Here is, 1. The danger that there is in the beginning of strife. One
hot word, one peevish reflection, one angry demand, one spiteful
contradiction, begets another, and that a third, and so on, till it
proves like the cutting of a dam; when the water has got a little
passage it does itself widen the breach, bears down all before it, and
there is then no stopping it, no reducing it. 2. A good caution
inferred thence, to take heed of the first spark of contention and to
put it out as soon as ever it appears. Dread the breaking of the ice,
for, if once broken, it will break further; therefore leave it off, not
only when you see the worst of it, for then it may be too late, but
when you see the first of it. Obsta principiis--Resist its earliest
display. Leave it off even before it be meddled with; leave it off, if
it were possible, before you begin.