John McCormack Quotes

The chairman of a committee should be in harmony with the majority who constitute it.

I choose to bring people together. I choose to seek compromise.

All legislation is founded upon the principle of mutual concession.

I never place myself mentally in the position of compromising principle and conscience. But there are times when I might harmonize differences in order to make progress, or maintain unity.

Bipartisanship means you work together to work it out.

It's more important to fly midpoint in deals and work together than to try to haggle for the last dollar.

If you have a coalition, you must have a little give.

Compromise, compromise and compromise.

Comprise should not be a dirty word. It should be what we all strive to achieve jointly.

This is good government. We have divided government. To make divided government work you can’t ask each other to compromise core principles…. We ask each other to find common ground for the common good.

We [the Senate] are a small town of 100 people. It makes no sense to not get along with others.

All the small things matter. Communication. It doesn't matter what you are doing. You have to be on the same page.

Solutions must be based on compromises.

We all can't shine at the same time.

I played on teams with 24 guys pulling the rope one way and one guy pulling the other. I've seen how destructive it can be. I tell them, 'If 13 of you are insanely successful and one fails, we all lose.'

I've always said there is a boulevard that exists between compromising your principles and getting everything you want. Now, we should never compromise our principles. And I never have. Those are the things that people vote for you on, that's the core of who you are. But there's always a boulevard between that and getting everything you want.

As a member of Congress, I'm often reminded that in baseball, as in diplomacy, you have to know when to hit, when to run, and when to show grace.

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

Yes, we have got to quit worrying about fighting each other and trying to figure out a way to work together.

To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.

In a Union of 15 now, you must take into account the sensibilities of everyone.

And as long as your cats is loyal to what y'all are standing for, and they know how to play the game, it should be no way you can lose. It's about compromising; it's about respecting one another's position, and about going with your heart as far as what you believe in.

I think if you're going to get anything done in the Senate, you have to be on the same sheet of music. If you don't get people on the same sheet of music it comes out pretty horrible.

Hopefully, we can build bridges, but we also have to draw lines.

Marriage should be a duet - when one sings, the other claps.