Barnabus Quotes

Sometimes you need conflict in order to come up with a solution. Through weakness, oftentimes, you can't make the right sort of settlement, so I'm aggressive, but I also get things done, and in the end, everybody likes me.

You can't always win arguments as a writer, but you have to just go ahead and say, well, I'm doing it that way anyway.

If there are sound reasons or bases for the points you demand, then there is no need for violence. On the other hand, when there is no sound reason that concessions should be made to you but mainly your own desire, then reason cannot work and you have to rely on force. Thus using force is not a sign of strength but rather a sign of weakness.

I get the reason that you should be willing to negotiate sometimes. But you also ought to be willing to throw a punch.

There is a point beyond which conciliation looks like capitulation. I do not believe I passed that point, but others have thought otherwise.

You concede nothing to me and I have to concede everything to you.

The single and most dangerous word to be spoken in business is no. The second most dangerous word is yes. It is possible to avoid saying either.

Diplomacy is much more than just talking to your friends... You've got to talk to people who aren't our friends, and even people you dislike.

A peace deal requires agreements, and you don't make agreements with your friends, you make agreements with your enemies.

Number one, that it is smart to communicate and negotiate with your enemy instead of just waging war with bombs and weapons of mass destruction.

Negotiating in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties more anxious to agree than to disagree.

You have to pick your battles on set.

Remember that when you meet your antagonist, to do everything in a mild agreeable manner. Let your courage be keen, but, at the same time, as polished as your sword.

You know, you pick and choose your battles.

The most important thing in an argument, next to being right, is to leave an escape hatch for your opponent, so that he can gracefully swing over to your side without too much apparent loss of face.

You can't go to a negotiating table pointing a gun, but you've got to keep it over your shoulder.

Negotiate with those who wish to talk - and take action against those who create mischief.

Particularly when you're dealing with very high ranking people, you know, you have to get their attention, they are used to, by their rank, of having their own way and doing their own thing and when it's necessary to all work together on something, sometimes you have to hit the mule between the eyes of the two by four to get its attention.

To resolve problems through negotiation is a very childish approach.

While exceptional employees don't seek conflict, they don't run away from it either. They're able to maintain their composure while presenting their positions calmly and logically. They're able to withstand personal attacks in pursuit of the greater goal and never use that tactic themselves.

Peace is not wimpy. It's about sitting down and negotiating with people you hate. Ultimately, all occupation ends, and you have to deal with the enemy.

I try not to deal with people's hostility, though I must if they have something I need from them, as the professors did at Columbia or my landlord did.

Don't beg, don't threaten and don't assume you're always right.

What matters is not whether one talks to adversaries but what one says to them, which strategies of engagement are set in place, and how competently they are executed.

UN administrators ... think that no problem in the world is too intractable to be solved by negotiation. These mandarins fail to grasp that men with guns do not respect men with nothing but flapping gums ... Just as the US Marine Corps breeds warriors, so the UN’s culture breeds conciliators.