#Compromise Quotes

“To do a great right do a little wrong.”

“The trail of the serpent reaches into all the lucrative professions and practices of man. Each has its own wrongs. Each finds a tender and very intelligent conscience a disqualification for success. Each requires of the practitioner a certain shutting of the eyes, a certain dapperness and compliance, an acceptance of customs, a sequestration from the sentiments of generosity and love, a compromise of private opinion and lofty integrity.”

“It is not always possible to have everything go as one likes. In working with allies, it sometimes happens that they develop opinions of their own”

“How often in life must one be content with what one can get!”

“When a company or an individual compromises one time, whether it's on price or principle, the next compromise is right around the corner.”

“A government held together by the bands of reason only, requires much compromise of opinion.”

“Uncompromising thought is the luxury of the closeted recluse.”

“The reason political party platforms are so long is that when you straddle anything it takes a long time to explain it.”

“Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise.”

“Don't expect people to abide by your rules if you don't clearly communicate what they are. And don't expect them to live by your rules if you're not willing to compromise and live by at least some of theirs.”

“There isn't any finer folks living than a Republican that votes the Democratic ticket.”

“Almost all people descend to meet. All association must be a compromise, and, what is worst, the very flower and aroma of the flower of each of the beautiful natures disappears as they approach each other.”

“Every man cannot have his way in all things. If his opinion prevails at some times, he should acquiesce on seeing that of others preponderate at other times. Without this mutual disposition we are disjointed individuals, but not a society.”

“Compromise" is so often used in a bad sense that it is difficult to remember that properly it merely describes the process of reaching an agreement. Naturally there are certain subjects on which no man can compromise. For instance, there must be no compromise under any circumstances with official corruption, and of course no man should hesitate to say as much.”

“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers.”

“I see the necessity of sacrificing our opinions sometimes to the opinions of others for the sake of harmony.”

“Experience having long taught me the reasonableness of mutual sacrifices of opinion among those who are to act together for any common object, and the expediency of doing what good we can; when we cannot do all we would wish.”

“There is a point, of course, where a man must take the isolated peak and break with all his associates for clear principle; but until that time comes he must work, if he would be of use, with men as they are. As long as the good in them overbalances the evil, let him work with them for the best that can be obtained.”

“Marriage is the truest goal for ninety-nine per cent of the human race, and they will live the happiest life as soon as they have learnt and are ready to abide by the eternal lesson - that we are bound to bear and forbear and that life to every one must be a compromise.”

“No man can have society upon his own terms.”

“Die-hard conservatives thought that if I couldn't get everything I asked for, I should jump off the cliff with the flag flying-go down in flames. No, if I can get 70 or 80 percent of what it is I'm trying to get ... I'll take that and then continue to try to get the rest in the future.”

“I am a man of peace. I believe in peace. But I do not want peace at any price.”

“Leaders shouldn?t attach moral significance to their ideas: Do that, and you can?t compromise.”

“A principle is the expression of perfection, and as imperfect beings like us cannot practise perfection, we devise every moment limits of its compromise in practice.”

“A good marriage, like any partnership, meant subordinating one's own needs to that of the other's, in the expectation that the other will do the same.”

“Marriage is about compromise; it's about doing something for the other person, even when you don't want to.”

“I would be willing to do almost anything to make Art happy. I care about our friendship. The only thing I won't do is change the essence of my work.”

“Relationship is about forgiveness and compromise. It is about balance where one person complements each other.”

“If you don’t intend having a compromise, you don’t negotiate at all.”

“Decide which is the line of conduct that presents the fewest drawbacks and then follow it out as being the best one, because one never finds anything perfectly pure and unmixed, or exempt from danger.”

“Let us not be too particular; it is better to have old secondhand diamonds than none at all.”

“He knew when to compromise. Yet he never compromised his principles. He was a militant. Yet a militant who knew how to plan, assess concrete situations and emerge with rational solutions to problems.”

“To negotiate is not to do as one likes.”

“The negro cannot win the respect of the white people of the south or the peoples of the world if he is willing to sell the future of his children for his personal and immediate comfort and safety.”

“If you would get money as a writer or lecturer, you must be popular, which is to go down perpendicularly.... You are paid for being something less than a man. The state does not commonly reward a genius any more wisely. Even the poet laureate would rather not have to celebrate the accidents of royalty. He must be bribed with a pipe of wine; and perhaps another poet is called away from his muse to gauge that very pipe.”

“Marriage is three parts love and seven parts forgiveness of sins.”

“The editor of a newspaper cannot be independent, but must work with one hand tied behind him by party and patrons, and be content to utter only half or two-thirds of his mind . writers of all kinds are manacled servants of the public. We write frankly and fearlessly, but then we "modify" before we print.”

“If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”

“Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.”

“To me consensus seems to be - the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies in search of something in which no-one believes, but to which no-one objects.”

“All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. For it is all give and no take.”

“Be the compromise you want to see in the world.”

“Human life is a series of compromises, and it is not always easy to achieve in practice what one has found to be true in theory.”

“The problem of the negro is so criminal that many individuals and organizations are going to have to sacrifice what they call their organizational principles if someone comes up with a solution that will really solve the problem.”

“He must understand that if he is the world's finest plum and someone he loves does not like plums, he has the choice of becoming a banana. But he must be warned that if he chooses to become a banana, he will be a second rate banana. But he can always be the best plum.”

“To compromise simply means that you go a tiny bit below what you know is right.”

“Sometimes we be playing the politics too much and forget who we are just to win.”

“Democracy will not come Today, this year Nor ever Through compromise and fear.”

“I would hear stories about Steve Jobs and feel like he was at 100 percent exactly what he wanted to do, but I'm sure even a Steve Jobs has compromised. Even a Rick Owens has compromised. You know, even a Kanye West has compromised. Sometimes you don't even know when you're being compromised till after the fact, and that's what you regret.”

“Where Young must torture his invention To flatter knaves, or lose his pension.”