Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Quarreling
Those who in quarrels interpose,
Must often wipe a bloody nose.
Gay—Fables. The Mastiffs. L. 1.
L’aimable siècle où l’homme dit à l’homme,
Soyons frères, ou je t’assomme.
Those glorious days, when man said to man,
Let us be brothers, or I will knock you down.
Le Brun.
Cadit statim simultas, ab altera parte deserta; nisi pariter, non pugnant.
A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party: there is no battle unless there be two.
Seneca—De Ira. II. 34.
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour’s at the stake.
Hamlet. Act IV. Sc. 4. L. 55.
In a false quarrel there is no true valour.
Much Ado About Nothing. Act V. Sc. 1. L. 120.
Thou! why, thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard than thou hast: thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes.
Romeo and Juliet. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 18.
Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat.
Romeo and Juliet. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 23.
The quarrel is a very pretty quarrel as it stands; we should only spoil it by trying to explain it.
R. B. Sheridan—The Rivals. Act IV. Sc. 3.
I won’t quarrel with my bread and butter.
Swift—Polite Conversation. Dialogue I.
O we fell out, I know not why,
And kiss’d again with tears.
Tennyson—The Princess. Canto II. Song.
Weakness on both sides is, as we know, the motto of all quarrels.
Voltaire—A Philosophical Dictionary. Weakness on Both Sides.
Let dogs delight to bark and bite,
For God hath made them so;
Let bears and lions growl and fight,
For ’tis their nature too.
Isaac Watts—Against Quarrelling.
But children you should never let
Such angry passions rise,
Your little hands were never made
To tear each other’s eyes.
Isaac Watts—Against Quarrelling.