Skip to content
Shawords

Quote#Wisdom

Deep-seated preferences cannot be argued about — you cannot argue a…

Quote byOliver Wendell Holmes · 1841–1935

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: "Natural Law", 32 Harvard Law Review 40, 41 (1918).

English (original)

Deep-seated preferences cannot be argued about — you cannot argue a man into liking a glass of beer — and therefore, when differences are sufficiently far reaching, we try to kill the other man rather than let him have his way. But that is perfectly consistent with admitting that, so far as appears, his grounds are just as good as ours.

— Oliver Wendell Holmes

More from Oliver Wendell Holmes