Never[enter] into dispute or argument with another. I never yet saw an instance ofone of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many ontheir getting warm, becoming rude and shooting one another.
Conflictis the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. Itinstigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheeplikepassivity, and sets us at noting and contriving.
Neverforget the power of silence, that massively disconcerting pause which goes onand on and may at last induce an opponent to babble and backtrack nervously.
