Harold MacMillan Quotes

If you are negotiating you must do so in a spirit of reconciliation, not from the point of view of issuing ultimatums.

It takes two sides to make a deal, two sides to negotiate and two sides to make it go bad.

When you let someone else win an argument, often you both end up winners.

We have to find compromises. That's the way it is in Norway.

So much of life is a negotiation - so even if you're not in business, you have opportunities to practice all around you.

Agreements are always the product of time and place.

I sure tried to help deliver compromise, consensus, bipartisanship.

There comes a point, in any kind of, whether it's in your family discussions or business or whatever, where you finally have to get over the making of the points and now let's see if we can find common ground.

I hope it goes beyond meeting with them to a willingness to listen and compromise on issues.

Compromise works well in this world when you have shared goals.

You cannot compromise unless people talk to you.

I believe any time that both parties are talking, it's a good thing.

The main purpose of dialogue is to come to an agreement on how the two parties can work together, realize their mutual interests, and avoid conflict as much as possible

Negotiations can create conditions that can lead to solutions.

You cannot just dictate at negotiations. You must also listen.

Compromise, compromise and compromise.

Ultimately, peace depends on compromise.

We need a lot more respect in this country for compromise…. There is in compromise a lot of integrity, especially political integrity.

If we can’t agree on the facts, how can we agree on the solutions?

A huge amount of negotiations and diplomacy has nothing to do with bartering or arguing but is just trying to get everyone [doing the negotiating] on the same page. It takes yours, days, even weeks sometimes.

By nature, I am a unifier. I am a builder of consensus. I don't believe in sloppy compromise. But I do believe in bringing people together.

If there's no overlap between the interests of the people you sit down with, then the negotiations really can't be driven anywhere.

You need people that are willing to talk to the other side, or you're never going to get anything done. You need to be willing to expand your ground. There's always usually a place on issues where you can find common ground.

I'm always ready to negotiate in good faith with others.

Good governance requires working toward common ground. It isn't easy.