some intense discussion, not an argument, nothing personal

It must have been after some intense discussion, not an argument, nothing personal, just my usual gloom erupting, that Catherine wrote in pencil on a sheet of "While You Were Out" paper that I came across in a pile of papers months later, long after I'd forgotten what we might have been disagreeing about: "Differ without rancor as a man may differ with himself..."

I have no idea where she found the quote, but underneath it, in blue ink in my hand, is written: "I differ from myself with rancor."

Then in pencil under that, in her writing again, "You're stupid, that's why."

[C.K. Williams, 'Later', from All At Once]