PROVERBS 26:4-5 SHOULD YOU ANSWER A FOOL?

Do you answer a fool or not (Proverbs 26:4-5)? The Bible gives contradictory advice. 

 I can only imagine what the author of this supposed contradiction would have to say about this quote from Samuel Beckett found in his novel The Unnamable (“I can't go on,. I'll go on.”) Or what about one of the most famous opening line from any book written (“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”) Beckett is a Nobel Prize winner in Literature, and Dickens is often considered the best novelist who ever lived. Should you dismiss these as nonsensical contradictions or give the authors the benefit of the doubt and try to understand what they are saying? The problem seems to be that some atheists have never read a serious book written for adults and they don't know what to do when they run into one.

There are two ways to interpret this pair of proverbs. One approach starts with the recognition that proverbs only express the general rule briefly and are not meant to comprehensively cover a subject under all circumstances. According to that understanding, there are times when it is appropriate to answer a fool and other times when it isn't. The second way of understanding these two proverbs relies on the second part of each verse. Don't reply to a fool in the same foolish manner that he uses, but do answer him or he will go away thinking that he is correct and proceed to spread his foolishness elsewhere.