Citations:hill to die on

English citations of hill to die on

Noun: "(idiomatic) an issue to pursue with wholehearted conviction and/or single-minded focus"

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• 1940, Ernest Hemingway, chapter 27, in For Whom the Bell Tolls‎^[1], Charles Scribner's Sons:

  If he had known how many men in history have had to use a hill to die on it would not have cheered him any for, in the moment he was passing through, men are not impressed by what has happened to other men in similar circumstances any more than a widow of one day is helped by the knowledge that other loved husbands have died.

• 2003, David Arp, Claudia Arp, John Bell, & Margaret Bell, Loving Your Relatives: Even When You Don't See Eye-To-Eye, Tyndale House Publishers (2003), →ISBN, page 65:

  […] When she rewashes the pots and pans, it's not condemning you—it's simply that she has different (and what most would consider absurd) standards of what is acceptably clean. Let it go. There are bigger hills to die on."

• 2006, Cate Dermody, The Firebird Deception, Silhouette Books (2006), →ISBN, page 113:

  "I'm sorry, Alisha. I can't overrule the European director's decision to move you out of her arena. This isn't a hill to die on. […]

• 2008, recommendation by Amber Murray, in Lori Lane, Beginning With the End in Mind: Simplifying Life with God's Supreme Priorties, True North LLC (2008), →ISBN, unnumbered page:

  She urges moms, homeschoolers and parents alike, to have your children's hearts and decide which “hills to die on”.

• 2009, Ray Comfort, Nothing Created Everything: The Scientific Impossibility of Atheistic Evolution, WND Books (2009), →ISBN, page 51:

  For the atheist, understandably from his point of view, this is a hill to die on.

• 2009, Kevin Leman, Under the Sheets: The Secrets to Hot Sex in Your Marriage, Revell (2009), →ISBN, page 179:

  Is correct laundry folding really a hill to die on?

• 2010, Stephen Quesnelle & Geoff Smith, In the Company of Sacred Cows: A True Story of Organizational Change, AuthorHouse (2010), →ISBN, page 93:

  Of course CPL certainly didn't have the same cachet as CPR did, but Geoff was really warming up to the idea of running the workshop so I decided that this was not a hill to die on.

• 2010, Deborah Smith Pegues & Ricky Temple, Why Smart People Make Dumb Choices, Harvest House Publishers (2010), →ISBN, page 49:

  Though I simply apologized and told him his ranting wasn't necessary. He made a bad decision. I made a good one. As livid as I was, I realized this situation was not a hill to die on.

• 2010, Glenn A. Williams, Betrayal in the Church: The Bishop and My Wife: A True Story of Surviving Adultery, AuthorHOuse (2010), →ISBN, unnumbered page:

  Because we want our children to do right and well, we can become control freaks and find everything they do to be “a hill to die on.”

• 2011, David Kinnaman, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church...and Rethinking Faith, Baker Books (2011), →ISBN, page 225:

  Yes, it's tempting to vent irritation over a young doubter's party lifestyle or political views or choice of relationships, but these are bad hills to die on.

• 2011, Diane Paddison, Work, Love, Pray: Practical Wisdom for Young Professional Christian Women, Zondervan (2011), →ISBN, unnumbered page:

  I could have made this my hill to die on and fought the guy at every step, but God told me to be patient.

• 2013, Jared C. Wilson, The Pastor's Justification: Applying the Work of Christ in Your Life and Ministry, Crossway (2013), →ISBN, page 174:

  As pastors we are tempted by countless hills to die on, banners to wave, programs to juggle, and campaigns to wage.