Argument is conclusive ... but ... it does not remove doubt, so that the mind may rest in the sure knowledge of the truth, unless ...it finds it by the method of experiment.... For if any man who never saw fire proved by satisfactory arguments that fire burns ... his hearer's mind would never be satisfied, nor would he avoid the fire until he put his hand in it ... that he might learn by experiment what argument taught.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is conceivable at least that a late generation, such as we presumably are, has particular need of the sketch, in order not to b...e strangled to death by inherited conceptions which preclude new births.... The sketch has direction, but no ending; the sketch as reflection of a view of life that is no longer conclusive, or is not yet conclusive.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The one conclusive argument that has at all times discouraged people from drinking a poison is not that it kills but rather that i...t tastes bad.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God. The Christian holds that we can know there is ...a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not. The Agnostic suspends judgment, saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial. At the same time, an Agnostic may hold that the existence of God, though not impossible, is very improbable; he may even hold it so improbable that it is not worth considering in practice. In that case, he is not far removed from atheism. His attitude may be that which a careful philosopher would have towards the gods of ancient Greece. If I were asked to prove that Zeus and Poseidon and Hera and the rest of the Olympians do not exist, I should be at a loss to find conclusive arguments. An Agnostic may think the Christian God as improbable as the Olympians; in that case, he is, for practical purposes, at one with the atheists.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I think that the leaf of a tree, the meanest insect on which we trample, are in themselves arguments more conclusive than any whic...h can be adduced that some vast intellect animates Infinity.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
That we can come here today and in the presence of thousands and tens of thousands of the survivors of the gallant army of Norther...n Virginia and their descendants, establish such an enduring monument by their hospitable welcome and acclaim, is conclusive proof of the uniting of the sections, and a universal confession that all that was done was well done, that the battle had to be fought, that the sections had to be tried, but that in the end, the result has inured to the common benefit of all.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »