Wise men do not quarrel with each other.
—Danish 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
If you cannot avoid a quarrel with a blackguard, let your lawyer manage it rather than yourself. No man sweeps his own chimney, but employs a chimney-sweeper who has no objection to dirty work because it is his trade.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
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
Beware of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, bear it that the opposer may beware of thee.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The quarrels of lovers are like summer storms. Everything is more beautiful when they have passed.
—Suzanne Curchod (1739–94) French-Swiss Salonist, Writer
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
Two things, well considered, would prevent many quarrels; first to have it well ascertained whether we are not disputing about terms rather than things; and secondly, to examine whether that on which we differ is worth contending about.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
I consider your very testy and quarrelsome people as I do a loaded gun, which may, by accident, at any time, go off and kill people.
—William Shenstone (1714–63) British Poet, Landscape Gardener
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
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
The test of a man or woman’s breeding is how they behave in a quarrel.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
One should not quarrel with a dog without a reason sufficient to vindicate one through all the courts of morality.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just, and he but naked, though locked up in steel, whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
I against my brother I and my brother against our cousin, my brother and our cousin against the neighbors all of us against the foreigner.
—Arabic Proverb
The course of true love never did run smooth.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
When worthy men fall out, only one of them may be faulty at first; but if the strife continue long, both commonly become guilty.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
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
Better be quarrelling than lonesome.
—Irish Proverb
Though a quarrel in the streets is a thing to be hated, the energies displayed in it are fine; the commonest man shows a grace in his quarrel.
—John Keats (1795–1821) English Poet
Lovers quarrels are the renewal of love.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
I strove with none; for none was worth my strife.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
He that blows the coals in quarrels that he has nothing to do with, has no right to complain if the sparks fly in his face.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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
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
A quarrel between friends, when made up, adds a new tie to friendship, as … the callosity formed round a broken bone makes it stronger than before.
—Francis de Sales (1567–1622) French Catholic Saint
Jars concealed are half reconciled; but if generally known, it is a double task to stop the breach at home and men’s mouths abroad.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
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
Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole.
—Derek Walcott (1930–2017) West Indian Poet, Dramatist
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