Tactful Negotiation Quotes

In the world of diplomacy, some things are better left unsaid.

I have often urged my young friends, when faced with an adversary, to "play polo" with him; i.e., not to go at him bald-headed but to ride side by side with him and gradually edge him off your track. Never lose your temper with him. If you are in the right there is no need to, if you are in the wrong you can't afford to.

Gentle persuasion succeeds where force fails.

Men like M. de Talleyrand are like sharp instruments with which it is dangerous to play.

The particular skill that allows you to talk your way out of a murder rap, or convince your professor to move you from the morning to the afternoon section, is what the psychologist Robert Sternberg calls "practical intelligence." To Sternberg, practical intelligence includes things like "knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for for maximum effect.

The art of diplomacy is to take an opportunity and turn it into something.

Dad knew how to disagree without being disagreeable or rude.

People don't realize what a brilliant politician Lincoln was. Looking back, we want to ascribe a level of providence to his every decision but he was a cunning and calculating politician; from the cultivation of his image as a hayseed from Illinois, to his ability to keep this country together under dire circumstances.

In a contest with a weaker party it is more honorable to yield than to force concession. Magnanimity becomes the strong.