Topic

Quarrel

Quarrel in this collection is more closely related to love than its surface suggests. Publilius Syrus on lovers' anger-renewing-the-strength-of-love gives quarrel its regenerative function: the intensity that produces conflict is the same intensity that sustains attachment. Antisthenes on excessive wedding gifts causing quarrels is the ancient world's most practical marriage counsel. Hazlitt on those-at-war-with-others-not-being-at-peace-with-themselves is the psychological diagnosis: external conflict is usually the projection of internal conflict. Twain on forgiveness as the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that crushed it is the most beautiful image in the collection — an entry that belongs under forgiveness as much as here. Fuller on forgiving-others-as-breaking-the-bridge-you-need-yourself is the self-interest argument for reconciliation. La Rochefoucauld on forgiving-to-the-degree-that-one-loves connects forgiveness to investment: we repair quarrels in proportion to what we have at stake. Morley on the man who never angered a woman being a failure closes with the opposite of the conventional wisdom.

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Quarrels often arise in marriages when the bridal gifts are excessive

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it

A man who has never made a woman angry is a failure in life.

How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.

Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose

Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves

Anger, if not restrained, is frequently more hurtful to us than the injury that provokes it.

Friendships, in general, are suddenly contracted; and therefore it is no wonder they are easily dissolved

Time heals grief and quarrels, for we change and are no longer the same person.

Paper napkins never return from a laundry - nor love from a trip to the law courts

At the bottom of enmity between strangers lies indifference

Stupidity gets up early; that is why events are accustomed to happening in the morning.

He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself; for every man has need to be forgiven.

Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings

People generally quarrel because they cannot argue

Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable.

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

If there were only turnips and potatoes in the world, someone would complain that plants grow the wrong way.

A torn jacket is soon mended, but hard words bruise the heart of a child

For every 60 seconds of anger, you lose one minute of happiness