George Saunders Quotes

No doubt it requires two to fight. But both of them need not necessarily be fighters. It is, all the same, a fight, even if one goes on beating and the other gets beaten. There is no guarantee that others would behave properly with us even if we remain peaceful and cordial with them.

Being polite is not only the right way to respond to people but also the easiest. Life is so filled with unavoidable conflict that I see no reason to promote more confrontations.

Im not the type of person to point fingers at anybody, and I dont want anybody saying anything to me. There are situations where balls are bounced to your feet you dont say anything.

Our reluctance for conflict should not be misjudged as a failure of will.

When people come at me they can't win, they think they can, but they can't. I'll just walk away.

I'm not a fighter. If there's something going on that I really feel strongly about, I'll certainly stand up but I pick my battles.

As a person, I have never been discourteous or nasty to anybody. I may have stood my ground a bit too directly, a bit too firmly, and I believe I have, over a number of years, learned to be a little less direct.

On a level of simple personal survival, understanding and forgiveness are crucial... whether in an intimate personal relationship or on a global level.

I'm not looking for a battle with anybody, neither the council nor our labor partners.

People take things too personally - I don't. If someone says something about me, I let it go. But unfortunately, everyone isn't like that. So I'm trying to be more diplomatic - but people always want a headline from me!

I am comfortable with myself, and this is how I am. I am not really interested in having an acrimonious fight with somebody.

I'm a walkawayer. If someone brings me a really crap meal in a restaurant I will tell them it's wonderful and then just never go to the restaurant again. I think that's the best way to do it generally, rather than sit and fight and annoy your head. Just pretend to enjoy it and then leave.

Never contradict anybody.

My focus has always been: I can be an incredibly conservative, principled idea person, but that doesn't mean I have to shout at people.

I've always thought I'd been pretty good with people, and I basically have spent a conflict-free life, you know?

I don't remember threatening anybody, ever. I don't like threats. I don't respond well to them, so I don't give them. But I'm not a doormat. I try to meet the appropriate level of communications.

(J)ust to clarify: If you go into every situation saying there's absolutely nothing worth fighting over, you will inevitably end up on a cot sleeping next to a guy named Tiny, bringing him breakfast in his cell every morning, and spending your afternoons ironing his boxers. Or, in the case of the French, you might spend your afternoon rounding up Jews to send to Germany, but you get the point.

I'm not out here to be beefing with nobody.

Make no enemies; he is insignificant indeed that can do thee no harm.

Be as nice as possible and as nasty as necessary.

We ought so to behave to one another as to avoid making enemies of our friends, and at the same time to make friends of our enemies.

I think that nobody gets mad at me anymore, no matter what I say, because I don't think I'm mean. I am interested in what's next.

Having a spine is overrated. If everybody squealed and ran away, there'd be no more wars.

Perhaps I'm missing the gene for making enemies.

I hate to be a kicker, I always long for peace, But the wheel that does the squeaking, is the one that gets the grease.