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~~ Strife ~~

~~ I am not the author of the following written material, and I lay no claim to be the author. ~~


 1. A knock-down argument; 'tis but a word and a blow.

 2. A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party: there is no battle unless there be two.

 3. A young Apollo, golden haired, Stands dreaming on the verge of strife, Magnificently unprepared For the long littleness of life.

 4. Alas! how light a cause may move Dissension between hearts that love! Hearts that the world in vain had tried, And sorrow but more closely tied; That stood the storm when waves were rough, Yet in a sunny hour fall off.

 5. Argument, as usually managed, is the worst sort of conversation, as in books it is generally the worst sort of reading.

 6. Arguments, like children, should be like the subject that begets them.

 7. Assertion is not argument; to contradict the statement of an opponent is not proof that you are correct.

 8. Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes Error a fault, and truth discourtesy.

 9. Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.

10. Beware of entrance to a quarrel; but being in, Bear it, that the opposer may beware of thee.

11. But curb thou the high spirit in thy breast, For gentle ways are best, and keep aloof From sharp contentions.

12. Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheeplike passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving.

13. Controversy - A battle in which spittle or ink replace the...cannon ball.

14. Controversy equalizes fools and wise men -and the fools know it.

15. Desire nothing, Chafe not at fate, nor at Nature's changeless laws. But struggle only with the personal, the transitory, the evanescent and the perishable.

16. Discord, a sleepless hag who never dies, With Snipe-like nose, and Ferret-glowing eyes, Lean sallow cheeks, long chin with beard supplied, Poor cracklin joints, and wither'd parchment hide, As if old Drums, worn out with martial din, Had clubb'd their yellow Heads to form her Skin.

17. Dissension, like small streams, are first begun, Scarce seen they rise, but gather as they run: So lines that from their parallel decline, More they proceed the more they still disjoin.

18. Do not speak harshly to any one; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful: blows for blows will touch thee.

19. Don't take the wrong side of an argument just because your opponent has taken the right side.

20. Everywhere in the Universe, what we call Life and Movement results from a continual conflict of Forces or Impulses. Whenever that active antagonism ceases, the immobility and inertia, which are Death, result.

21. Fishes live in the sea, as men do on land: the great ones eat up the little ones.

22. Great affection is often The cause of violent animosity. The quarrels of men often arise From too great a familiarity.

23. Great contest follows, and much learned dust Involves the combatants; each claiming truth, And truth disclaiming both.

24. He that blows the coals in quarrels he has nothing to do with has no right to complain if the sparks fly in his face.

25. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

26. He who establishes his arguments by noise and command shows that reason is weak.

27. He who knows does not speak; He who speaks does not know. He who is truthful is not showy; He who is showy is not truthful. He who is virtuous does not dispute; He who disputes is not virtuous. He who is learned is not wise; He who is wise is not learned. Therefore the sage does not display his own merits.

28. Heaven and water go their opposite ways: The image of CONFLICT. Thus in all his transactions the superior man Carefully considers the beginning.

29. I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing.

30. If a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

31. If thou continuest to take delight in idle argumentation thou mayest be qualified to combat with the sophists, but will never know how to live with men.

32. If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.

33. In a debate, rather pull to pieces the argument of thy antagonist than offer him any of thy own; for thus thou wilt fight him in his own country.

34. In a false quarrel there is no true valour.

35. In arguing one should meet serious pleading with humour, and humour with serious pleading.

36. In most quarrels there is a fault on both sides. A quarrel may be compared to a spark, which cannot be produced without a flint, as well as steel. Either of them, may hammer on wood forever; no fire will follow.

37. In quarreling the truth is always lost.

38. It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them.

39. It may happen sometimes that a long debate Becomes the cause of a longer friendship. Commonly, those who dispute with one another At last agree.

40. Like the course of the heavenly bodies, harmony in national life is a resultant of the struggle between contending forces. In frank expression of conflicting opinion lies the greatest promise of wisdom in governmental action; and in suppression lies ordinarily the greatest peril.

41. Neither irony nor sarcasm is argument.

42. No conflict is so severe as his who labours to subdue himself.

43. Nothing is more certain than that much of the force, as well as grace, of arguments or instructions depends on their conciseness.

44. People generally quarrel because they cannot argue.

45. Quarrels would not last long if the fault was only on one side.

46. Scorn also to depress thy competitor by any dishonest or unworthy method; strive to raise thyself above him only by excelling him; so shall thy contest for superiority be crowned with honour, if not with success.

47. Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause.

48. The man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.

49. The master-secret in fighting is to strike once, but in the right place.

50. The pain of dispute exceeds by much its utility. All disputation makes the mind deaf; and when people are deaf I am dumb.

51. The unforgivable crime is soft hitting. Do not hit at all if it can be avoided; but never hit softly.

52. The whole concord of this world consists in discords.

53. There is no dispute managed without passion, and yet there is scarce a dispute worth a passion.

54. There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.

55. Those who in quarrels interpose, Must often wipe a bloody nose.

56. To strive with an equal is dangerous; with a superior, mad; with an inferior, degrading.

57. Twas blow for blow, disputing inch by inch, For one would not retreat, nor t'other flinch.

58. Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.

59. When the fight begins within himself, a man's worth something.

60. When worthy men fall out, only one of them may be faulty first; but if the strife continue long, both commonly become guilty.

61. Wise men argue causes, and fools decide them.

62. You should respect each other and refrain from disputes; you should not, like water and oil, repel each other, but should, like milk and water, mingle together.


To: The List of Wisdom


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