There are occasions on which all apology is rudeness.
Interpretation
Some situations demand honesty over apology, as apologizing may come off as insincere or disrespectful.
Samuel Johnson's quote suggests that in certain circumstances, offering an apology can be counterproductive and even rude. It implies that sincerity and the context of the situation are crucial when addressing grievances; sometimes, it's better to refrain from apologizing in order to maintain genuine communication or when the apology could appear disingenuous.
In practice
During a heated debate, instead of saying 'I'm sorry,' I chose to clarify my point to maintain respect.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
Good-Bye is an easy word to say but try saying it to a friend. If I never knew you, I'd be safe, but half as real, never knowing I could feel.
Marriages come and go, but divorce is forever.
Are you the new person drawn toward me?
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
I have my golden retriever now, Pontiac. He's a career-change guide dog from Guide Dogs for the Blind.
[I]n Africa I was a member of a family—of a sort of family that the people of your culture haven't known for thousands of years. If gorillas were capable of such an expression, they would tell you that their family is like a hand, of which they are the fingers. They are fully aware of being a family but are very little aware of being individuals. Here in the zoo there were other gorillas—but there was no family. Five severed fingers do not make a hand.
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