Jacinda Ardern Quotes

I think that you can disagree with people and debate over their positions with issues without engaging in the politics of personal destruction.

I have never believed you make your case stronger by bad-mouthing your opposition.

Dialogue between people of differing views is critical for fostering understanding in a democracy.

In politics, all candidates and volunteers are ambassadors to voters who expect better than parroting the politics of personal destruction. Being able to find common ground at the higher ground is what separates the stateswoman from the stuntwoman.

Civility is not not saying negative or harsh things. It is not the absence of critical analysis. It is the manner in which we are sharing this territorial freedom of political discussion. If our discourse is yelled and screamed and interrupted and patronized, that's uncivil.

I think that's one thing that, you know, we all need to remember is that, you know, politics, even though it's been really rough, is that we are all human beings first. And that it is more important for us to have civil dialogue. And you know what? I'm conservative, but I'm not mad about it.

Moral teaching should always be used as a gift and not a cudgel.... It is important that we all be able to share our moral viewpoints without hurting each other. That is what is wrong with political discourse today.

The greatest respect you can give your political adversaries is to give them your undivided attention. If you want them to hear you, you have to be willing to hear them.

All of us try to persuade our fellow citizens to see our point of view and that is the way public opinion is created in a democracy. It seems to me, however, we might achieve our aim with a little less violent invective and blackening of the individual character, for on both sides motives are probably good. The real difference is in the methods that are advocate.

Democracy does not have to be a blood sport …

Good people can disagree.

I'm very lucky in my constituency. I have very grown up sensible members who don't agree with me, but we never have a quarrel. I absolutely respect their views.

Tolerance is important, especially in a democracy. The ability to have honest conversations, even if you come from a different place, a difference perspective, is fundamentally important.

I will always remember and we must all remember that Democrats are our political rivals, not our enemies, and they deserve our respect.

Politics isn't what defines a person, and it shouldn't define a relationship. I made the mistake of letting that intrude on my relationships.

I do think people of good will can have different opinions but still be coming not from a place of malice.

I think one of the things that we are facing right now is that we've stopped listening to each other in our politics.

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.

I think it's very important to get ego out of the room. I think it's important to realize it takes two hands to clap - stop the pointing, stop the blame game. I think we've seen enough of that, I think the country is tired of it. I think they want to see Washington function, they want to see action.

You don't have to dislike people you disagree with and it doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to have bipartisan friendships in this place. Life's too short to have it any other way.

Our right to disagree is precious but fragile. The best way to protect and preserve it is to let the other side speak without demonizing them or destroying their right to be heard. Such civil exchanges are the heart beat of democracy - essential to keeping it alive.

The world I want to live in is a world where everybody is a bit more uncertain about their arguments and is a bit more open to other people's arguments. I think that we can engage ideas without ad hominem attacks.

I never let politics get personal. You can have the most intense, heated debate on issues, and so long as you keep it on issues, you can go out and have coffee afterwards and you're good friends.

Our civilization is becoming less civil. You don’t have the right to demonize somebody just because they disagree with you.

That's what the United States is about: honorable compromise.