When you are facing an adversary, it is not how he responds that matters.
From The Fears That Bind, one of 296 sayings written by John Sarris over thirty years.
From Alfred’s journal
There was a jay at the feeder all morning and I spent most of it deciding what to do about him. He took the seed, he shouted, he left; and I rehearsed the whole quarrel while he was gone. For years I thought the point of a fight was to find the move he could not answer, and I watched for his flinch the way you watch a cat's tail. But when you are facing an adversary, it is not how he responds that matters. I noticed around noon that I had not eaten, had not sung, had done nothing all morning but be a bird with a jay problem. The jay, meanwhile, was three yards over, doing something else entirely.
He reads what you tell him and writes a page of his journal back, with a few of these chosen for you. It costs nothing and asks for nothing.
More like it
- A bully is a sheep in wolf's clothing.
- Practice temperance before you counsel it.
- Telling you what you want to hear makes me an echo rather than a mirror.
- There are endless ways to stamp your feet but all that adds is noise.
- Two dogs alone have more fun than two dogs and a bone.
- Fight for every inch and you'll rarely move a foot.