Ronald Reagan Quotes

You can cooperate and not compromise your core values. But I'm a realist with the philosophy that sometimes you've got to take bites out of the apple instead of the whole apple.

I learned over time that you do not go for the perfect solution….You do what is doable and then you want to try and do a little bit more.

If I believe in something, I will fight for it, with all I have. But I do not demand all or nothing. I would rather get something than nothing.

We are hopeful that the North Koreans can show a little bit more realism, a little bit more flexibility.

It's a necessary quality of a diplomat or a politician that he will compromise. Uncompromising politicians or diplomats get you into the most terrible trouble.

I shall argue that strong men, conversely, know when to compromise and that all principles can be compromised to serve a greater principle.

I'm just not a purist. You set goals and you have to work with everyone to figure out how to get what you can.

Sometimes a little compromise isn't a bad thing. You don't need to be precious about it.

When times are tough, constant conflict may be good politics but in the real world, cooperation works better. After all, nobody's right all the time, and a broken clock is right twice a day.

I am willing ... when I cannot get all I wish, to take what I can get.

No society ... can fail in time to explode if it is deprived of the arts of compromise .... No good society can be unprincipled and no viable society can be principle-ridden.

Half a loaf is better than no bread. If we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can.

I'm a compromiser and a maneuverer. I try to get something. That's the way our system works.

I could sit down and talk with the devil if necessary.

In any negotiation you have a wish list but then you proceed from where you can be.

I learned a long time ago in politics, never say never.

I don't know how you can govern without ever compromising.

I want to support John Boehner in any way that I can, but we need to be pragmatic.

Compromise is part of how we get things done.

A lot of times, you're just so determined to get everything that you're going to vote 'no' if you don't. But if you get 75% of what you want and what your district wants, you should be satisfied with that.

People ask me if I'm liberal or conservative. I say neither - I'm pragmatic.

Leaders shouldn?t attach moral significance to their ideas: Do that, and you can?t compromise.

If we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can.

In my vocabulary, the word "compromise" is synonymous to the word "life".

Compromise is like the middle of the road; always safer to walk on than the edges.