Barbara Bush Quotes

At home, a man is entitled to raise his voice maybe once a year, if something really gets under his skin. At work, it's different. I raise my voice all the time. Not out of malice, but to get things right. It's never personal.

At one time, I was very angry. I even treated fashion like a kind of crusade: you were either with us or against us, that kind of feeling. Now I know we need ideas, not kicking down a door.

We can argue and we can disagree, but we don’t need to poke our fingers in each other’s eyes in order to get our points across.

I think if someone was really rude to me in an audition, even someone quite important, I think I'd be, 'What are you doing? Don't talk to me like that!'

You can disagree without being disagreeable. That's always been my mantra.

Confrontation is something that I accept as part of the project though not its purpose.

It's better to get smart than to get mad. I try not to get so insulted that I will not take advantage of an opportunity to persuade people to change their minds.

Remember that no relationship is a total waste of time. You can always learn something about yourself.

Avoid sarcasm. Don't insist on the last word.

I can do whatever I want. They will tell me if what I am doing is stupid or a total waste of time. I may tell them that they are wrong, and we will come to an agreement.

People can get into very bad habits of arguing ideas and shutting them down.

It's not necessary with your friends to discuss something you know you will disagree profoundly on.

It's one thing to say, 'I don't like what you said to me and I find it rude and offensive,' but the moment you threaten violence in return, you've taken it to another level, where you lose whatever credibility you had.

Try to find someone with a sense of humor. That's an important thing to have because when you get into an argument, one of the best ways to diffuse it is to be funny. You don't want to hide away from a point, because some points are serious, but you'd rather have a discussion that was a discussion, rather than an argument.

The list of problems that we all experience may be endless, but I honestly cannot abide by the rule that, 'He who yells louder is heard.'

I'm fortunate enough to have learned not to waste time getting frustrated with my kids, or co-workers, or friends and family for not doing everything I wish they would. If someone doesn't respond to me the way I want them to, I understand that it doesn't have anything to do with me.

Every human being must have boundaries in order to have successful relationships or a successful performance in life.

My unpleasantness was political, not personal. I don't believe in carrying political disputes into social life.

The most difficult thing to do is to communicate the positive.

There's a certain time that when somebody asks you a question, you answer them. I don't think I said anything with venom. If you can express yourself without anger and make it as palatable as you can, that's what you do.

If you're playing a character that someone doesn't like, that's okay, but if you're voicing your own opinions, they actually don't like you!

I have a tremendous amount of patience and tolerance when working with people, but if I ever feel the impulse to inhibit myself from doing one more take, or feel a need to apologize to someone for pushing, I know that that relationship isn't gonna last.

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.

He's more of a slob than you? Instead of condemning, state your standards: 'I need to live in a place that's clean. I respect that it's not a big deal to you, but it's important to me to enjoy my home.' This removes ego.

If I disagree with someone, I let them have their say and move on. I don't want to be the one to lecture.