logic

"Paradox, a thing that seems strange, absurd and contrary to common Opinion: In Rhetorick, Paradoxon is something cast in by the by, contrary to the Opinion or Expectation of the Auditors, and otherwise call'd Hypomone. Paradoxol or Paradoxical, belonging to a Paradox, surprizing."

"The best paradoxes raise questions about what kinds of contradictions can occur — what species of impossibilities are possible."

"Paradox is thus a much deeper and universal concept than the ancients would have dreamed. Rather than an oddity, it is a mainstay of the philosophy of science."

"The assumption that anything true is knowable is the grandfather of paradoxes."

"A logical theory may be tested by its capacity for dealing with puzzles, and it is a wholesome plan, in thinking about logic, to stock the mind with as many puzzles as possible, since these serve much the same purpose as is served by experiments in physical science."

"These are old fond paradoxes to make fools laugh i' the alehouse."

"You undergo too strict a paradox, Striving to make an ugly deed look fair."

"More than any other Hellenic thinker, Julian insisted on the virtue of paradox and on the importance of the search for religious truth."

"But now we come to the real paradox: that something as explosive as sexual excitement can nevertheless become a matter of habit, But then that applies to all our pleasures. We discover some new product in the supermarket, and become addicted to it. Then our tastebuds become accustomed to its flavour, and our interest fades. In the same way a honeymoon couple may find an excuse to hurry off to the bedroom half a dozen times a day; but after a month or so sex has taken its place among the many routines of their lives. They still enjoy it, but it no longer has quite the same power to excite the imagination. Sex, like every other pleasure, can become mechanical."

"PARADOX: A statement that reduces the matter at hand to complete obscurity while clarifying it. … Paradoxes are sensitive and can be routed by sneering."

"Paradoxes explain everything. Since they do, they cannot be explained."

"A Paradox is truth spelt with seven letters instead of five"

"For thence, — a paradox Which comforts while it mocks, — Shall life succeed in that it seems to fail: What I aspired to be, And was not, comforts me: A brute I might have been, but would not sink i' the scale."

"Then there is that glorious Epicurean paradox, uttered by my friend, the Historian, in one of his flashing moments: "Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its necessaries.""

"The mind begins to boggle at unnatural substances as things paradoxical and incomprehensible."

"Dionysus: He who believes needs no explanation. Pentheus: What's the worth in believing worthless things? Dionysus: Much worth, but not worth telling you, it seems."

"... Dreams of a Final Theory: The Scientist’s Search for the Ultimate Laws of Nature (1992) ... belongs alongside G. H. Hardy’s ' (1940) and James Watson’s ' (1968) as one of the classic books in which a brilliant scientist has given his motivations full vent. But while Hardy and Watson portrayed science as a for personal glory, Weinberg portrayed it as a quest toward some final explanation, one that would undergird all others."

"But as our explanation will be more brief than one broken in upon by words of wonder, regret, and affection, we will proceed to it ; holding that explanation, like advice, should be of all convenient shortness."

""But surely you would explain your idea to one who asked you?" I say again, if I cannot draw a horse, I will not write THIS IS A HORSE under what I foolishly meant for one. Any key to a work of imagination would be nearly, if not quite, as absurd. The tale is there, not to hide, but to show: if it show nothing at your window, do not open your door to it; leave it out in the cold. To ask me to explain, is to say, "Roses! Boil them, or we won't have them!" My tales may not be roses, but I will not boil them. So long as I think my dog can bark, I will not sit up to bark for him."

"Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong."

"There probably is a God. Many things are easier to explain if there is than if there isn't."

"Tao mystics never talk about God, reincarnation, heaven, hell. No, they don't talk about these things. These are all creations of human mind: explanations for something which can never be explained, explanations for the mystery. In fact, all explanations are against God because explanation de-mystifies existence. Existence is a mystery, and one should accept it as a mystery and not pretend to have any explanation. No, explanation is not needed – only exclamation, a wondering heart, awakened, surprised, feeling the mystery of life each moment. Then, and only then, you know what truth is. And truth liberates."

"Denn wenn sich Jemand versteckt erklärt, so ist Nichts unhöflicher als eine neue Frage."

"Explanations are clear but since no one to whom a thing is explained can connect the explanations with what is really clear, therefore clear explanations are not clear."

"Very simple was my explanation, and plausible enough—as most wrong theories are!"

"Paradoxes explain everything. Since they do, they cannot be explained."

"A prediction, or any assertion, that cannot be defended might still be true, but an explanation that cannot be defended is not an explanation."

"Jolie hypothèse elle explique tant de choses."

"Sing the melody line you hear in your own head. Remember, you don't owe anybody any explanations, you don't owe your parents any explanations, you don't owe your professors any explanations."

"The overwhelming majority of theories are rejected because they contain bad explanations, not because they fail experimental tests."

"She hath prosperous art When she will play with reason and discourse, And well she can persuade."

"For they are yet but ear-kissing arguments."

"There is occasions and causes why and wherefore in all things."

"And sheath'd their swords for lack of argument."

"The first the Retort Courteous; the second the Quip Modest; the third the Reply Churlish; the fourth the Reproof Valiant; the fifth the Countercheck Quarrelsome; the sixth the Lie with Circumstance; the seventh the Lie Direct."

"Arguments don't break chains."

"Like doctors thus, when much dispute has past, We find our tenets just the same at last."

"The very nature of deliberation and argumentation is opposed to necessity and self-evidence, since no one deliberates where the solution is necessary or argues argues against what is self-evident."

"Abba Paul the Barber and his brother Timothy lived in Scetis. They often used to argue. So Abba Paul said, 'How long shall we go on like this?' Abba Timothy said to him, 'I suggest you take my side of the argument and in my turn I will take your side when you oppose me.' They spent the rest of their days in this practice."

"It's hard to engage in good faith with a bad faith argument without just haemorrhaging energy."

"In argument with men a woman ever Goes by the worse, whatever be her cause."

"The brilliant chief, irregularly great, Frank, haughty, rash—the Rupert of debate."

"I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding."

"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."