“At first, they'll only dislike what you say, but the more correct you start sounding the more they'll dislike you.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“He who establishes his argument by noise and command, shows that his reason is weak.”
― Michel de Montaigne

“If you have to say or do something controversial, aim so that people will hate that they love it and not love that they hate it.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“Children are gifts. They are not ours for the breaking. They are ours for the making.”
― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing: The Best of Year One

“Dads. It’s time to show our sons how to properly treat a woman. It’s time to show our daughters how a girl should expect be treated. It’s time to show forgiveness and compassion. It’s time to show our children empathy. It’s time to break social norms and teach a healthier way of life! It’s time to teach good gender roles and to ditch the unnecessary ones. Does it really matter if your son likes the color pink? Is it going to hurt anybody? Do you not see the damage it inflicts to tell a boy that there is something wrong with him because he likes a certain color? Do we not see the damage we do in labeling our girls “tom boys” or our boys “feminine” just because they have their own likes and opinions on things? Things that really don’t matter?”
― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing: The Best of Year One

“The moment you start arguing with an ignorant fool, you have already lost.”
― Imam Ali AS

“...There are also those who inadvertently grant power to another man's words by continuously trying to spite him. If a man gets to the point where he can simply say, 'The sky is blue,' and people indignantly rush up trying to refute him saying, 'No, the sky is light blue,' then, whether they realize it or not, he has become an authority figure even to such adversaries.”
― Criss Jami

“Dads. Do you not realize that a child is what you tell them they are? That people almost always become what they are labeled? Was whatever your child just did really the “dumbest thing you’ve ever seen somebody do”? Was it really the “most ridiculous thing they ever could have done”? Do you really believe that your child is an idiot? Because she now does. Think about that. Because you said it, she now believes it. Bravo.”
― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing: The Best of Year One

“Excuse me," she said politely. "But you can't have him. Not yet. He's going to come back with me.”
― Tamora Pierce, Alanna: The First Adventure

“Psychobabble attempts to redefine the entire English language just to make a correct statement incorrect. Psychology is the study of why someone would try to do this.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“Dads. It’s time to tell our kids that we love them. Constantly. It’s time to show our kids that we love them. Constantly. It’s time to take joy in their twenty-thousand daily questions and their inability to do things as quickly as we’d like. It’s time to take joy in their quirks and their ticks. It’s time to take joy in their facial expressions and their mispronounced words. It’s time to take joy in everything that our kids are.”
― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing: The Best of Year One

“Don't bother to argue anything on the Internet. And I mean, ANYTHING.... The most innocuous, innocent, harmless, basic topics will be misconstrued by people trying to deconstruct things down to the sub-atomic level and entirely miss the point.... Seriously. Keep peeling the onion and you get no onion.”
― Vera Nazarian

“Dads. Do your faces light up when you first see your child in the morning or when you come home from work? Do you not understand that a child’s entire sense of value can revolve around what they see in your face when you first see them?”
― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing: The Best of Year One

“Don't even think of arguing with me. I'm an old woman and if you fight me about it, it could give me a heart attack.”
― Sara Taney Humphreys, The Amoveo Legacy

“Pride is always a better lever against the nobility than reason.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear

“It's not about whether or not someone is a bigot, but whether or not the argument which that someone is arguing is worth being a bigot about.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“Do you not realize that your kids are going to make mistakes, and a lot of them? Do you not realize the damage you do when you push your son’s nose into his mishaps or make your daughter feel worthless because she bumped or spilled something? Do you have any idea how easy it is to make your child feel abject? It’s as simple as letting out the words, “why would you do that!?” or “how many times have I told you…”
― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing: The Best of Year One

“You'd never have gotten it right. You have to hit the door just so. It took me weeks to learn."
"And what were you doing sneaking out at night?" he demanded.
"I fail to see how that is your business."
"You became my business when you took up residence
in my house."
"Well, I wouldn't have moved in if you hadn'tkidnapped me!"
"I wouldn't have kidnapped you if you hadn't been wandering about the countryside with no thought to
your own safety."
"I was certainly safer in the countryside than I was at Prewitt Hall, and you well know it."
"You wouldn't be safe in a convent," he muttered.
"If you two lovebirds can stop snapping at each other," James cut in, "I'd like to search the study before
Prewitt returns home."
Blake glared at Caroline as if this entire delay were her fault, causing her to hiss, "Don't forget that if it
weren't for me-"
"If it weren't for you," he shot back, "I would be a very happy man indeed."
"We are wasting time," James reminded them. "The both of you may remain here, if you cannot cease
your squabbling, but I am going in to search the south drawing room."
"I'll go first," Caroline announced, "since I know the way."
"You'll go behind me," Blake contradicted, "and give me directions as we go along."
"Oh, for the love of Saint Peter," James finally burst out, exasperation showing in every line of his body.
"I'll go first, if only to shut the two of you up. Caroline, you follow and give me directions. Blake, you
guard her from the rear.”
― Julia Quinn, To Catch an Heiress

“Loving my son, building my son, touching my son, playing with my son, being with my son… these aren’t tasks that only super dads can perform. These are tasks that every dad should perform. Always. Without fail.”
― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing: The Best of Year One

“After a lifetime of engaging in long, passionate discussions I have come to the conclusion that it is a waste of time trying to convince anyone of anything.”
― Michael Foley, Embracing the Ordinary: Lessons From the Champions of Everyday Life

“How can I make you understand,' he growled, 'you and I together don't end well. We just end.'

'How can you know that if you haven't even tried?'

'Try?' Jacks laughed and the sound was awful.

'This isn't something you try at, Evangeline.'

...

'This is something that gets one chance to be right or wrong, and if you're wrong, there's no trying again. There is nothing.”
― Stephanie Garber, A Curse for True Love

“These days when Christians bicker they exaggerate passion into a legalistic belief and prosperity into a lukewarm belief.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“There is nothing more futile than arguing with someone who has no basis for his opinions but a vague backlash of emotions.”
― A.E. van Vogt, The Gryb

“I'll try to escape again.'

'I figured as much.'

'I'm not going to stop fighting you.'

'I wouldn't want you to.'

I thought that was weird. 'And I'm not going to marry you.'

'We'll talk about that later.'

'No, we won't,' ...”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire

“You can't just tie people up and whisk them to wherever you want them.'

'I wouldn't need to, if you would just remember.' His voice was still quiet, but it was a dangerous sort of quiet, one that gave his words a bite.

Evangeline told herself not to care. But instead she felt compelled to argue. 'You don't think I'm trying to remember?'

'Clearly not hard enough,' Jacks said coldly. 'Do you even want your memories back?'

'All I've been doing is trying to get them back!'

'If you believe that, then either you're lying to yourself or you've forgotten how to really try.' His eyes burned as they met hers; it was a fire like anger. But she could see hurt as well. It came in threads of silver that moved through the blue of his eyes like cracks. 'I've seen you try before. I've seen you want something more than anything else in the entire world. I've seen what you're willing to do. How far you were willing to go. You haven't even come close to that now.”
― Stephanie Garber, A Curse for True Love

“I see all the more reason for debate by the man who does actually 'believe his own lies' - for that debate is at least One versus One. But if even he doesn't believe them then it's really just a waste of time, or rather Won versus None.”
― Criss Jami

“You know? I think I liked you better when you didn't have the energy to speak.'

'So, you liked me?'

'That's not what I said.'

'That's exactly what you said.'

'For fuck's sake,' I hissed. 'That wasn't what I meant.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, Fall of Ruin and Wrath

“Perhaps you should look before stabbing?' the god argued. 'Or has that never occured to you?'

'Has it ever occured to you to announce your presence so you don't get stabbed?' I shot back.”
― Jennifer L. Armentrout, A Shadow in the Ember

“I spend every day of my life arguing with myself. Inside of my head, arguing with my own thoughts. Full conversations with resolutions, agreements, new outcomes.”
― Mike Ma, Gothic Violence

“Vern didn't believe Mam's adage about picking battles. Everything that could be contested needed contesting. She could wear opponents down by the sheer quantity of escalations.”
― Rivers Solomon, Sorrowland