On Avoiding Disputes with the Silly and Other Useful Practices

 I've visited Fr Z's blog more or less daily for a very long time.  Years.  There's been a link over in the left-hand column of The Inn for as long as there has been a left-hand column in The Inn.  And in all that time I never noticed the following in his left-hand column  (which is actually on the right, but you get the idea):

"Until the Lord be pleased to settle, through the instrumentality of the princes of the Church and the lawful ministers of His justice, the trouble aroused by the pride of a few and the ignorance of some others, let us with the help of God endeavor with calm and humble patience to render love for hatred, to avoid disputes with the silly, to keep to the truth and not fight with the weapons of falsehood, and to beg of God at all times that in all our thoughts and desires, in all our words and actions, He may hold the first place who calls Himself the origin of all things.”

- Prosper of Aquitaine (+c.455), De gratia Dei et libero arbitrio contra Collatorem 22.61

Has it always been there?  Is it new?  Or is this just another example of my almost præternatural ability to miss what's right in front of me?  I suspect the later.  But in any event, I like it.  A lot.   Alas, liking is not quite the same as the ability to put all those good things into practice.  

But I'll give it a shot.