QuoteProject
I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.
Margaret Thatcher
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Personal attacks often indicate a lack of substantial argument.

This quote from Margaret Thatcher suggests that when someone resorts to personal attacks in a debate, it reflects their inability to engage with the actual political arguments at hand. Instead of feeling hurt by such attacks, one should feel reassured that their opponent is losing the intellectual battle, as personal insults reveal their desperation and lack of valid points.

Themes

PoliticsCriticismDebatePersonal AttackConfidence

In practice

Example use cases

In a political debate, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of focusing on arguments rather than personal insults.

More from Margaret Thatcher

When will Labour learn that you cannot build Jerusalem in Brussels.
Margaret ThatcherRead
Never in the history of human credit has so much been owed.
Margaret ThatcherRead
The battle for women's rights has been largely won.
Margaret ThatcherRead
Ought we not to ask the media to agree among themselves a voluntary code of conduct, under which they would not say or show anything which could assist the terrorists' morale or their cause while the hijack lasted.
Margaret ThatcherRead
Israel must never be expected to jeopardize her security: if she was ever foolish enough to do so, and then suffered for it, the backlash against both honest brokers and Palestinians would be immense - 'land for peace' must also bring peace.
Margaret ThatcherRead
If it's me against 48, I feel sorry for the 48.
Margaret ThatcherRead

Similar quotes

If I fulfill YOUR expectations, how am I going to transform you? I have to DESTROY your expectations. I have to destroy the very mind that creates those expectations. If you come to me, never come with expectations, otherwise you will be disappointed - because I have no obligation to fulfill your expectations in any way. In fact, if I see that there are some expectations, I do things DELIBERATELY to destroy those expectations. That is the price you have to pay to be with me.
RajneeshRead
There comes a point in time when you must know that everything you have already given or done is enough. This is not something anyone else can tell you. You must know. Giving without receiving doesn't prove anything except that you know how to be taken advantage of.
Iyanla VanzantRead
Be mindful of the words that you use and the actions that you live and who you are and how it is you use your power. Keep clear at all times that you are what you say you are.
Gary ZukavRead
Our actions are in our own hands, but the consequences of them are not. Remember that, my dear, and think twice before you do anything.
Louisa May AlcottRead
People know, or dimly feel, that if thinking is not kept pure and keen, and if respect for the world of mind is no longer operative, ships and automobiles will soon cease to run right, the engineer's slide rule and the computations of banks and stock exchanges will forfeit validity and authority, and chaos will ensue.
Hermann HesseRead
Moon In the Window I wish I could say I was the kind of child who watched the moon from her window, would turn toward it and wonder. I never wondered. I read. Dark signs that crawled toward the edge of the page. It took me years to grow a heart from paper and glue. All I had was a flashlight, bright as the moon, a white hole blazing beneath the sheets.
Dorianne LauxRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.