Following a friendly debate with a colleague on matters of historical/political interest one briefly basked in the warm glow of triumph. Do not read this incorrectly however, there was no sense of triumphalism or innate smugness. It was just pleasantly satisfactory (which may in itself be a superfluous tautology of expression) to have had a friendly debate with a layer of thought brought into the undercurrent of it.
However I was snapped out of my reverie when on replaying part of the conversation I realised that part of my argument had rested on an unsupported quote. The quote itself was innocuous enough but where was my rigour in checking it?
So off I wandered to check. Which is where my misfortune occurred - lo and behold it was an apocryphal quote. The substance of the argument still stood, the other facts were correct but a central plank of my debate was undermined.
In the spirit of intellectual honesty this as and is freely admitted to, which seems to have undermined my position on this argument considerably.
So an argument that one still feels should have been won undermined by a lack of rigour in the quote checking. let this be a warning to all - check your facts and particularly your quotes before using them!
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