Makeup Quote for the Week III

Don’t answer those who contradict you.  Find out first whether they’re being clever or simply vulgar.  It isn’t always stubbornness; sometimes it is a trick.  So pay attention and don’t get caught up in the former or cast down by the latter.  No one demands more caution than a spy, and when someone has the skeleton key to minds, counter him by leaving the key of caution inside, on the other side of the keyhole.  

–The Art of Worldly Wisdom, Balthasar Gracián, aphorism 279,          translated by Christopher Maurer

Food for thought for us bloggers and those who frequent comboxes.