Dispute Resolution Quotes

Brain science and negotiation theory have advanced rapidly over the last decade. But negotiating wisdom dates back to the Bible and Greek philosophers. Here are some insightful quotes that speak to me in different ways every time I read them. For a more exhaustive list, see Joshua N. Weiss, YOU DIDN’T JUST SAY THAT! QUOTES, QUIPS, AND PROVERBS FOR DEALING IN THE WORLD OF CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION (2005), available at www.pon.org/downloads/quote_book.pdf.

“The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.” — Winston Churchill

“An ounce of mediation is worth a pound of arbitration and a ton of litigation!” — Joseph Grynbaum

“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein

“Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often the real loser — in fees, and expenses, and waste of time. As a peace-maker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.” – Abraham Lincoln

“If necessity is the mother of invention, conflict is its father.” — Kenneth Kaye

“When you’re at the edge of a cliff, sometimes progress is a step backwards.” — Anonymous

“Use soft words and hard arguments.” — English Proverb

“I’ve always felt that a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.” – Abigail Adams

“Nobody ever forgets where he buried the hatchet.” — Kin Hubbard

“Humor is the affectionate communication of insight.” – Leo Rosten

“One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears — by listening to them.” — Dean Rusk

“Reason guides but a small part of man, and the rest obeys feeling, true or false, and passion, good or bad.” — Joseph Roux

“You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.” — Indira Gandhi

“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, know when to run.” — Kenny Rogers

“The problem with communication is the illusion that is has occurred.” — George Bernard Shaw

“It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It’s that they can’t see the problem.” — G.K. Chesterton

“We are all inclined to judge ourselves by our ideals; others, by their acts.” – Harold Nicolson

“By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.” — Benjamin Franklin

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

“Are you really listening . . . or are you just waiting for your turn to talk?” — R. Montgomery

“Never forget the power of silence, that massively disconcerting pause which goes on and on and may at last induce an opponent to babble and backtrack nervously.” — Lance Morrow

“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” – Henry David Thoreau

“Win/win is an attitude, not an outcome.” — Don Boyd

“Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.” — Saul Alinsky

“Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional.” — Max Lucade

“The courts of this country should not be the places where resolution of disputes begins. They should be the places where the disputes end after alternative methods of resolving disputes have been considered and tried.” — Sandra Day O’Connor

“In one of our concert grand pianos, 243 taut strings exert a pull of 40,000 pounds on an iron frame. It is proof that out of great tension may come great harmony.” — Theodore E. Steinway

“The greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving counsel.” — Francis Bacon

“My father said: you must never try to make all the money that’s in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won’t have many deals.” — J. Paul Getty

After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are always artists as well. – Albert Einstein

“Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them.” — Adlai Stevenson

“Relationships of trust depend on our willingness to look not only to our own interests, but also the interests of others.” — Peter Farquharson

“A clever person turns great troubles into little ones and little ones into none at all.” — Chinese Proverb

“A closed mind is like a closed book; just a block of wood.” — Chinese Proverb

“A good deal is a state of mind.” — Lee Iococca

“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something.” — Wilson Mizner

“A large ocean liner was headed across the Atlantic from Portsmouth to New York. As it neared its destination at night, a lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, ‘Light, bearing on the starboard bow.’ ‘Is it steady or moving astern?’ the captain called out. The lookout replied, Steady, captain,’ which meantthat they were on a collision course. The captain then called to the signalman, ‘Signal that ship: We are on a collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees.’ Back came a signal, ‘Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees.’ The captain said, ‘Send, I’m a captain, change course 20 degrees.’ ‘I’m a seaman, second class,’ came the reply. ‘You had better change course 20 degrees.’ By that time the captain was furious. He spat out,’ Send, This is the mighty ocean liner, HMS Franconia. Change course 20 degrees.’ Back came the flashing light,’ This is a lighthouse, suggest you change course 20 degrees.’ – Anonymous

“A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.” — Alexander Pope

“A mere friend will agree with you, but a real friend will argue.” — Russian Proverb

“A perfect method for adding drama to life is to wait until the deadline looms large.” — Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby

“A quiet tongue shows a wise head.” – Irish Proverb

“A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study.” – Chinese Proverb

“A small benefit obtained is better than a great one in expectation.” – Irish Proverb

“All things at first appear difficult.” – Chinese Proverb

“Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much.” — Oscar Wilde

“Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?” — Abraham Lincoln

“An individual without information can’t take responsibility. An individual with information can’t help but take responsibility.” — Jan Carlzon

“Arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken.” – Abigail Adams

“Are you really listening . . . or are you just waiting for your turn to talk?” — R. Montgomery

“Ashes fly back into the face of him who throws them.” — American Proverb

“Bargain like a gypsy, but pay like a gentleman.” — Hungarian Proverb

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” – Plato

“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.” — D. H. Lawrence

“Before everything else, getting ready is the secret to success.” — Henry Ford

“Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.” — James B. Conant

“Better ask ten times than go astray once.” – Yiddish Proverb

“Buying is cheaper than asking.” — German Proverb

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” — Confucius

“Communication is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.” – Brian Tracy

“Communication is not only the essence of being human, but also a vital property of life.” – John A. Piece

“Compromise. Such an adjustment of conflicting interests as gives each adversary the satisfaction of thinking he has got what he ought not to have, and is deprived of nothing except what was justly his due.” – Ambrose Bierce

“Conflict builds character. Crisis defines it.” — Steven V. Thulon

“Conflict can destroy a team which hasn’t spent time learning to deal with it.” — Thomas Isgar

“Conflict involves incompatible behaviors rather than competitive goals.” — Dean Tjosvold

“Conflict is neither good nor bad. Properly managed, it is absolutely vital.” — Kenneth Kaye

“Conflict lies at the core of innovation.” — Emanuel R. Piore

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.” — Jacob M. Braude

“Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Constant repetition carries conviction.” — Robert Collier

“Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own.” – Chinese Proverb

“Distance doesn’t matter. It is only the first step that is difficult.” – Marie de Vichy-Chamrond Deffand

“Do not find fault, find a remedy.” — Henry Ford

“Don’t bargain for fish which are still in the water.” — Indian Proverb

“Don’t be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against, not with, the wind.” – Hamilton Mabie

“Don’t use a lot where a little will do.” – American Proverb

“During a negotiation, it would be wise not to take anything personally. If you leave personalities out of it, you will be able to see opportunities more objectively.” — Brian Koslow

“Effective communication is 20 percent what you know and 80 percent how you feel about what you know.” – Jim Rohn

“Even a dog knows the difference between being stumbled over and being kicked.” — American Proverb

“Even a fish wouldn’t get into trouble if it kept its mouth shut.” – Korean Proverb

“Even a sheet of paper has two sides.” — Japanese Proverb

“Even silence speaks.” – Hausa Proverb

“Everyone is wise until he speaks.” – Irish Proverb

“Extremists think communication means agreeing with them.” – Leo Rosten

“Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.” — Mike Murdock

“Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility upon him, and to let him know that you trust him.” – Booker T. Washington

“Flattery is the infantry of negotiation.” — Lord Chandos

“Four things come not back: the spoken word, the spent arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.” – Chinese Proverb

“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.” — Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“He understands badly who listens badly.” – Welsh Proverb

“He who angers you, conquers you.” — Elizabeth Kenny

“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” – Chinese Proverb

“He who asks questions cannot avoid the answers.” — Cameroonian Proverb

“He who cannot agree with his enemies is controlled by them.” – Chinese Proverb

“He who cannot cut the bread evenly cannot get on well with people.” – Czech Proverb

“He who gains a victory over other men is strong; but he who gains a victory over himself is all powerful.” — Lao-Tzu

“He who hurries cannot walk with dignity.” – Chinese Proverb

“How should the lamb negotiate with the lion.” — Jeffery Rubin

“Humor is the affectionate communication of insight.” – Leo Rosten

“Hurrying has no blessing.” – Kenyan Proverb

“I cannot divine how it happens that the man who knows the least is the most argumentative.” – Giovanni della Casa

“I don’t like that man. I’m going to have to get to know him better.” — Abraham Lincoln

“I give myself, sometimes, admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it.” — Mary Wortley Montagu

“I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others.” — Thomas Jefferson

“I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.” — Anonymous

“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.” – Thomas Jefferson

“I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard isn’t what I meant.” — Unknown

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.” — Ernest Hemingway

“I think I could sum up my position on this with the recitation of a brief Russian proverb ‘Doveryai no Proveryai.’ It means trust but verify.” — Ronald Reagan

“I think we may safely trust a good deal more than we do.” – Henry David Thoreau

“If an enemy is annoying you by playing well, consider adopting his strategy.” – Chinese Proverb

“If anyone is not willing to accept your point of view, try to see his point of view.” – Lebanese Proverb

“If I give you an egg, and you give me an egg, we will each have one egg.” — West African Proverb

“If I give you an idea, and you give me an idea, we will each have two ideas.” — West African Proverb

“If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first hour sharpening the ax.” — Abraham Lincoln

“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” — Benjamin Franklin

“If speaking is silver, then listening is gold.” — Turkish Proverb

“If there is any great secret of success in life, it lies in the ability to put yourself in the other person’s place and to see things from his point of view – as well as your own.” – Henry Ford

“If we manage conflict constructively, we harness its energy for creativity and development.” – Kenneth Kaye

“If you are leaning over to starboard to balance the boat against the other guy’s propensity to lean too far to port, both of you are about to get wet.” — Kenneth Kaye

“If you are patient in a moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.” – Chinese Proverb

“If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.” — Chinese Proverb

“If you are planning on doing business with someone again, don’t be too tough in the negotiations. If you’re going to skin a cat, don’t keep it as a house cat.” — Marvin S. Levin

“If you are standing upright, don’t worry if your shadow is crooked.” – Chinese Proverb

“If you can make a man laugh, you can make him think and make him like and believe you.” — Alfred E. Smith

“If you climb up a tree, you must climb down the same tree.” – African Proverb

“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.” – Anonymous

“If you get to thinking you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.” – Cowboy Proverb

“If you tell the truth, you have infinite power supporting you; but if not, you have infinite power against you.” — Charles Gordon

“If you truly want honesty, don’t ask questions you don’t really want the answer to.” – Burmese Proverb

“If you wish to make a man your enemy, tell him simply, ‘You are wrong.’ This method works every time.” — Henry Link

“I’m just preparing my impromptu remarks.” — Winston Churchill

“I’m not a combative person. My long experience has taught me to resolve conflict by raising the issues before I or others burn their boats.” — Alistair Grant

“In business, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.” — Chester L. Karrass

“Information is a negotiator’s greatest weapon.” — Victor Kiam

“It is all right if you talk to yourself. It is all right if you answer yourself. But when you start disagreeing with the answers, you’ve got a problem.” — R. E. Phillips

“It is better to trust and sometimes be disappointed than to be forever mistrusting and be right occasionally.” — Neal Maxwell

“It is greed to do all the talking but not to want to listen at all.” — Democritus of Abdera

“It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument.” – William Gibbs McAdoo

“It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them.” — Pierre Beaumarchais

“It matters not whether you win or lose; what matters is whether I win or lose.” — Darin Weinberg

“It seemed rather incongruous that in a society of super sophisticated communication, we often suffer from a shortage of listeners.” — Erma Bombeck

“It takes nine months to have a baby, no matter how many people you put on the job.” – American Proverb

“It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.” – Yogi Berra

“It’s good to shut up sometimes.” — Marcel Marceau

“It’s not the plan that is important, it’s the planning.” — Graeme Edwards

“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” — Mark Twain

“It’s not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference.” – Bear Bryant

“I’ve always felt that a person’s intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.” – Abigail Adams

“Keep things informal. Talking is the natural way to do business. Writing is great for keeping records and putting down details, but talk generates ideas. Great things come from our luncheon meetings which consist of a sandwich, a cup of soup, and a good idea or two. No martinis.” — T. Boone Pickens

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” — Mother Teresa

“Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” — Blaise Pascal

“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.” — Victor Borge

“Let every eye negotiate for itself, and trust no agent.” — William Shakespeare

“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.” — John F. Kennedy

“Listening well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.” – John Marshall

“Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery.” – Dr. Joyce Brothers

“Long-range planning works best in the short term.” — Doug Evelyn

“Loose lips sink ships.” — American Proverb

“Lower your voice and strengthen your argument.” — Lebanese Proverb

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“Make sure you leave some fat for the other side.” – Chinese Proverb

“Malice drinketh its own poison.” – Egyptian Proverb

“Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them.” — Adlai Stevenson

“Many speak much who cannot speak well.” – American Proverb

“Marriage means expectations and expectations mean conflict.” — Paxton Blair

“Maturity is the capacity to endure uncertainty.” — John Finley

“Most of our so-called reasoning consists in finding arguments for going on believing as we already do.” – James Harvey Robinson

“Most people I ask little from. I try to give them much, and expect nothing in return and I do very well in the bargain.” — Francois F. Nelon

“My father said: you must never try to make all the money that’s in a deal. Let the other fellow make some money too, because if you have a reputation for always making all the money, you won’t have many deals.” — J. Paul Getty

“My interest is in the future because I’m going to be spending the rest of my life there.” – Charles Kettering

“Nature arms each man with some faculty which enables him to do easily some feat impossible to any other.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Nature has given men one tongue and two ears, that we may hear twice as much as we speak.” – Epictetus

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln

“Necessity never made a good bargain.” — Benjamin Franklin

“Negotiating in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties are more anxious to agree than to disagree.” – Dean Acheson

“Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.” – Cowboy Proverb

“Never cut what you can untie.” — Joseph Joubert

“Never forget the power of silence, that massively disconcerting pause which goes on and on and may at last induce an opponent to babble and backtrack nervously.” — Lance Morrow

“Never miss a good chance to shut up.” – American Proverb

“Never mistake silence for agreement.” — Anonymous

“Never say more than is necessary.” — Richard Brinsley Sheridan

“Ninety-nine percent of all problems in communications start with misunderstandings which develop as a result of differing viewpoints and conditioning.” – Anonymous

“No garden is without its weeds.” – Thomas Fuller

“No one would talk much in society; if he knew how often he misunderstands others.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“No wisdom like silence.” – Chinese Proverb

“Nobody ever forgets where he buried the hatchet.” — Kin Hubbard

“Nobody’s a natural. You work hard to get good and then work to get better. It’s hard to stay on top.” — Paul Coffey

“Nothing so completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity himself, than straightforward and simple integrity in another.” – Charles Caleb Colton

“Once you consent to some concession, you can never cancel it and put things back the way they are.” – Howard Hughes

“One must talk little and listen much.” – African Proverb

“One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears — by listening to them.” — Dean Rusk

“One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.” – Will Durant

“Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard and strong.” – Zen Proverb

“Opposites attract — and then can’t stand each other.” — Kenneth Kaye

“Our lives are not dependent on whether or not we have conflict. It is what we do with conflict that makes the difference.” — Thomas Crum

“Our power is in our ability to decide.” — Buckminster Fuller

“Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.” — Danish, Dutch, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish Proverb

“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.” – Anonymous

“People do not seem to talk for the sake of expressing their opinions, but to maintain an opinion for the sake of talking.” — William Hazlitt

“People loan their trust, they don’t give it.” — Doug Smith

“People should talk less and draw more. Personally, I would like to renounce speech altogether and, like organic nature, communicate everything I have to say visually.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“People who are only good with hammers see every problem as a nail.” — Abraham Maslow

“People who can’t admit they are part of the problem, will never be part of its solution.” — Kenneth Kaye

“People who fight with fire usually end up with ashes.” — Abigail Van Buren

“Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.” — Saul Alinsky

“Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true.” — Honore De Balzac

“Prepare by knowing your walk away [conditions] and by building the number of variables you can work with during the negotiation . . . you need to have a walk away . . . a combination of price, terms, and deliverables that represents the least you will accept. Without one, you have no negotiating road map.” – Keiser

“Quarrels end, but words once spoken never die.” — African Proverb

“Reason and emotion are not antagonists. What seems like a struggle between two opposing ideas or values, one of which, automatic and unconscious, manifests itself in the form of a feeling.” — Nathaniel Branden

“Reason guides but a small part of man, and the rest obeys feeling, true or false, and passion, good or bad.” — Joseph Roux

“Relationships of trust depend on our willingness to look not only to our own interests, but also the interests of others.” — Peter Farquharson

“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” — Benjamin Franklin

“Resolving conflict is rarely about who is right. It is about acknowledgment and appreciation of differences.” — Thomas Crum

“Saying nothing . . . sometimes says the most.” — Emily Dickinson

“Silence is a true friend that never betrays.” — Confucius

“Silence is argument carried out by other means.” — Ernesto “Che” Guevara

“Silence is foolish if one is wise, but wise if one is foolish.” – Anonymous

“Silence is the mother of truth.” – Benjamin Disraeli

“Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.” – Charles De Gaulle

“Silence may be golden, but can you think of a better way to entertain someone than to listen to him?” – Brigham Young

“Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing.” – Albert Einstein

“Sometimes you have to be silent to be heard.” — Swiss Proverb

“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” — Ambrose Bierce

“Speech is human, silence is divine, yet also brutish and dead; therefore we must learn both arts.” – Thomas Carlyle

“Stopping at third base adds no more to the score than striking out.” — American Proverb

“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” – Confucius

“Take advantage of the ambiguity in the world. Look at something and think about what else it might be.”— Roger von Oech

“Talking comes by nature, silence by wisdom.” – Yiddish Proverb

“Talking jaw-jaw is always better than war-war.” — Winston Churchill

“Talking much about oneself may be a way of hiding oneself.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand.” — NativeAmerican Proverb

“The ability to speak eloquently is not to be confused with having something to say.” — Michael P. Hart

“The basic building block of good communications is the feeling that every human being is unique and of value.” — Anonymous

“The correct strategy for Americans negotiating with Japanese or other foreign clients is a Japanese strategy: ask questions. When you think you understand, ask more questions. Carefully feel for pressure points. If an impasse is reached, don’t pressure. Suggest a recess or another meeting.” — John L. Graham

“The deeper the waters are, the more still they run.” – Korean Proverb

“The deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” — William James

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” — Mark Twain

“The difficult part in an argument is not to defend one’s opinion, but rather to know it.” – André Maurois

“The easiest, the most tempting, and the least creative response to conflict within an organization is to pretend it does not exist.” – Lyle E. Schaller

“The fibers of all things have their tension and are strained like the strings of an instrument.” – Henry David Thoreau

“The fire you kindle for your enemy often burns yourself more than him.” – Chinese Proverb

“The freedom of the city is not negotiable. We cannot negotiate with those who say, “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable.”— John F. Kennedy

“The greatest trust between man and man is the trust of giving counsel.” — Francis Bacon

“The hardest step is over the threshold.” – Chinese Proverb

“The heart has arguments with which the logic of mind is not acquainted.” — Blaise Pascal

“The man who opts for revenge should dig two graves.” — Chinese Proverb

“The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” — Theodore Roosevelt

“The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.” – Peter F. Drucker

“The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.” — Stephen King

“The most important trip you may take in life is meeting people half way.” — Henry Boyle

“The number one goal in resolving a conflict is to make sure both sides maintain their self-esteem.” – Anonymous

“The one sure way to conciliate a tiger is to allow oneself to be devoured.” — Konrad Adenauer

“The past is malleable and flexible, changing as our recollection interprets and re-explains what has happened.” – Peter Berger

“The problem with communication is the illusion that is has occurred.” — George Bernard Shaw

“The reverse side also has a reverse side.” – Japanese Proverb

“The reward for always listening when you’d rather be talking is wisdom.” — Anonymous

“The search for someone to blame is always successful.” — Robert Half

“The shallower the brook, the more it babbles.” – Indonesian Proverb

“The single most powerful tool for winning a negotiation is the ability to get up and walk away from the table without a deal.” — Anonymous

“The split in you is clear. There is a part of you that knows what it should do, and a part that does what it feels like doing.” — John Cantwell Kiley

“The spoken word belongs half to him who speaks, and half to him who listens.” — French Proverb

“The trouble with talking too fast is you may say something you haven’t thought of yet.” — Ann Landers

“The ultimate test of a relationship is to disagree but hold hands.” — Alexander Penney

“The war existing between the senses and reason.” — Blaise Pascal

“The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare.” — Thane Yost

“The wise man, even when he holds his tongue, says more than the fool when he speaks.” – Yiddish Proverb

“There are always two forces warring against each other within us.” — Paramahansa Yogananda

“There are two dilemmas that rattle the human skull: How do you hang on to someone who won’t stay? And how do you get rid of someone who won’t go?” — Danny DeVito in The War of the Roses

“There are two sides to every question.” – Chinese Proverb

“There can be no doubt that the average man blames much more than he praises. His instinct is to blame. If he is satisfied he says nothing; if he is not, he most illogically kicks up a row.” — Arnold Bennett

“There is all the difference in the world between having something to say and having to say something.” – John Dewey

“There is no knowledge that is not power.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

“They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” — Carl W.

“This, too, shall pass.” — African Zulu Proverb

“Those who trust us educate us.” — George Eliot

“To be prepared is half the victory.” — Miguel De Cervantes

“To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.” – George MacDonald

“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” – Anthony Robbins

“To every answer you can find a new question.” – Yiddish Proverb

“To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.” — Sun Tzu

“To fight fear, act. To increase fear — wait, put off, postpone.” — David Joseph Schwartz

“Trust begets trust and untrust begets untrust. It’s natural.” — Munshi Premchand

“Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.” – Alfred Adler

“Trust resides squarely between faith and doubt.” — Warren Bennis

“Under normal conditions, most people tend to see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, and do what they want to do; in conflicts, their positions become even more rigid and fixed.” – Marc Robert

“Use non-verbal communication to SOFTEN the hard-line position of others: S = Smile, O = Open Posture, F = Forward Lean, T = Touch, E = Eye Contact, N = Nod.” — Anonymous

“We agree completely on everything, including the fact we don’t see eye to eye.” — Henry Kissinger

“We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.” — Chuck Swindoll

“We are all inclined to judge ourselves by our ideals; others, by their acts.” – Harold Nicolson

“We are judged by what we finish, not what we start.” — Anonymous

“We do not have to agree; we do need to understand.” — Anonymous

“We judge others by their behavior. We judge ourselves by our intentions.” — Ian Percy

“We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed.” – Charles Caleb Colton

“We’re eyeball to eyeball and the other fellow just blinked.” — Dean Rusk

“What is the shortest word in the English language that contains the letters: abcdef? Answer: feedback. Don’t forget that feedback is one of the essential elements of good communication.” – Anonymous

“What we see depends mainly on what we look for.” – John Lubbock

“When a man says that he approves something in principle, it means he hasn’t the slightest intention of putting it in practice.” — Otto von Bismarck

“When anger comes, wisdom goes.” – Hindi Proverb

“When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry a hundred.” — Thomas Jefferson

“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.” — Dale Carnegie

“When elephants fight, it is the grass who suffers.” — African Proverb

“When in doubt, ask. When not in doubt, ask. If you are not in doubt, you may be kidding yourself.” – Anonymous

“When our knowing exceeds our sensing, we will no longer be deceived by the illusions of our senses.” – Walter Russell

“When regard for truth has been broken down or even slightly weakened, all things will remain doubtful.” – Saint Augustine

“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.” – African Proverb

“When we blame, we give away our power.” — Greg Anderson

“When you have to make a choice and you don’t make it, that itself is a choice.” — William James

“Whenever two people meet there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other sees him, and each man as he really is.” — William James

“Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.” – Irish Proverb

“Win/win is an attitude, not an outcome.” — Don Boyd

“Wisdom is what you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.” – Doug Larson

“Words are like spears: Once they leave your lips they can never come back.” – Yoruban Proverb

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” — Rudyard Kipling

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming genuinely interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” — Dale Carnegie

“You can observe a lot by just watching.” – Yogi Berra

“You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.” — M. Scott Peck

“You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” – Winnie-the-Pooh (A. A. Milne)

“You can’t unscramble an egg.” – American Proverb

“You don’t drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.” — Anonymous

“You don’t run twenty-six miles at five minutes a mile on good looks and a secret recipe.” — Frank Shorter

“You got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” – Yogi Berra

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.” — Harper Lee

“You’re in a much better position to talk with people when they approach you than when you approach them.” — Peace Pilgrim

“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, know when to run.” — Kenny Rogers

“Zeal is fit only for wise men but is found mostly in fools.” — American Proverb