--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This matter of two sides to every…" description: "\"This matter of two sides to every question is bad logic and bad practice: sometimes there are no sides; sometimes there are a hundred.\" — Mort Sahl" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cb/mort-sahl-7819_hundred_this-matter-of-two-sides-to-every-questi_1360872.jpg" --- # This matter of two sides to every question is bad logic… ![“This matter of two sides to every question is bad logic and bad practice: sometimes there are no sides; sometimes there are a hundred.” quote by Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cb/mort-sahl-7819_hundred_this-matter-of-two-sides-to-every-questi_1360872.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cb/mort-sahl-7819_hundred_this-matter-of-two-sides-to-every-questi_1360872.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cb/mort-sahl-7819_hundred_this-matter-of-two-sides-to-every-questi_1360872.jpg) > “This matter of two sides to every question is bad logic and bad practice: sometimes there are no sides; sometimes there are a hundred.” [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Binary thinking limits understanding; many issues are complex, lacking clear opposing sides. **In simple terms:** Not all problems have two sides; some have many. Key Takeaway Seek nuanced perspectives beyond binary choices. Themes critical thinking complexity logic Mood analytical questioning Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - policy debate - ethical dilemmas - scientific research - conflict resolution Key Concepts philosophy cognitive bias Questions to Reflect On - What issues do you oversimplify? - How can you identify multiple viewpoints? A Different Perspective Simplifying can ignore important subtleties. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bad Logic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-logic-1287709/) [Bad Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-practice-2061895/) [Hundred](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hundred/) [Logic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/logic/) [Logic Bad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/logic-bad-912815/) [Matter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/matter/) [Practice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/practice/) [Question Bad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/question-bad-534131/) [Sides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sides/) [Sides Question](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sides-question-765819/) [Sometimes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sometimes/) [Two](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two/) [Two sides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/two-sides/) ## Related quotes > [Pain always produces logic, which is very bad for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-o-hara/pain-always-produces-logic-which-is-very-bad-for-you/) [Frank O'Hara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-o-hara/) > [There are only two sides to this question. Every man must be for the United States or against it. There can be no neutrals…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-are-only-two-sides-to-this-question-every-man-must-be-for-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There are two sides to every question.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/protagoras/there-are-two-sides-to-every-question/) [Protagoras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/protagoras/) > [There are two sides to every question: my side and the wrong side.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-levant/there-are-two-sides-to-every-question-my-side-and-the-wrong-side/) [Oscar Levant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-levant/) > [In the Muslim world, this notion that somehow everything is the fault of the Israelis lacks balance - because there's two sides to every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/in-the-muslim-world-this-notion-that-somehow-everything-is-the-fault/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [The proverbist knows nothing of the two sides of a question. He knows only the roundness of answers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-shapiro/the-proverbist-knows-nothing-of-the-two-sides-of-a-question-he-knows/) [Karl Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-shapiro/) > [There are two sides to every question, because, when there are no longer two sides it ceases to be a question](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/there-are-two-sides-to-every-question-because-when-there-are-no/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Protagoras asserted that there are two sides to every question, exactly opposite to each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diogenes/protagoras-asserted-that-there-are-two-sides-to-every-question/) [Diogenes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diogenes/) > [Why should ANYTHING go right; even observation and deduction? Why should not good logic be as misleading as bad logic? They are both movements…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/why-should-anything-go-right-even-observation-and-deduction-why/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Fasting was good for the imagination but bad for logic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josephine-tey/fasting-was-good-for-the-imagination-but-bad-for-logic/) [Josephine Tey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josephine-tey/) > [Men are always ready to die for us, but not to make our lives worth having. Cheap sentiment and bad logic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/men-are-always-ready-to-die-for-us-but-not-to-make-our-lives-worth/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [We can stop thinking that good practice is when it’s smooth and calm, and bad practice is when it’s rough and dark. If we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pema-ch-dr-n/we-can-stop-thinking-that-good-practice-is-when-it-s-smooth-and-calm/) [Pema Chodron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pema-ch-dr-n/) > [I've always felt like if I had a bad practice, I could potentially get cut the next day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-edelman/i-ve-always-felt-like-if-i-had-a-bad-practice-i-could-potentially-get/) [Julian Edelman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-edelman/) > [“Time and time again, throughout the history of medical practice, what was once considered as "scientific" eventually becomes regarded as "bad practice".”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-stewart/time-and-time-again-throughout-the-history-of-medical-practice-what/) [David Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-stewart/) > [“Have you ever considered, bridgeman, that bad art does more for the world than good art? Artists spend more of their lives making bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-sanderson/have-you-ever-considered-bridgeman-that-bad-art-does-more-for-the/) [Brandon Sanderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-sanderson/) ## More by Mort Sahl > [Remember that no matter how selfish, how cruel, how unfeeling you have been today, every time you take a breath, you make a flower…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/remember-that-no-matter-how-selfish-how-cruel-how-unfeeling-you-have/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [Comedians have to challenge the power. Comedians should be dangerous and devastating - and funny. That's the hardest part.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/comedians-have-to-challenge-the-power-comedians-should-be-dangerous/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [Too much comedy today is vulgar, not clever. I say that as a comedian and as a consumer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/too-much-comedy-today-is-vulgar-not-clever-i-say-that-as-a-comedian/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [“The beat generation is a coffeehouse full of people expectantly looking at their watches waiting for the beat generation to come on. \*1958”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/the-beat-generation-is-a-coffeehouse-full-of-people-expectantly/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [“I don't think crucifixion is the answer. I believe in the resurrection. I like that part of the story.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/i-don-t-think-crucifixion-is-the-answer-i-believe-in-the-resurrection/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [My life needs editing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/my-life-needs-editing/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [Every time the Russians throw an American in jail, the Committee throws an American in jail to get even.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/every-time-the-russians-throw-an-american-in-jail-the-committee/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [you don't know what you think unless you say it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/you-don-t-know-what-you-think-unless-you-say-it/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [I'm a radical, and I always have been.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/i-m-a-radical-and-i-always-have-been/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [Those who the gods would make rich and famous on TV, they first drive mad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/those-who-the-gods-would-make-rich-and-famous-on-tv-they-first-drive/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [Obama says his recreation consists of reading the Constitution... looking for a loophole.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/obama-says-his-recreation-consists-of-reading-the-constitution/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [There's a great feeling of powerlessness in America. When I express ideas to people, they say, 'That's terrific, but do you think it really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/there-s-a-great-feeling-of-powerlessness-in-america-when-i-express/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [If you can't join them, beat them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/if-you-can-t-join-them-beat-them/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [One thing about being narrow-minded: you'll never be lonely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/one-thing-about-being-narrow-minded-you-ll-never-be-lonely/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) > [Nixon's the kind of guy that if you were drowning fifty feet off shore, he'd throw you a thirty foot rope. Then Kissinger would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/nixon-s-the-kind-of-guy-that-if-you-were-drowning-fifty-feet-off/) [Mort Sahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) [Explore all 87 Mort Sahl quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/) ## More Hundred quotes > [If my campaign is not in the debate, we will not be talking about how we really fix this problem of endless and expanding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-stein/if-my-campaign-is-not-in-the-debate-we-will-not-be-talking-about-how/) [Jill Stein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-stein/) > [Thinking about the things that happened, I don't know any other ball player would could have done what he (Jackie Robinson) did. To be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pee-wee-reese/thinking-about-the-things-that-happened-i-don-t-know-any-other-ball/) [Pee Wee Reese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pee-wee-reese/) > [When you have counted eighty years and more, Time and Fate will batter at your door; But if you should survive to be a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khushwant-singh/when-you-have-counted-eighty-years-and-more-time-and-fate-will-batter/) [Khushwant Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khushwant-singh/) > [“Most of the time they buy what other people buy. They move in great schools, like bluefish, all identical. There is safety in numbers.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hughes/most-of-the-time-they-buy-what-other-people-buy-they-move-in-great/) [Robert Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hughes/) > [Even a liar tells a hundred truths to one lie; he has to, to make the lie good for anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-ward-beecher/even-a-liar-tells-a-hundred-truths-to-one-lie-he-has-to-to-make-the/) [Henry Ward Beecher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-ward-beecher/) > [We must, however, note that what are usually called the high religions made their appearance within about twenty-five hundred years - most of them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-scott-latourette/we-must-however-note-that-what-are-usually-called-the-high-religions/) [Kenneth Scott Latourette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-scott-latourette/) > [American civil rights leader, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Lynching is a murder. 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Certainly most readers - and nearly all critics -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/nearly-all-the-writing-of-our-time-is-likely-to-disappear-in-a/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [A hundred years ago Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter was given an A for adultery; today she would rate no better than a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-de-vries/a-hundred-years-ago-hester-prynne-of-the-scarlet-letter-was-given-an/) [Peter De Vries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-de-vries/) > [Every time I bestow a vacant office I make a hundred discontented persons and one ingrate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-xiv/every-time-i-bestow-a-vacant-office-i-make-a-hundred-discontented/) [Louis XIV](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-xiv/) > [The technology involved in making anything invisible is so infinitely complex that nine hundred and ninety-nine billion, nine hundred and ninety-nine million, nine hundred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/the-technology-involved-in-making-anything-invisible-is-so-infinitely/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive. It means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/tradition-does-not-mean-a-dead-town-it-does-not-mean-that-the-living/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [I am hands-on in any project that I am associated with. I just don't want to put my face or name and lend it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-kardashian/i-am-hands-on-in-any-project-that-i-am-associated-with-i-just-don-t/) [Kim Kardashian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-kardashian/) > [The story being told in 'Star Wars' is a classic one. Every few hundred years, the story is retold because we have a tendency…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-lucas/the-story-being-told-in-star-wars-is-a-classic-one-every-few-hundred/) [George Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-lucas/) [Browse all 3,414 Hundred quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hundred/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "This matter of two sides to every question is bad logic and bad practice: sometimes there are no sides; sometimes there are a hundred.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mort Sahl" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/this-matter-of-two-sides-to-every-question-is-bad-logic-and-bad/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Hundred" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/this-matter-of-two-sides-to-every-question-is-bad-logic-and-bad/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cb/mort-sahl-7819_hundred_this-matter-of-two-sides-to-every-questi_1360872.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cb/mort-sahl-7819_hundred_this-matter-of-two-sides-to-every-questi_1360872.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1cb/mort-sahl-7819_hundred_this-matter-of-two-sides-to-every-questi_1360872.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“This matter of two sides to every question is bad logic and bad practice: sometimes there are no sides…” — Mort Sahl", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mort Sahl", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mort-sahl/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "This matter of two sides to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/this-matter-of-two-sides-to-every-question-is-bad-logic-and-bad/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mort-sahl/this-matter-of-two-sides-to-every-question-is-bad-logic-and-bad/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```