years, both public discourse and scholarship have been influenced by what Rosita Šorytė has termed “secretophobia”: the reflexive suspicion that secrecy in religion is inherently sinister, serving as a veil for abuse, manipulation, or separatism. In contrast, this book demonstrates that secrets do not merely divide; they also connect, travel, translate, and create bridges between traditions. … Overall, and notwithstanding the unfortunate inclusion of [Hildegard] Piegeler’s chapter, “Secrets in Contact” serves as a persuasive response to “secretophobia.” The volume demonstrates that secrecy is not inherently pathological but rather a human strategy that can be protective, playful, or transformative. While secrets can create divisions, they also have the capacity to connect traditions, generate shared vocabularies, and establish imaginative spaces for interreligious engagement. While today secrecy is frequently associated with danger, this book underscores that the hidden can also function as a site of encounter."

"While there's no 'fair use' exception when it comes to trade secrets, anyone who discovers a trade secret without violating a confidentiality agreement can disseminate it freely. For example, if you board a commuter train in Atlanta and discover that a Coca-Cola employee has left the secret formula for the company's flagship product on one of the seats, you have no obligation not to reveal it to the world. More important, this means that newspapers often may legally publish material that may have been obtained illegally, as long as they did not induce the illegal taking or know about it beforehand and as long as no one was induced or solicited by the newspaper to steal the material in question."

"The required and scientifically designed secrecy of the sea operations thus pulled a curtain that hid the Leonardos from public view, popular ken, and recorded history. p. 25"