Saturday, February 17, 2007

A SHORT MADNESS

"Anger has been called a short madness; and people of the weakest understanding are the most subject to it. It is remarkable that when a disputant is in the wrong, he tries to make up in violence what he wants in argument. This arises from his pride. He will not own his error, and because he is determined not to be convicted of it, he falls into a passion."

-- from Benjamin Humphrey Smart's Practical Logic, a 19th century Rhetoric primer used in Seminary schools.