Bertrand Russell Quotes

Sometimes you need conflict in order to come up with a solution. Through weakness, oftentimes, you can't make the right sort of settlement, so I'm aggressive, but I also get things done, and in the end, everybody likes me.

You cannot just dictate at negotiations. You must also listen.

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.

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.

Remember, it takes two to make an argument. The one who is wrong is the one who will be doing most of the talking.

You do not get what you want. You get what you negotiate.

A man never tells you anything until you contradict him.

We're all negotiators.

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.

The most important thing in an argument, next to being right, is to leave an escape hatch for your opponent, so that he can gracefully swing over to your side without too much apparent loss of face.

The whole concept of negotiating is intimidating to many people.

History is filled with tragic examples of wars that result from diplomatic impasse. Whether in our local communities or in international relations, the skillful use of our communicative capacities to negotiate and resolve differences is the first evidence of human wisdom.

You can't go to a negotiating table pointing a gun, but you've got to keep it over your shoulder.

I have a talent for dealing with difficult men.

Particularly when you're dealing with very high ranking people, you know, you have to get their attention, they are used to, by their rank, of having their own way and doing their own thing and when it's necessary to all work together on something, sometimes you have to hit the mule between the eyes of the two by four to get its attention.

Most negotiators are trying to get their way.

I try not to deal with people's hostility, though I must if they have something I need from them, as the professors did at Columbia or my landlord did.

Soft words and hard arguments.

Unless you’re prepared to use force, it’s very difficult to deal with a person who understands only force.

Issuing an ultimatum is not negotiation.

Don't beg, don't threaten and don't assume you're always right.

UN administrators ... think that no problem in the world is too intractable to be solved by negotiation. These mandarins fail to grasp that men with guns do not respect men with nothing but flapping gums ... Just as the US Marine Corps breeds warriors, so the UN’s culture breeds conciliators.

Anyone who has ever negotiated an agreement knows that in order to get it, you have to be willing to walk away from the table..

In politics, you must learn to say 'no' without offending people. That is an art that one must master: to satisfy a person even when you have to say 'no' to him.

When I'm arguing, I'm competing. I'm trying to win a game. And if that's what's called for, it's just a reaction.