Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
Lovers quarrels are the renewal of love.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper and loss of self control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
The same reason that makes us chide and brawl and fall out with any of our neighbors, causeth a war to follow between Princes.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
In the fight between you and the world, back the world.
—Franz Kafka (1883–1924) Austrian Novelist, Short Story Writer
I’m not going to get into the ring with Tolstoy.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
I strove with none; for none was worth my strife.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
The most terrible fight is not when there is one opinion against another, the most terrible is when two men say the same thing—and fight about the interpretation, and this interpretation involves a difference of quality.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
I will fight for my children on any level so they can reach their potential as human beings and in their public duties.
—Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–97) English Royal, Humanitarian, Peace Activist
Wise men do not quarrel with each other.
—Danish Proverb
Let him that is without stone among you cast the first thing he can lay his hands on.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
You cannot love a thing without wanting to fight for it.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
People who fight fire with fire usually end up with ashes.
—Pauline Phillips (Abigail van Buren) (b.1918) American Columnist
The full value of this life can only be got by fighting; the violent take it by storm. And if we have accepted everything we have missed something—war. This life of ours is a very enjoyable fight, but a very miserable truce.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Coarse kindness is, at least, better than coarse anger; and in all private quarrels the duller nature is triumphant by reason of its dullness.
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
Contemplative and bookish men must of necessity be more quarrelsome than others, because they contend not about matter of fact, nor can determine their controversies by any certain witnesses, nor judges. But as long as they go towards peace, that is Truth, it is no matter which way.
—John Donne (1572–1631) English Poet, Cleric
There is no mother like your own mother.
—African Proverb
The foolish race of mankind are swarming below in the night; they shriek and rage and quarrel—and all of them are right.
—Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German Poet, Writer
Fighting is like champagne. It goes to the heads of cowards as quickly as of heroes. Any fool can be brave on a battlefield when it’s be brave or else be killed.
—Margaret Mitchell (1900–49) American Novelist, Journalist
The course of true love never did run smooth.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
When the fight begins within himself, a man’s worth something.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
I hold it that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
That is the whole secret of successful fighting. Get your enemy at a disadvantage; and never, on any account, fight him on equal terms.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Quarrel? Nonsense; we have not quarreled. If one is not to get into a rage sometimes, what is the good of being friends?
—George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) (1819–80) English Novelist
No matter how much the cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
The longer a man lives in this world the more he must be convinced that all domestic quarrels had better never be obtruded on the public; for, let the husband be right, or let him be wrong, there is always a sympathy existing for women which is certain to give the man the worst of it.
—Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846) English Painter, Writer
My address is like my shoes. It travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong.
—Mary Harris Jones (Mother Jones) (1837–1930) Irish-American Labor Activist
The last sound on the worthless earth will be two human beings trying to launch a homemade spaceship and already quarreling about where they are going next.
—William Faulkner (1897–1962) American Novelist