Controversy

Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate usually concerning a matter of opinion.

Sourced

• Controversy equalizes fools and wise men — and the fools know it.
  • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858), Chapter V.

• The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
  • Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love (1963).

• The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way.
  • Bertrand Russell, "An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish", Unpopular Essays (1950).

Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)

Quotes reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895).

• When men differ in any matter of belief, let them meet each other manfully.
  • Francis Wayland, p. 162.

• No great advance has ever been made in science, politics, or religion, without controversy.
  • Lyman Beecher, p. 162.

• It is humbling to mankind to contemplate men capable of grasping eternal truths, fencing and debating in trivialities, like gladiators fighting with flies.
  • Désiré Nisard, p. 162.

• Doubtless there are times when controversy becomes a necessary evil. But let us remember that it is an evil.
  • Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, p. 162.