John Dewey Quotes

The main purpose of dialogue is to come to an agreement on how the two parties can work together, realize their mutual interests, and avoid conflict as much as possible

Do we have to talk in order to agree or agree in order to talk?

Choose the path of dialogue rather than the path of unilateral decisions.

I think it is possible to meet people in the middle, to have a discussion even though you may not agree on solutions, and find some common ground and get to consensus.

I talk to business; I talk to labor. I talk to everybody.

You need to find somebody who will speak the same language. We understand that we couldn't have any kind of discussion without permission, without a legal framework behind it.

You get nothing done if you don't listen to each other.

I believe any time that both parties are talking, it's a good thing.

Bipartisanship means you work together to work it out.

if we stop talking at one another, and start talking with one another, we can get a lot done.

If we can’t agree on the facts, how can we agree on the solutions?

A huge amount of negotiations and diplomacy has nothing to do with bartering or arguing but is just trying to get everyone [doing the negotiating] on the same page. It takes yours, days, even weeks sometimes.

By nature, I am a unifier. I am a builder of consensus. I don't believe in sloppy compromise. But I do believe in bringing people together.

You need people that are willing to talk to the other side, or you're never going to get anything done. You need to be willing to expand your ground. There's always usually a place on issues where you can find common ground.

The best way to promote and protect opportunity is through collaboration, consensus-building, and pragmatic problem-solving. Throughout nearly 30 years in public service, I have approached tough challenges by making room for as many people as possible around the table in search of common ground.

Heck, nobody gets along perfectly. But what we have is respect for one another. We have a system where one guy can veto anything.

A leader's job is to find common ground.

I like to exchange ideas because we all want to win. If a footballer doesn't agree, then you try and have a chat to work things out.

How else are we going to get anywhere if we can't talk to each other?

I'm all in favour of talking to other parties, always have been, always will be. I'm a pluralist, talk to them, see what we've got in common, work together, fine.

I've always found that if you listen to people you can find common ground.

We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own ... in order to create this common ground.

Without rebuilding the confidence between parties, you will never succeed.

If people aren't in sync, things won't work out well.

Consensus doesn't happen by magic... You have to drive to it.