Dick Durbin Quotes

I wasn't looking for a hobby. If I were looking for a hobby, it wouldn't be the United States Senate. That's one of the toughest jobs I'd probably ever do. I just felt there wasn't enough compromise going on: People were too far to the left, too far to the right, with no one trying to build a compromise.

We must govern from the middle, or we will not be able to govern at all.

Obama has been deliberative to a fault and an inveterate seeker of the middle ground.

Republicans have to move to a point of greater unity.

A politics that defines itself by difference holds no appeal for me.

In politics the middle way is none at all.

The art of politics is to find something in the middle that satisfies most.

A professional politician's first duty is to appeal to the forces that unite us .... It is our obligation to resolve issues—not to create them.

I would advise Donald Trump to try to bring and unify this party together.

Moderation and bipartisan consensus go hand in hand.

Republicans - well, we're all part of the same family. We need to have some good disagreements with each other; we need to debate, but in the end, it's all about uniting, not dividing.

I hope you'll find that my campaign was a reflection of how I plan to govern - bringing people together, building coalitions, and finding common ground.

After some of the most contentious years in state government, I've made it clear that I will, and can, work with anyone to get things done.

To those who would divide us or drive us to the extremes of either political party, I remind you that Maryland has been called 'a state of middle temperament.' Our politics need that middle temperament as well.

If I could leave this body with one wish, it would be that we never give up that search for common ground, .. The politics of common ground will not be found on the far right, or on the far left. That is not where most Americans live. We will only find it on the firm middle ground, based on common sense and shared values.

We simply must look beyond partisan goals and find common ground as Americans. It is imperative that the Members of Congress recognize that partisanship will not serve the American people.

There is too much at stake for us to surrender to the politics of polarization.

The one thing I'm convinced George W. Bush is good at is bipartisanship. It's clearly something he enjoys personally.

As the nation watches, Democrats and Republicans should reflect the interspersed character of America itself. Perhaps, by sitting with each other for one night, we will begin to rekindle that common spark that brought us here from 50 different states and widely diverging backgrounds to serve the public good.

I think it's really, really important to grow the consensus and to realize that there is always some value that can be shared with another American, on any issue. Starting from those points of common belief and shared values is very, I think, important to forging the consensus that allows these issues to more forward.

The job of a leader, the job of a governor, the job of a president, is to get the people in the room and bang enough heads together and rub enough arms and cajole enough to have them put the country and the state's greater interest ahead of their own personal partisan interest. That's what we did in New Jersey and that's the model for America.

Conservatives and liberals can find common ground.

I haven't given up on working... across the aisle on issues and maybe it'll take an election or two for that to fully ferment, maybe it you know sometimes it takes awhile for people to realize what the best path is.

If ever there was a time for true bipartisanship, it is today.

Bipartisanship helps to avoid extremes and imbalances. It causes compromises and accommodations. So let's cooperate.