Alice Thomas Ellis Quotes

Reasonable, sensible men can always make a reasonable scheme appear such to other reasonable men.

I will listen to any argument put to me.

When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.

I am good at persuading people. In convincing the other, I try to start from their point of view so it's easier for me to find a common denominator.

That's pretty much what every scene is about, getting people to see your point of view. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

I've always thought there are two ways of getting what you wanted in life.Forcing people to give it to you,or making them want to give it to you.

It would be awesome to be so impressive that we could sway people to our way of thinking just by declaiming our thoughts, but probably most of us lack such gravitas. Luckily, there's something even better: evidence, logic, and argument.

People don't like to be nagged. When people nag us, we instantly resist, but when the facts force us in that same direction, we instantly adapt.

I like to think of sales as the ability to gracefully persuade, not manipulate, a person or persons into a win-win situation.

Power is getting things done without having to demonstrate that you can bulldoze it through. I'm most effective when I've studied an issue, when I can make a credible argument, and then bring people along.

I think the biggest mistake I made was this wretched ability to see both sides of an argument.

When the initial effort of political and business leaders to influence public opinion on an issue is to threaten rather than to engage and persuade, they further arouse public opposition rather than win support.

The only way to conduct an effective collaboration is to debate the things upon which you disagree. If one doesn't manage to bring the other around to his point of view, then whichever collaborator feels the most passionate about the thing being debated ought to get his way.

I'm more of a people pleaser.

I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.

I know a way to stay friends forever, There's really nothing to it, I tell you what to do, And you do it.

Persuasion is often more effectual than force.

To get others to come into our ways of thinking, we must go over to theirs; and it is necessary to follow, in order to lead.

I've been dealing with politicians all my life. All my life. And I've always gotten them to do what I need them to do.

You know, you can't make the people do what you want them to do.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

If you think that by threatening me you can get me to do what you want... well, that's where you're right. But - and I am only saying this because I care - there's a lot of decaffeinated brands on the market that are just as tasty as the real thing.

You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time.

You can't do anything if a person says no. In such a case, there's nothing you can do - unlike the popular cliche that pressure is exerted, or that maybe an unwilling source is done away with.

You know what it's like to persuade a pigheaded child to do something they don't want to. If they hear the same suggestion from someone else, they'll go right off and do it.