Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and
a man of contention read more

Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and
a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on
usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them
doth curse me.

In excessive altercation, truth is lost.
[Lat., Nimium altercando veritas amittitur.]

In excessive altercation, truth is lost.
[Lat., Nimium altercando veritas amittitur.]

So when two dogs are fighting in the streets,
When a third dog one of the two dogs meets:
read more

So when two dogs are fighting in the streets,
When a third dog one of the two dogs meets:
With angry teeth he bites him to the bone,
And this dog smarts for what that dog has done.

Thus when a barber and collier fight,
The barber beats the luckless collier--white;
The dusty collier heaves read more

Thus when a barber and collier fight,
The barber beats the luckless collier--white;
The dusty collier heaves his ponderous sack,
And, big with vengeance, beats the barber--black.
In comes the brick-dust man, with grime o'er spread,
And beats the collier and the barber--red;
Black, red, and white, in various clouds are toss'd,
And in the dust they raise the combatants are lost.

Contentions fierce,
Ardent, and dire, spring from no petty cause.

Contentions fierce,
Ardent, and dire, spring from no petty cause.

Agreement exists in disagreement.
[Lat., Mansit concordia discors.]

Agreement exists in disagreement.
[Lat., Mansit concordia discors.]

'Tis a hydra's head contention; the more they strive the more they
may: and as Praxiteles did by his read more

'Tis a hydra's head contention; the more they strive the more they
may: and as Praxiteles did by his glass, when he saw a scurvy
face in it, brake it in pieces; but for that one he saw many more
as bad in a moment.

And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot
stand.

And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot
stand.

You will stir up the hornets.
[Lat., Irritabis crabones.]

You will stir up the hornets.
[Lat., Irritabis crabones.]