Dean Kamen Quotes

You can't turn a "no" to a "yes" without a "maybe" in between.

You can change my mind, but you gotta work harder at it.

Well, you can't argue with somebody that won't argue back.

I can cope with nine of them, so they ought to be able to stand one of me. They could end the tiresomeness and stubbornness by giving me what I want.

When nothing is sure, everything is possible.

Try to keep your mind open to possibilities and your mouth closed on matters that you don't know about. Limit your 'always' and your 'nevers.'

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

The more ambivalent you are and the more uncertain you are, then you can get something that you cannot anticipate.

I'm definitely open to change, but at the same time I am quite stubborn.

It's very difficult to decide. And I'm very open to proposals.

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.

I haven't given up on the possibility that sweet reason will prevail.

Fight as hard as you can, and then understand there's going to have to be some amount of reasonable compromise.

I couldn't tell you what I am going to do next 'cause I have no idea, but I am open to anything.

I'll play what you want or I won't play at all.

You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time.

I will not take 'but' for an answer.

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.

Persistence in one opinion has never been considered a merit in political leaders.

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

Finality, Sir, is not the language of politics.

… a world without certainty can be richer, in all senses of the word, than a world with false convictions.

If you would convince others, seem open to conviction yourself.

I've learned to never rule anything in or out.

The world itself is so full of changes - of negotiations, changes of position, seeing things one way, then another, gauging responses, status changes that can happen in an instant.