Stick with the action—avoid the abstraction, that is the rule. When you prepare your argument, ask, "Am I abstracting or am I showing and telling as we once learned to do as children?" Remember, the power of the story is in its ability to create action, and to avoid abstraction. When someone abstracts in his argument to me, it requires me

Winning is getting what we want, which often includes assisting others in getting what they want.

The wife could have avoided this brawl by simply "getting on the right side of the lawnmower," that is, for her to have said when the husband complained that the lawnmower wouldn't start, "I wonder why? It's brand new. I don't blame you for being upset." By getting on the husband's side of the argument, she would have pulled non

Power, the pistol that fires in both directions: Power is like a pistol with barrels that point in both directions. When one with power pulls the trigger against someone with lesser power, one barrel fires in the direction of the intended victim while the other fires into the person who has pulled the trigger. As a weapon, power has little to offer

Words that do not create images should be discarded. Words that have no intrinsic emotional or visual content ought to be avoided. Words that are directed to the sterile intellectual head-place should be abandoned. Use simple words, words that create pictures and action and that generate feeling. I am not as concerned about choosing the right words

The story is the easiest form for almost any argument to take. You don't have to remember the next thought, the next sentence. You don't have to memorize anything. You already know the whole story. You see it in your mind's eye, whereas you may or may not be able to remember the structure and sequence of the formal argument.

One word spoken after the argument is complete can destroy the argument. We must know when to stop.

Work teaches children more about themselves than any activity I know, other than play. For myself, I was never forced to work. I was simply never given anything but a minimal allowance. I needed more money than my parents provided and found work an adventure.

I believe that much of today's crime is also a function of space. We cannot pack a dozen young rats in a concrete shoebox without their attacking and killing each other. We cannot pack millions of our young into the concrete boxes of our cities without expecting them to lash out in pain and anger and violence.