Honore de Balzac Quotes

Defining the terms of the debate generally dictates who's gonna' win it.

One of the first rules of playing the power game is that all bad news must be accepted calmly, as if one already knew and didn't care.

They weren't interested in entertainment. They were tough. I learned one trick, which was to be quieter than they were until they had to look at you. It took a lot of agressiveness.

… even the best of intentions are stymied when every negotiators’ concessions are more clear than their potential gains …

Because of the term ‘whip’, it is assumed that members can be beaten into submission, but I’ve seldom seen that be successful. It’s getting to know the individual, what they think, how they feel, what’s going on in their personal life, are they agonizers or quick deciders, what kind of leverage can be used with them or on them.

If politics is an art, it is not like sculpture or painting, where one side acts and the other is passive material. It is more like drama without a script, or dance without choreography - in other words, improvisation.

I got really good at negotiating from a place of weakness.

I have the skills to box and not get into a war. I've been getting punishment I shouldn't be taking because, sometimes, I'm too brave for my own good. When I've got good footwork and movement, I should use them.

I think in Trump's view of the world, when the other person loses, he wins.

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 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.

The most critical thing in a negotiation is to get inside your opponent's head and figure out what he really wants.

I worry because there is a basic asymmetry, an imbalance, between the two parties. For the Palestinians, it is about status and sovereignty, which could always be adjusted, while for Israel it is about security and trust. And security is something you can't adjust. If you make a mistake on the scrutiny issue, there is no going back.

The specialist is one who never makes small mistakes while moving toward the grand fallacy.

You can't just throw people at all your problems, dear.

To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion.

No issue can be negotiated unless you first have the clout to compel negotiation.

Oh, diplomacy ... it mops up war's spillages; legitimizes its outcomes; gives the strong state the means to impose its will on a weaker one, while saving its fleets and battalions for weightier opponents.

To negotiate is not to do as one likes.

Professional marriage counselors agree that the most productive and mature way to deal with marital anger is to stomp dramatically from the room. You want to make your move before the opponent does, because the first person to stomp from the room receives valuable Argument Points that can be redeemed for exciting merchandise at the Marital Prize Redemption Center.

As you can see, even when [Adolf] Hitler desires to speak for peace, he cannot dispense with threats. This is symptomatic.

If you've had a bad experience with an agent, you have to move past it. You are bound to want a player at some stage who is represented by this guy and you will have to try to work around the personality of the agent. You tend to work out what makes them tick, what they respond to. You have to have tactical plans to get a deal over the line.

The mental game of business is understanding this Paradox: the better you think you are doing, the greater should be your cause for concern: the more self-satisfied you are with your accomplishments, your past achievements, your 'right moves', the less you should be.

If you wish, I shall go personally to your City and knock together the heads of Perlith and Galooney.