Strategic Compromise Quotes

It's probably better to have the son-of-a-bitch inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in.

Appeasement is feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last.

The strictest loyalty to the ideas of communism must be combined with the ability to make all the necessary practical compromises, to tack, to make agreements, zigzags, retreats, and so on, in order to accelerate coming into power.

I can never look upon that proclamation in any other light (but I say this between ourselves) than as a temporary expedient to quiet the minds of the Indians.

To get Xi Jinping to help with our Pyongyang problem, Trump has dropped all talk of befriending Taiwan, backed off Tillerson's warning to Beijing to vacate its fortified reefs in the South China Sea, and held out promises of major concessions to Beijing in future trade deals.

If you're a politician, you can see there might be times when, to secure the greater good, you have to take a backwards step. That is a matter of tactics.

To the organizer, compromise is a key and beautiful word. It is always present in the pragmatics of operation... If you start with nothing, demand 100 percent, then compromise for 30 percent, you're 30 percent ahead.

A credible threat of force is only as good as the political will to use it.

The only way you can make a deal is if you're ready to blow it.

Give your opponent an out. Look at the crises from his point of view.... Try to pick an option that achieves your purpose at minimal cost to him—military, political or otherwise.

Fate handed Barack Obama the best of all political gifts - a dyspeptic, surly, spiteful opposition on the one hand and very unpopular financiers on the other - and he wouldn't come out punching, name names, or go for the jugular. It was as if while getting mugged by guys with brass knuckles, he turned the other cheek. He even jeopardized his pledge to preserve women's rights under Roe v. Wade in order to get a health care bill written by the corporate lapdog Max Baucus and the gang of revolving door mercenaries he hired to write a bill friendly to industry.

You definitely go through a stage, most coaches do, where you see a good player and you get enamored, you really like what the player does, but then when you put him into your system, it's not quite the same player that he was in another system. He has some strengths, but you cant utilize all those strengths. If you try to utilize all his strengths, you end up weakening a lot of other players who are already in your system.

Reagan's enduring value as a conservative icon stems from his resolute preaching of the conservative gospel, in words that still warm the hearts of the most zealous conservatives. Yet Reagan's value as a conservative model must begin with recognition of his flexibility in the pursuit of his conservative goals.

When you insist someone submit to your will, it is accomplished most easily if you give them a small victory so they can retain their dignity while they do as you insist. ~ Kahlan Mother Confessor

If you find your opponent in a strong position costly to force, you should leave him a line of retreat as the quickest way of loosening his resistance. It should, equally, be a principle of policy, especially in war, to provide your opponent with a ladder by which he can climb down.

When you go out there and you try to change things around and avoid a guy or pick your spots to go at a guy, I think you're usually taking away a piece of your offense that you rely on a lot.

If you have to compromise, be sure to compromise up.

The Obama administration sought to appease the Iranians at any and all cost.

If you can't win, make sure you don't lose.

The principle of give and take is the principle of diplomacy - give one and take ten.

We did not have a military victory in the Cold War. It was a negotiated outcome that benefitted both sides…. Such claims of victory are all distortions, all incorrect, all misleading, and all dangerous to the safety and future prosperity of the American people.

It is an ambitious agenda, but the approach to Russia should be, 'Confront where we must, but cooperate where we can.'

If you must compromise, compromise up.

If you have to compromise, be sure to compromise up.

There is more respect to be won in the opinion of this world by a resolute and courageous liquidation of unsound positions than by the most stubborn pursuit of extravagant or unpromising objectives.