Refusal to Engage Quotes

Not only do I never lie, I never respond to lies, no matter how vicious, no matter how hurtful.

I was being hated for about 40 or 50 years by the whole world, but it did not destroy me, and it did not ruin my health. And the reason is because I just did not answer them. I had my own life.

If you attempt an actual argument with a modern paper of opposite politics, you will have no answer except slanging or silence.

I'm not joining in personal attacks... I don't do personal attacks.

Let him say not one single word about his principles, or his creed—let him say nothing—promise nothing. Let no Committee or Convention—no town meeting ever extract from him a single word, about what he thinks now, or what he will do hereafter. Let the use of pen and ink be wholly forbidden as if he were a mad poet in Bedlam.

I've been here before and will come again, but I'm not going this trip through.

It's hard to argue with someone that won't argue with you.

Well, I don't have anything to say to Mr. Sneddon, you know? Nothing at all.

The soldier does not fire upon the soldier.

While silence can in some circumstances bespeak noble self-control, it can also signify suppression, oblivion or cowardice.

People in the North are really taciturn and reticent, and they don't really like to talk about the past.

To be silent is to be passive.

I don't like to dabble in anything I don't do well. I don't talk politics.

There is nothing more aggravating than a man who won't talk back - unless it is a woman who won't.

Living never wore one out so much as the effort not to live.

Benjamin Netanyahu seems to avoid any initiative.

Tim Cook has been asked a very specific question, in public by the way, and Tim Cook has refused in public. I don't blame him for that. I will guarantee you that there are all kinds of things that the private sector can be doing to be helpful, and they have not been engaged.

To refuse to respond is in itself a response.

Basically, whenever someone says they're wrong, conservatives too often fall back on claims that those who disagree with them are biased and thus worthy of being ignored, a convenient position that allows them to avoid debating uncomfortable criticisms.

The way to work with a bully is to take the ball and go home. First time, every time. When there's no ball, there's no game. Bullies hate that. So they'll either behave so they can play with you or they'll go bully someone else.

The critic is a man who prefers the indolence of opinion to the trials of action.

The House Democrats don't want Gore humiliated, so they slammed the door of the Capitol in my face. They are cowards.

People get so riled up, and they wanna fight shows, but all they have to do is turn it off, and you see what happens? The show goes off. That's all you have to do. You don't have to fight anybody. You don't have to hold up signs.

I'm really not up for answering any questions that start with how, when, where, why or what.

With all do respect, senator, I don't think this is an appropriate setting for me to discuss that issue. I'd be more than glad to come back in an appropriate setting to discuss the issues that you have raised.