The most important thing in an argument, next to being right, is to leave an escape hatch for your opponent, so that he can gracefully swing over to your side without too much apparent loss of face. | |
— Sydney J. Harris | |
. | |
Escape Hatches
December 15, 2012 by kmabarrett
Posted in Philosophy, Quotes | Tagged Philosophy, Quotes, Sydney J. Harris | 2 Comments
2 Responses
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
-
Join 1,961 other followers
Ripple’s In Time…
Translate
Look For Stuff…
Ripple Crests
-
Recent Ripples In The Continuum
Blogroll
Charities
Environment
Faith Family and Friends
Military Service
Places
Politics
Science and Learning
Tributaries and Eddies
Work
Older Ripples In The Continuum
Ripplets (Tags)
#DonTheCon #DumbDonald #IncompetentDonald #LyingDonald Albert Einstein Anonymous Attitude Baseball Books Carl Sagan Comments COVID-19 Diet Diets Economics Education Eleanor Roosevelt Environment Faith Family Family and Friends Favorite Lines Fear Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche General Comments God Happiness Health Highly Recommended Movie History Hope Humor Images Included Video John W. Gardner Knowledge Leadership Learning Life Love Lyrics Mark Twain Martin Luther King Jr Movies Music My Journal On Faith On Learning On Life On Politics Oscar Wilde Other Blogs Philosophy Pictures Pictures of Me Poems Poetry Politics Quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson Reading Recommended Reading Religion Running Science Sports Success Time Magazine Truth Vevo Warren Buffett Wired Magazine Work YouTube YouTube.comRipple Riders
Ripple Stats
- 254,075 hits
I love this. I like to think of this as ‘leaving the door open’ which allows the change you mention but also future contact to continue the conversation (argument).
Never corner the beast. When you do, it has no alternative but to fight to the end, with the renewed commitment which naturally comes from having no other alternative.
Always allow (at least) the illusion of possible escape. If nothing else, it increases the probability the opponent will avoid “the corner” and therefore move in your intended direction (down the path you set).
Strategic chess…
In a less militaristic vein, it allows you to keep your friends and not be perceived as a “jerk”.
🙂