Mellody Hobson Quotes

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

A diplomat should be yielding and supple as a liana that can be bent but not broken

Things change. There has to be flexibility. Let me give you an example. President Xi, we have a, like, a really great relationship. For me to call him a currency manipulator and then say, “By the way, I'd like you to solve the North Korean problem,” doesn't work. So you have to have a certain flexibility, Number One. Number Two, from the time I took office till now, you know, it's a very exact thing. It's not like generalities.

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.

Diplomacy is to do and say the nastiest things in the nicest way.

I will deal with the politicians in a political way and with the nonpoliticians in a nonpolitical way.

I shall argue that strong men, conversely, know when to compromise and that all principles can be compromised to serve a greater principle.

I'm just not a purist. You set goals and you have to work with everyone to figure out how to get what you can.

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.

The right must ... yield to the expedient.

You can't learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.

I could sit down and talk with the devil if necessary.

My style is to be a diplomat, not a bomb thrower.

Diplomat: A person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip.

The public official must pick his way nicely, must learn to placate though not to yield too much, to have the art of honeyed words but not to seem neutral, and above all to keep constantly audible, visible, likable, even kissable.

I learned a long time ago in politics, never say never.

With nice words, we never obtained anything.

One good thing about being in business is you learn to compromise. And so you learn to strike a deal that maybe isn't what you were looking for but is better than what you've got.

Can I be blunt? Yes. Can I be diplomatic? Yes. Can I concoct a mixture of vinegar and honey when the circumstances warrant? Yes.

Principle is OK up to a certain point, but principle doesn't do any good if you lose.

If I believe in something, I will fight for it, with all I have. But I do not demand all or nothing. I would rather get something than nothing.

I was never the diplomatic diplomat.

When an opponent comes forward, move in and greet him; if he wants to pull back, send him on his way.

You have to maintain your principles but have a broader appeal.

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.