Muriel Spark Quotes

If you are explaining, you are losing.

When men understand what each other mean, they see for the most part, that controversy is either superfluous or hopeless.

I can't force people to agree with me.

He who is silent must be agreed with, for what shall the wings of opposition thresh upon, without the winds of conversation to shoulder them.

When people disagree with you, what you ultimately have to do is persuade people to agree with you - period.

Well, you can't argue with somebody that won't argue back.

I don't like a tremendous amount of conflict. I don't think that fighting and passion are the same thing.

I am good at persuading people. In convincing the other, I try to start from their point of view so it's easier for me to find a common denominator.

Sometimes, we find common ground; more often, we don't.

The sweetest two words in any negotiation are actually, 'That's right.' Before you convince them to see what you're trying to accomplish, you have to say the things to them that will get them to say, 'That's right.'

oh my god, she said are you going to be reasonable about this?

Do we have to talk in order to agree or agree in order to talk?

Hopefully, we can build bridges, but we also have to draw lines.

Any time you get two people in a room who disagree about anything, the time of day, there is a scene to be written. That's what I look for.

We aren't going to agree on everything and there will be other areas where we will be working together.

I don't want to argue with you Mr. Speaker. I'm just trying to give you my thoughts.

This is a duty now. Pick up the phone and call me, particularly when your ideas differ from mine.

Talks are not the same thing as agreements.

If we can’t even agree on the facts, it will be very difficult for us to lock arms and deal with these problems.

We can calm down our argument a little so that we can learn what it is that we are actually arguing about.

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.

In any relationship, there's gonna be conflict.

I don't think that confrontation always leads to a solution.

You can never get two members of the family to agree on anything.