from The Art of Worldly Wisdom Do not feed the spirit of contradiction cxxxv Do not feed the spirit of contradiction.
It only makes you stupid or tantrum-prudence should be highly wary of this. It may be a sign of cleverness to be difficult about everything, but such arguments write you off as a fool. Such people start pseudo-wars out of the most pleasant conversation, thus acting as enemies not against those with whom they do not associate, but against those with whom they do. Grit is the most jarring of delicacies, and so is contradiction in entertainment. He who puts the wild beast and the tame together is a fool and a cruel one.
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