Wit & Attitude Quote by Miguel de Unamuno

Every argument loves a little ignorance. Unamuno’s line skewers a social habit that still feels painfully current: we often prefer our debates theatrically satisfying over factually correct. The “good arguments” he’s talking about aren’t necessarily true; they’re good the way a speech is good, or a partisan talking point is good - coherent, sharp, morale-boosting, built to win. Then comes the “fool,” a delicious insult aimed not at the uninformed but at the person who ruins the show by actually understanding the subject. Knowledge becomes the party crasher.

The subtext is less anti-intellectual than anti-vanity. Unamuno, a Spanish educator and public thinker working through the turbulence of late monarchy, dictatorship, and the coming Spanish Civil War, watched ideas harden into identity. In that world, arguments weren’t just tools for clarity; they were badges of allegiance. A well-informed correction threatens not only a position but the ego invested in it. Calling the knower a “fool” is a defensive maneuver: it reframes expertise as pedantry, precision as smugness, and reality as bad manners.

What makes the line work is its inversion of expected roles. We’re trained to think the knowledgeable person improves the conversation; Unamuno suggests they end it - because some conversations are only pretending to be about truth. He’s diagnosing a timeless dynamic of public life: the point of the argument was never to be right, it was to keep the audience on your side.