Winston Churchill Quotes

In politics, you must let the other person have your way.

One thing I learned particularly at Yale was how to work with others. Having studied so long trying to master myself, the biggest challenge was learning about the other person's work.

I've learned that in order to achieve what I wanted, it made more sense to negotiate than to defend the autonomy of my work by pounding my fist on the table.

Negotiating is a little like jazz. You improvise on a theme. You know where you want to go, but you’re not always sure how to get there.

If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.

Costa Rica believes in building bridges, in looking for solutions to problems, and not clinging to positions.

Diplomacy is letting someone else have your way.

Once in a while I can agree with the enemy.

I'm a compromiser and a maneuverer. I try to get something. That's the way our system works.

Finality, Sir, is not the language of politics.

There is an appealing moral clarity in dividing the world into friend and foe. But in reality, progress in international affairs so often demands working with those with whom we do not see eye to eye.

Life is about compromise - in relationships and at work.

I believe the answers to most problems that confront us around the world can and should be approached by engaging both friend and foe in dialogue. No, I don't naively think that dialogue always works, but I believe we should avoid the rigidity of saying that dialogue never works.

My nature is to compromise and get things done for the state.

Compromise is part of how we get things done.

I don't ever talk about red lines whether in coalition negotiations with other partners or in Europe. It is important that we listen to others and find a way forward.

From collaborating with other people, you make concessions, and those concessions are great because sometimes you are definitely wrong.

I will go anywhere, anytime, to meet with anyone to find common ground.

The main aim of the [political] dialogue should be to resolve the problems of the nation, not to find who is the winner and who is the loser. That's not what it's all about. It's to try and find an answer that is acceptable to all parties concerned, which would of course require some give and take.

I'm a great believer in compromises. I do not believe in capitulation.

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

We are hopeful that the North Koreans can show a little bit more realism, a little bit more flexibility.

Solutions must be based on compromises.

It's a necessary quality of a diplomat or a politician that he will compromise. Uncompromising politicians or diplomats get you into the most terrible trouble.

You can cooperate and not compromise your core values. But I'm a realist with the philosophy that sometimes you've got to take bites out of the apple instead of the whole apple.