Vince Cable Quotes

Let's cultivate an environment, not just in beauty pageants but in society in general, where we argue like we're right but listen like we're wrong.

People can get into very bad habits of arguing ideas and shutting them down.

I think because I've been working in front of audiences for so many years, I'm able to take in the input, good or bad, and just say, 'This is the part I agree with that you're saying, and these are the parts I don't agree with.'

Reasonable people can reasonably disagree on policy.

It's one thing to say, 'I don't like what you said to me and I find it rude and offensive,' but the moment you threaten violence in return, you've taken it to another level, where you lose whatever credibility you had.

What the nation's built on is discussion, contradiction and growth, and at the moment you can't discuss anything. If you do start to discuss it, you get criticized. If people hate us, you have to find out why and try to solve that problem.

I learned in my four decades in Washington that one person can make a difference.

I think, for one, we have to really accept that anger is a normal human emotion that can be a positive force for change.

Unlike the Marxists, I have no mind block against the U.S.

We mistake politics for legislative debate. You can be passionate without being personal.

I'm a very political person, and I think things through clearly, even when I was 18 years old.

People learn the most about themselves by confronting those with whom they deeply disagree..

I don’t attack people. I attack ideas. And some very good people can have some very bad ideas.

You don’t want an appointee who will agree with you all the time. If two smart people are both thinking they are going to disagree with each other sooner or later. You want an appointee who may not always agree with you but one of whom you can always be proud.

Somewhere in this we got into impugning people's character and motives if we didn't like their ideas. We gotta get back to just debating ideas.

I listen to my political rivals sometimes with fear and trembling, sometimes with awe, sometimes with near panic, but always with a curiosity of nuances, curiosity for the language, curiosity for the story behind the 'impossible' position.

I'm too much of a Libra. I too often see the other person's point of view and capitulate, even though I have strong political convictions. It's just my liability. Maybe I'm too empathetic. That's the actor in me.

I do ask myself why I make people so enraged, because I only ever say what I think. And while I know it might not be everyone's point of view, that doesn't seem particularly intolerable to me.

I'm not a critic, and I never talk about other people's work.

The ability and willingness to keep two opposing views in mind at the same time are hallmarks of adulthood.

We should not seek to tune out the realists' whines or taunts, as they may provide good instruction.

I'm an Obama supporter, no question. But it doesn't mean there's nothing to learn from the other side.

In any job, you can come under attack or have a door slammed in your face. You do want to listen to critics; you don't want to be in a cocoon and never change. Get a second opinion from coworkers and friends. Know that criticism can be valid, but don't take it personally.

If you disagree with me about a position I have taken, or what I've done, tell me, argue with me, debate. Sometimes, right and good are not that clear; at other times, it is only deliberate and respectful debate that leads us to understand what road we should take.

If you believe you can make a difference, not just in politics, in public service, in advocacy around all these important issues, then you have to be prepared to accept that you are not going to get 100 percent approval.