Nick Clegg Quotes

The one thing I'm convinced George W. Bush is good at is bipartisanship. It's clearly something he enjoys personally.

There's no room for petty grievances in politics.

In politics, you have to compromise from morning to evening. Democracy is the art of compromise.

I think with the right leadership on both sides and the right president, we can get a lot done.

I must have dialogue with the Chinese government, and dialogue requires compromise. Therefore, I'm speaking for genuine self-rule, not for independence.

I told all four [Congressional leaders] that there are going to be some times where we don't agree with each other, but that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator.

The construction of Europe is an art. It is the art of the possible.

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

If you want to be a government in a minority Parliament, you have to work with other people.

One of the really positive things about minority government is that there is the necessity to broker policy positions. What happens is you get a hybrid of what a single party might do. And I don't think that is a bad thing.

Americans tend to go for it all. In international politics you can’t have it all. You have to compromise.

Bipartisanship is like marriage. It takes two to make it work. It only takes one to make it a failure. The President has been playing politics with foreign policy.

Bipartisanship is “the oil of national government.”

Bipartisanship may be abnormal, but it does occur. The challenge is to explain why it occurs at all, and why it never lasts.

All government—indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act,—is founded on compromise and barter.

In government, consensus is more important than command; persuasion not only works better than arrogance, it's vital to the democratic process.

The Congress is the place where ordinary mortals go about the business of compromise—of compromise that gets us through the day.

You must have a majority to make peace, not just a good idea.

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

Consensus is the essence of the legislative process.

Compromise is the oil that makes government go.

My motto toward the Congress is communication, conciliation, compromise, and cooperation.

Gingrich, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, and Clinton passed legislation because they understood and appreciated the difficult political process. They fought for their principles yet recognized the need for compromise to get anything done.

Legislating is a very human experience in which trust and mutual respect play critical roles.

A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it. Dealing with Congress is a matter of give and take. The president doesn't get everything he wants, the Congress doesn't get everything they want. But we're finding good common ground.