“Argument is generally waste of time and trouble. It is better to present one’s opinion and leave it to stick or no as it may happen. If sound, it will probably in the end stick, and the sticking is the main thing.”
Argument
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part X - The Position of a HomoUnius Libri
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Samuel Butler 232
novelist 1835–1902Related quotes

W. W. Rouse Ball, A Short Account of the History of Mathematics (1893, 1925)

“Distrust all generalizations: stick to the concrete.”
As quoted in “Don Pañong – Genius" by A.V.H. Hartendorp in Philippine Magazine (September 1929), p. 211.
ULOL
Context: (... philosophy is more often the systematization of the prejudices of philosophers than the systematization of nature.) Distrust all generalizations: stick to the concrete.

Source: 1980s, Trump: The Art of the Deal (1987), p. 28

“If you're going through rough times, just stick around, cause everything has to end eventually.”
McKenna Grace [citation needed]

1900s, The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (1900), National Duties
Context: Right here let me make as vigorous a plea as I know how in favor of saying nothing that we do not mean, and of acting without hesitation up to whatever we say. A good many of you are probably acquainted with the old proverb: "Speak softly and carry a big stick—you will go far." If a man continually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from trouble; and neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness there does not lie strength, power.

“Stick to your own grammar, my lord, for it is much better.”
Richard on being corrected by the Bishop of Coventry; The Plantagenets - Harvey