Just asking...............

 

Here's a wonderful way to avoid an argument—simply ask questions.  Instead of jumping in and disagreeing before you know any more about the subject under discussion and the other party, ask the person to state his case, specifically, and to define his terms.  People who like to argue, and will at the drop of a word on any subject, are people who enjoy ruffling the feelings of others.  Willard Sloan once wrote an article entitled, "Arguments Don't Win Friends" in which he points out that arguments are useless and largely ridiculous.  They're more a matter of temper than temperate conversation and discussion.

-Earl Nightingale, as excerpted from The Essence of Success