James Altucher Quotes

I remembered something my first partner had told me. Never wrestle with a pig, Lindsay. You both get dirty. The pig likes it.

We all experience power struggles in our lives - at the workplace, with our friends, in our love lives. In a way, we're all politicians.

Don't wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.

I like tough relationships. I think relationships with conflict are good for you - you learn. But you can't listen too much. I have a strong point of view, and it's important that I fight for my ideas.

You can be happy, or you can be right. If you want to be part of a couple and win every argument, you're in trouble.

Making tough decisions that may make someone unhappy is something to get good at doing.

'No' is a dynamic that you've got to master before you can ever master 'yes.'

When you expect to get into a negotiation, you expect to be faced by a guy that's going to attack you, a guy or gal that's going to attack or that they're going to try to get the best of you. Two-thirds of us, that makes us very defensive.

As we ride the elevator Gale finally says “You're still angry.” “And you're still not sorry,” I reply. "I will stand by what I said. Do you want me to lie about it?” he asks. “No, I want you to rethink it and come up with the right opinion,” I tell him.

I think everybody has a point where they're not going to cross that line. There were a couple of things with Comedy Central that we had to fight for. They were pretty cool about everything. I don't think there was anything we really fought for that didn't happen.

You can't achieve anything without getting in someone's way. You can't be detached and effective.

You can win as long as you chose your battles. You can win more arguments then you might think as a writer, even though you legally have no recourse, and your script can get muddied and altered in any way possible. You can use reason, logic, and passion to argue persuasively for a case in your favor. So what I've learned is to just basically not buckle - not be belligerent, not be angry, not throw fits, but just not buckle.

I get the reason that you should be willing to negotiate sometimes. But you also ought to be willing to throw a punch.

There is a point beyond which conciliation looks like capitulation. I do not believe I passed that point, but others have thought otherwise.

I'm never argumentative for the sake of being argumentative, I don't think. And more than ever, I've had to be willing to fight just to get records released, or just to be able to walk away with a little bit of self-respect and pride.

In both marriage and war you must cut up the things people say like a cake and eat only what you can stomach.

People fight for their regulars. It gets dirty sometimes.

As crises came up later on - "Oh, we have to compromise, and the record company wants to do this," I'd be like, "No, I don't have to."

Engagement is not appeasement. Engagement is not surrender.

But I think that sensitivity is also a good counsellor when it comes to enforcing one's interests.

I can definitely be tough when pushed. In relationships, you have to take a stand for who you are and how you're willing to be treated.

It's a difficult question of relations between people.

A man never tells you anything until you contradict him.

Moms and daughters can negotiate over anything, and they can go on longer than it took to settle the Vietnam War.

Nowadays, if you are afraid of confrontation, you are not going to do very well.