Origin of "do not argue with idiots" [closed]
What is the origin of the phrase “do not argue with idiots”? Please cite some credible references.
From googling around, I found these three variations. One came from the Bible but I couldn’t find any credible source for the other two.
- Don’t argue with idiots because they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience. —Greg King
- Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference. —Mark Twain
- Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. —Proverbs 26:4 (King James version)
As you can see, only the last one is easily verifiable.
Solution 1:
How about “If you argue with an idiot, there are two idiots” – Robert Kiyosaki?
My usual go-to for quotes is wikiquotes, and they don't list that Mark Twain quote on their page, nor does it come up in JSTOR. Similarly with Greg King.
This is not proof, but it does make it a bit suspect, and wrongly attributed quotes are depressingly common.
Solution 2:
Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.
― Robert Heinlein
As was discussed on this web page, sometimes this one gets attributed to Twain as well. (Roaring Fish made a great comment; miscited quotes are all too common, and I suppose that's grown worse in the Internet Age.)
In any case, I'm sure many people have come up with various ways to express the same concept through the ages. Some of the wittier versions become widely known, and half of those get attributed to Twain. On my side of the ocean, Franklin probably gets credit for half of the rest, while those probably go to G.B. Shaw on the other side of the pond.
He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot.
― Groucho Marx