Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Stop pretending to be respectful when you’re about to insult me.
In plain terms
Don’t feign respect before calling me an idiot.
What can you take from it?
Speak honestly without false politeness.

Where it applies

  • argument
  • feedback sessions
  • online debates

Putting it to work

  • use direct language
  • avoid sarcasm

Questions to consider

  • When is politeness necessary?
  • How can I give harsh feedback constructively?

Another view

Sometimes softening language can preserve relationships.

More from Orson Scott Card

  1. You ready to command a fleet? I don't know. It depends on whether they want to win. Here's the thing, Bean. Soldiers don't like to lose And that is why losing …

    Permalink to quote #279
  2. You can't rule out the impossible, because you never know which of your assumptions about what was possible might turn out, in the real universe, to be false

    Permalink to quote #281
  3. Nobody was going to wait for you strike. Because here's the thing - we don't give a shit about fairness here. We're soldiers. Soldiers do not give the other gu…

    Permalink to quote #278

Related quotes

  1. Mr. Hendrie, you call me an idiot one more time and you better smile when you say that.

    Phil HendriePhil Hendrie quote #260
  2. To a gentleman, who, at the close of a fierce dispute with Porson, exclaimed, 'My opinion of you is most contemptible, Sir'; he retorted, 'I never knew an opin…

    Richard PorsonRichard Porson quote #1
  3. I don't like being too looked up at or too looked down on. I prefer meeting in the middle to being worshipped or spat out.

    Joni MitchellJoni Mitchell quote #1