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Those who plead their cause in the absence of an opponent can invent to their heart's content, can pontificate without taking into account the opposite point of view and keep the best arguments for themselves, for aggressors are always quick to attack those who have no means of defence.

Those who plead their cause in the absence of an opponent can invent to their heart's content, can pontificate without taking into account the opposite point of view and keep the best arguments for themselves, for aggressors are always quick to attack those who have no means of defence.

Approximate author period: c. 1397 AD · medieval

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Attribution & collection notes
Author or tradition
Christine de Pizan
Attribution: attributed
Country attributed
Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin.
Historical period
Approximate author period: c. 1397 AD · medieval
Approximate period for the recorded attribution to Christine de Pizan, based on documented lifetime 1364 to 1430. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q234816 (checked 2026-10-08). The death year is approximate in the authority description. This is not a quotation composition date or independent authentication of its attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q234816 (accessed 2026-10-08).
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken.
Recorded source
Contributor-provided quotation collection

Supplied reference C; CSV row 155118; supplied attribution, independently unverified

A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.