Negotiations Quotes

The right course is for the Palestinians and the Israelis to sit down at the table together. The Palestinians need to recognize that the course to the two-state solution is not through the United Nations or through the United States or through anyone else, but through a face to face series of negotiations with the Israelis. ~ Mitt Romney

Anger travels faster, conscience is slower! Angers goes ahead to destroy long before conscience lately arrives to regret! Don't try to keep anger just for a while ... It destroys before negotiations! ~ Israelmore Ayivor

At the negotiations in Irvine, it became clear to me that there was no side I could stand on. The English despise me and my countrymen don't trust me. Wallace and the others are rebelling in the name of Balliol. I cannot fight with them. It would be as much a betrayal of my oath as when I was fighting for England. I know what I must do. What I should have done months ago.'
Robert felt embarrassed, about to say the words. Inside, his father's voice berated him, but he silenced it. 'I want you to weave my destiny,' he finished. 'As you did for my grandfather.'
When she spoke, her voice was low. 'And what is your destiny?'
He met her eyes now, all hesitation and embarrassment gone. 'To be King of Scotland.'
A smile appeared at the corners of her mouth. It wasn't a soft smile. It was hard and dangerous. 'I will need something of yours,' she said, rising. ~ Robyn Young

The [Dow-Alcoa and Alcoa-IG] negotiations [of 1929] reveal strikingly the technique of cartel diplomacy - the steady application of "pressure" and the resort alternatively to challenges and blandishments. The similarity to power politics in which trial by battle is a last resort is marked. The procedure discloses the vast gulf between big business in practice and the patterns of behavior assumed in a regime of free competition. It shows how the conference table superseded the market as the arena for decision making. ~ George W. Stocking

My colleagues and I have gone in the footsteps of our predecessors since the very first day we were called by our people to care for their future. We went any place, we looked for any avenue, we made any effort to bring about negotiations between Israel and its neighbors, negotiations without which peace remains an abstract desire. ~ Menachem Begin

One of the most critical strengths of a superior competitor in any discipline - whether we are speaking about sports, business negotiations, or even presidential debates - is the ability to dictate the tone of the battle. ~ Josh Waitzkin

Just being nice is not a winning strategy. Nice sends a message that the woman is willing to sacrifice pay to be liked by others. This is why a woman needs to combine niceness with insistence, a style that Mary sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan, calls "relentlessly pleasant." This method requires smiling frequently, expressing appreciation and concern, invoking common interests, emphasizing larger goals, and approaching the negotiation as solving a problem as opposed to taking a critical stance. Most negotiations involve drawn-out, successive moves, so women need to stay focused... and smile.

No wonder women don't negotiate as much as men. It's like trying to cross a minefield backward in high heels. So what should we do? Should we play by the rules that others created? Should we figure out a way to put on a friendly expression while not being too nice, displaying the right levels of loyalty and using "we" language? I understand the paradox of advising women to change the world by adhering to biased rules and expectations. I know it is not a perfect answer but a means to a desirable end. It is also true, as any good negotiator knows, that having a better understanding of the other side leads to a superior outcome. So at the very least, women can enter these negotiations with the knowledge that showing concern for the common good, even as they negotiate for themselves, will strengthen their position. ~ Sheryl Sandberg

As they say, one thing led to another, and, ultimately, the British and Irish governments asked me to serve as chairman of the peace negotiations, which ironically began six years ago this week. ~ George J. Mitchell

One has to work for years and decades, to conduct negotiations, to stand for positions and points of view, to jointly develop a civilized view on the administrative and state organization of Chechnya. ~ Akhmad Kadyrov

Yes, NFL players deserve to be paid well. Unfortunately, economic realities are forcing everyone to make tough choices and the NFL is no different. These are not easy negotiations, but the outcome can be positive. If both sides give a little, everyone, including fans, will get a lot and the game will improve through innovation. Even in difficult economic times, a new CBA presents us with the opportunity to secure the future of our game. ~ Roger Goodell

People underestimate me, and that's fine. I prefer to go into negotiations being underestimated. ~ Ivanka Trump

No one's interested really in knowing what policies or diplomatic initiatives or arms negotiations might have been compromised by me. ~ Aldrich Ames

The "pursuit of happiness" is such a key element of the "American (ideological) dream" that one tends to forget the contingent origin of this phrase: "We holds these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Where did the somewhat awkward "pursuit of happiness" come from in this famous opening passage of the US Declaration of Independence? The origin of it is John Locke, who claimed that all men had the natural rights of life, liberty, and property - the latter was replaced by "the pursuit of happiness" during negotiations of the drafting of the Declaration, as a way to negate the black slaves' right to property. ~ Slavoj Zizek

If he could do it, Damen could do it. He could make impersonal negotiations, speak in the formal language of kings. The ache of loss didn't make sense, because Laurent had never been his. He had known that. ~ C.S. Pacat

At present, talk of negotiations is limited to five Sitters, ~ Robert Jordan

It is almost always a mistake for heads of state to undertake the details of a negotiation. They are then obliged to master specifics normally handled by their foreign offices and are deflected onto subjects more appropriate to their subordinates, while being kept from issues only heads of state can resolve. Since no one without a well-developed ego reaches the highest office, compromise is difficult and deadlocks are dangerous. With the domestic positions of the interlocutors so often dependent on at least the semblance of success, negotiations more often concentrate on obscuring differences than they do on dealing with the essence of a problem. ~ Henry Kissinger

Since the start of the Abe administration, we resumed peace treaty negotiations with Russia, which had lapsed during the three years of the Democratic Party of Japan administration. ~ Shinzo Abe

We are told we must choose - the old or the new. In fact, we must choose both. What is a life if not a series of negotiations between the old and the new? ~ Susan Sontag

Negotiations are a euphemism for capitulation if the shadow of power is not cast across the bargaining table. ~ George Schultz

I believe in peace-building in any kind of platform, be it a political platform like Parliament or negotiations like peace-building negotiations. ~ Safak Pavey

Love is a constant negotiation, a constant conversation; to love someone is to lay yourself open to rejection and abandonment; love is something you can earn but not extort. It is an arena in which you are not in control, because someone else also has rights and decisions; it is a collaborative process; making love is at its best a process in which those negotiations become joy and play. ~ Rebecca Solnit

Whenever we manage to love without expectations, calculations, negotiations, we are indeed in heaven. ~ Rumi

I did put together the coalition to impose sanctions. I actually started the negotiations that led to the nuclear agreement, sending some much my closest aides to begin the conversations with the Iranians. ~ Hillary Clinton

If women ran the world we wouldn't have wars, just intense negotiations every 28 days. ~ Robin Williams

Although few people will remember 3 June 1993, it was a landmark in South African history. On that day, after months of negotiations at the World Trade Centre, the multiparty forum voted to set a date for the country's first national, nonracial, one-person-one-vote election: 27 April 1994. For the first time in South African history, the black majority would go to the polls to elect their own leaders. ~ Nelson Mandela

These elements are important for several reasons. First, offers in service negotiations may require the binding of existing regulatory situations, and countries should avoid scheduling legally binding measures that domestic regulators do not find adequate or fully developed. ~ Sebastian Saez

[During fee negotiations for singing in Vienna:] I'm not interested in money, but it must be more than anyone else gets. ~ Maria Callas

The ones who were negotiating are now on the front line of this intifada, because they found that the negotiations didn't give them the minimum of their rights. ~ Hassan Nasrallah

When negotiations are at an impasse, when States dig their heels in, it is time to 'undig' them in a spirit of compromise. We all need to unlearn the predator in us, unlearn discrimination, unlearn privilege. ~ Alfred-Maurice De Zayas

I was set free because the negotiations were successful, because there were people lobbying for my freedom, and because hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Rome for my freedom. ~ Giuliana Sgrena

NVC can be effectively applied at all levels of communication and in diverse situations: intimate relationships, families, schools, organizations and institutions, therapy and counseling, diplomatic and business negotiations, disputes and conflicts of any nature. ~ Marshall B. Rosenberg

There has not yet been a major ground offensive battle ... There are, we know, negotiations going on between the opposition forces and the Taliban leadership for surrender. ~ Peter Pace

If a woman gets tough in negotiations, she's difficult, whereas a man would be considered a brilliant businessman. ~ Tamara Mellon

Next in Iran, Hillary Clinton launched the negotiations that brought about the worst nuclear deal in history. ~ Chris Christie

Make no mistake, your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other. To live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks. ~ Ryan Bingham

There's really no reason for any musician, writer, actor to ever take themselves seriously. If you work in a needle exchange, take yourself seriously. You're doing good work. If you're involved in hostage negotiations and saving lives, you can have a sense of entitlement. ~ Moby

When it comes to whaling, Iceland is an international outlaw. Years of global negotiations and declarations have failed utterly to end its illegal slaughter of whales. It's time to send Iceland a message it can't ignore: trade sanctions. ~ Pierce Brosnan

… not only the women of the Qurashi aristocracy were highly enough esteemed as a social group to come, like the men, to swear allegiance and to take part in the negotiations with the new military leader of the city, but also that they could express a boldly critical attitude toward Islam. They were not going to accept the new religion without knowing exactly how it would improve their situation. This critical spirit on the part of women toward the political leader remained alive and well during the first decades of Islam. It only disappeared with the onset of absolutism, with Mu'awiya and the turning of Islam into a dynastic system. This meant, on the one hand, the disappearance of the tribal aristocratic spirit with the formation of the Muslim state, and, on the other hand, the disappearance of Islam as the Prophet's experiment in living, in which equality, however merely potential it might be, opened the door to the dream of a practicing democracy. ~ Fatema Mernissi

The concept of reconciliation is not irretrievable, but I am convinced that before we theologians can interpret the depths of the divine action of reconciliation we must first articulate the profound deformities of Christian intimacy and identity in modernity. Until we do, all theological discussions of reconciliation will be exactly what they tend to be: (a) ideological tools for facilitating negotiations of power; or (b) socially exhausted idealist claims masquerading as serious theological accounts. In truth, it is not at all clear that most Christians are ready to imagine reconciliation. ~ Willie James Jennings

At the moment, every country arrives at climate negotiations seeking to keep their own emissions as high as possible. This is the logic of the madhouse, a recipe for collective suicide. We dont want a global suicide pact. We want a global survival pact ~ Mohamed Nasheed

I think placing preconditions before negotiations is the quickest way to undermine peace. ~ Benjamin Netanyahu

God saw Hansen tighten his chokehold on Day and he could see his lover fighting to breathe. Day's ears and neck were bright red. His lips were turning a darker color as his body was deprived of oxygen. Hansen pressed the barrel in deeper and yelled.

"Two minutes and fifteen seconds before I get to zero and I provide the great state of Georgia the luxury of one less narc."

God's mind exploded at the thought of not having Day in a world he lived in. He looked into his partner's glistening eyes and saw he was turning blue and possibly getting ready to faint. Day was still looking at him, looking into God's green eyes.

No, no, no! He's saying good-bye.

God closed his eyes and released a loud, gut-wrenching growl cutting off the SWAT leader's negotiations.

"Godfrey, get yourself under control," his captain said while grabbing for him.

God jerked himself away from the hold and stepped forward, his angry eyes boring into Hansen's dark ones. Hansen stared at him as if God was crazy. Little did he know God was at that moment.

"Godfrey, get back here and stand down. That's an order, Detective!" his captain barked.

God's large hands clenched at his sides fighting not to pull out his weapons. He ground his teeth together so hard his jaw ached.

"Do you have any idea of the shit storm you're about to bring down on your life," God spoke with a menacing snarl while his large frame shook with fu ~ A.E. Via

So one can lose a good idea
by not writing it down, yet by losing it one can have it: it nourishes other asides
it knows nothing of, would not recognize itself in, yet when the negotiations
are terminated, speaks in the acts of that progenitor, and does
recognize itself, is grateful for not having done so earlier. ~ John Ashbery

A sign that negotiations were handled well on both sides is that everybody probably feels a little bit like they didn't get what they wanted. ~ Christopher Lloyd

Sanctions and negotiations can be very ineffective, and indeed foolish, unless the people you are talking with and negotiating with and trying to reach agreements with are people who can be trusted to keep their word. ~ Caspar Weinberger

Terrorism and negotiations simply don't go together. ~ Moshe Arens

We ask them to remove the missiles deployed against Taiwan, give up their military threat, and instead let us together open the door to cross-Strait peaceful and stable dialogue and negotiations. ~ Chen Shui-bian

I'd prefer not to say what my current salary is because if it's higher than what you expect to pay for this job, I wouldn't want that to eliminate me from being considered for this job - because I might be willing to accept less for the right position - and, if it's lower than what this job would pay, I wouldn't want to sell myself short either - I'm sure you can understand. ~ John Sonmez

With all this talk about the supposed strain in relations [with the Soviet Union], there is an inference that somehow it is our fault. But we didn't kill Russian civilians by shooting down a civilian airplane. We didn't attempt to conquer an adjacent country to ours. We didn't walk out on negotiations and refuse to give a date for when we would resume. ~ Ronald Reagan

Similar forms of trickery eventually evolved into a ritual of drunken trade negotiations that often ended with Native Americans giving away huge tracts of land for little in return. Years later, one settler put it bluntly: "When the object is to murder Indians, strong liquor is the main article required, for when you have them dead drunk, you may do to them as you please, without running the risk of losing your life. ~ Reid Mitenbuler

Major League Baseball's labor negotiations involve two paradoxes. The players' union's primary objective is to protect the revenues of a very few very rich owners - principally, the Yankees'. The owners' primary objective is a more egalitarian distribution of wealth. The union believes that unconstrained spending by the richest three teams pulls up all payrolls. Most owners believe that baseball's problems
competitive imbalance, the parlous financial conditions of many clubs
result from large and growing disparities of what are mistakenly treated as 'local' revenues. ~ George Will

Though negotiations are a rough game, you should never allow them to become a dirty game. Once you've agreed to a deal, don't back out of it unless the other party fails to deliver as promised. Your handshake is your bond. As far as I'm concerned, a handshake is worth more than a signed contract. As an entrepreneur, a reputation for integrity is your most valuable commodity. If you try to put something over on someone, it will come back to haunt you. ~ Victor Kiam

Negotiation talks are the best way to solve anything. We must replace wars and weapons with negotiations and talks. ~ Akbar Ganji

In my opinion, it is not in our interest to have complicated negotiations with a region, and then have to follow it up with 535 negotiations at home. I have experienced recounts, and it is better to vote once. ~ William M. Daley

In a world where millions of human beings live in extreme poverty, die of malnutrition and lack medical care, where pandemics continue to kill, it is imperative to pursue good faith disarmament negotiations and to shift budgets away from weapons production, war-mongering, surveillance of private persons and devote available resources to address global challenges including humanitarian relief, environmental protection, climate change mitigation and adaptation, prevention of pandemics, and the development of a green economy. ~ Alfred-Maurice De Zayas

And for every project, because it takes years, you can see the early drawings and collages as just a simple, vague idea, and through the years and through the negotiations of getting the permit, you see that every detail is now clarified. ~ Christo

Whenever there's negotiations, there's things that you absolutely love, and there's things that you accept. ~ D'Brickashaw Ferguson

Lucas was courting a range of other potential buyers at the same time, including Siemens, Hallmark, General Motors' EDS division, and Philips. But as one deal after another fell through, the balance of power tilted toward Steve, who didn't need the group as much as Lucas needed the money. So he was perfectly willing to play tough himself. "At one point," says Barnes, who helped with the negotiations, "the delays went on forever and he just went and told one of their executives to 'fuck off.' One of the Lucas team said, 'You can't say that to one of our EVPs.' 'Yes I can,' he replied. 'And fuck you, too.' ~ Brent Schlender

Absolute brain size does not tell you everything or possibly sometimes even much. Elephants and whales both have brains larger than ours, but you wouldn't have much trouble outwitting them in contract negotiations. ~ Bill Bryson

I told the President, I told Rahm Emanuel and others in the administration that I thought the policy they took to try to bring about negotiations is counter-productive, because when you give the Palestinians hope that the United States will do its negotiating for them, they are not going to sit down and talk. ~ Chuck Schumer

The WTO has outlived its usefulness as a setting for trade negotiations. It can still be a good place to resolve disputes (though this can take years) and share ideas, but most countries would be better off choosing their own trading partners and lowering trade barriers at their own pace. ~ Daniel Altman

Love is not a feeling, but the characteristic of a productive relationship. Failing to understand this is our great error in a time when all of us are chasing love as a goal, but finding only an extraordinary lack of love, for which we then blame ourselves. Our misunderstanding of love continues to make this situation worse. A world in which love exists in fantasies but has no actual potency loses the ability to facilitate fair negotiations, bestow meaning, or produce anything other than purely monetary wealth. ~ Andreas Weber

But the uproar this caused was nothing compared with the uproar when Katronia noticed [Rosie] had also cut her eyelashes. Various negotiations (including, finally, such desperate measures as "supposing you ever want to eat again") eventually produced the grudging promise that, in return for Katronia keeping her hair cut short, she would leave her eyelashes alone. ~ Robin McKinley

The greatness of Christianity did not lie in attempted negotiations for compromise with any similar philosophical opinions in the ancient world, but in its inexorable fanaticism in preaching and fighting for its own doctrine. ~ Adolf Hitler

People are so afraid of hearing "No" that they often don't even try. You have nothing to lose by just asking! A good friend of mine once told me, "Harv, a closed mouth won't get fed." Open your mouth! Say something if negotiations aren't going the way you'd like. ~ T. Harv Eker

War traumatizes soldier and civilian alike; warfare is a profit-making racket; warfare resolves nothing that negotiations can't resolve better; the weapons we have now make non-violence the only option to planetary annihilation. ~ Madeline Taylor

She'll need to see another goddamn place, then, because the roaches have unionized and put a stop to further negotiations regarding new tenants. Also, I think I smell a dead body. ~ Jessica Park

Gideon: "It's time to discuss what it's going to take to get you beneath me."
Eva: "A miracle. ~ Sylvia Day

During negotiations nothing is gained by attacking people's comfort zones. ~ Alan Sugar

Luckily, my children love broccoli, and although we sometimes enter into UN-like negotiations about how many 'trees' they need to eat before they can partake of ice cream, it is a vegetable that they tend to embrace. ~ Gwyneth Paltrow

Further, democratic negotiators, or foreign negotiation specialists accepted to assist in the negotiations, may in a single stroke provide the dictators with the domestic and international legitimacy that they had been previously denied because of their seizure of the state, human rights violations, and brutalities. Without that desperately needed legitimacy, the dictators cannot continue to rule indefinitely. ~ Gene Sharp

My advice to students when I taught negotiations was that if you think the other side has made an outrageous proposal, you should not come back with an equally outrageous counteroffer, creating a gap that will be difficult to bridge in further negotiations. Instead you should make a scene, storm out or threaten to do so, and make it clear - to yourself as well as to the other side - that you will not continue the negotiation with that number on the table. ~ Daniel Kahneman

Why is the half of humanity with a special sensitivity to the preciousness of life, the half untainted by testosterone poisoning, almost wholly unrepresented in defense establishments and peace negotiations worldwide? [blurb on Daniella Gioseffi's _Women on War_; quoted in Carol Lynn Pearson's _The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy_] ~ Carl Sagan

Rhys flipped back the lid. A note lay atop the golden metal of the book.
I read your letter. About the woman you love.
I believe you. And I believe in peace.
I believe in a better world.
If anyone asks, you stole this during the meeting.
Do not trust the others. The sixth queen was not ill. ~ Sarah J. Maas

Tom looked at St. Vincent. "I assume the editor at the Chronicle refused to divulge the writer's identity?"
St. Vincent looked rueful. "Categorically. I'll have to find a way to pry it out of him without bringing the entire British press to his defense."
"Yes," Tom mused, tapping his lower lip with a fingertip, "they tend to be so touchy about protecting their sources."
"Trenear," Lord Ripon said through gritted teeth, "will you kindly throw him out?"
"I'll see myself out," Tom said casually. He turned as if to leave, and paused as if something had just occurred to him. "Although … as your friend, Trenear, I find it disappointing that you haven't asked about my day. It makes me feel as if you don't care."
Before Devon could respond, Pandora jumped in. "I will," she volunteered eagerly. "How was your day, Mr. Severin?"
Tom sent her a brief grin. "Busy. After six tedious hours of business negotiations, I paid a call to the chief editor of the London Chronicle."
St. Vincent lifted his brows. "After I'd already met with him?"
Trying to look repentant, Tom replied, "I know you said not to. But I had a bit of leverage you didn't."
"Oh?"
"I told him the paper's owner would dismiss him and toss him out on the pavement if he didn't name the anonymous writer."
St. Vincent stared at him quizzically. "You bluffed?"
"No, that is what the business negotiations were about. I'm the new owner. And while the chief editor happens to be ~ Lisa Kleypas

On his contract negotiations with the Devils: It's beyond money at this point. They're not even treating him as a member of their family, unless it's a dysfunctional family. ~ Kurt Overhardt

The developing countries must be able to take a more active part in trade negotiations, through technical assistance and support from the developed countries. ~ Anna Lindh

In 1907, Britain and Russia signed a treaty dividing Iran between them; no Iranian was at the negotiations or even knew they were taking place. ~ Stephen Kinzer

If there is willingness on the Palestinian side to reach an agreement, it is possible. We are conducting the negotiations with goodwill. ~ Benjamin Netanyahu

When a couple turns domestic, for the first while having to talk about the need for aluminum eaves troughing and other matters only gets in the way of the relationship. Then, magically, these negotiations take the place of the relationship. ~ Marni Jackson

If our bodies were different, though, our metaphors would be different, as Olaf Stapledon showed in Star Maker. Crabs walk sideways, for instance. If crabs could talk, they would undoubtedly describe progress in difficult negotiations as sidling toward agreement and express the hope for a better future by saying their best days are still beside them.

Our bodies prime our metaphors, and our metaphors prime how we think and act. ~ James Geary

He turned his head to look at her, trying to think of ways to plead his case. Some way to dazzle and beguile her and make her glad that it was him she was here with. Something witty and persuasive, but she turned at precisely the same moment he did, with invitation in her eyes, and all he could come up with was, "Damn, I really want to kiss you."

Her hesitation was a mere fraction of a second. "Me too," she whispered.

It was all he needed to hear, and in an instant she was in his arms. He kissed her, hard, with no prelude, no artful negotiations or seductive machinations. Just hungry kisses that sent his mind spinning and his body following. She kissed him back with equal enthusiasm, with one hand on his chest and the other wrapped tightly around the back of his neck, pulling him closer. Her mouth was sweet, as sweet as he'd imagined, with lips so soft he could have fallen over the edge of that lighthouse and thought the sensation was just from her touch. ~ Tracy Brogan

Fear enters the room and sits down in a chair and with a polite smile asks to open negotiations. ~ John Scalzi

After months of negotiations, Iran has finally agreed to reduce its nuclear weapons program. Which was great until Putin showed up and said, 'Hi, I'm here about Craigslist ad for nukes.' ~ Jimmy Fallon

Faced with the crippling sanctions, Iran could simply decide it is paying too high a cost to pursue its nuclear program and could opt for negotiations and reconciliation with the United States and other members of the international community. This is clearly the preferred option of American leaders. ~ Richard Engel

In these negotiations we are not a helpless object, although great world powers are involved. We play an active role and try to influence our destiny; we have our own trump cards and we use them. ~ Alija Izetbegovic

No Zionist element, right or left, understood the Fascist phenomenon. From the first, they were indifferent to the struggle of the Italian people, including progressive Jews, against the blackshirts and Fascism's larger implications for European democracy. Italy's Zionists never resisted Fascism; they ended up praising it and undertook diplomatic negotiations on its behalf. The bulk of the Revisionists and a few other right-wingers became its enthusiastic adherents. The moderate bourgeois Zionist leaders --Weizmann, Sokolow and Goldmann-- were uninterested in Fascism itself. As Jewish separatists they only asked one question, the cynical classic: 'So? Is it good for the Jews?' which implies that something can be evil for the general world and yet be good for the Jews. ~ Lenni Brenner

Game theorists analyze negotiations as if they were split-a-pie games involving selfish players. ~ Yanis Varoufakis

Despite a frenzy of East-West diplomacy and negotiations, there was little sign that tensions were easing. ~ Anonymous

Given a fair wind, we will negotiate our way into the Common Market, head held high, not crawling in. Negotiations? Yes. Unconditional acceptance of whatever terms are offered us? No. ~ Harold Wilson

Albert liked to play the stoic, and he embraced the opportunity to do over the negotiations about the marriage. He insisted that Uncle Leopold know what a great sacrifice he was making for the Saxe-Coburg family and Germany. As he gloomily lectured his uncle, 'troubles are inseparable from all human positions and…therefore if one must be subject to plagues and annoyances, it is better to be so for some great or worthy object than for trifles or miseries.'

Unfortunately for Albert, Leopold was deaf to self-pitying emotional blackmail and remained determined on his course. ~ Kate Williams

The daily work you put into rearing your children is a kind of intimacy, tedious and invisible as mothering itself. There is another kind of intimacy in the conversations you may have with your children as they grow older, in which you confess to failings, reveal anxieties, share your bouts of creative struggle, regret, frustration. There is intimacy in your quarrels, your negotiations and running jokes. But above all, there is intimacy in your contact with their bodies, with their shit and piss, sweat and vomit, with their stubbled kneecaps and dimpled knuckles, with the rips in their underpants as you fold them, with their hair against your lips as you kiss the tops of their heads, with the bones of their shoulders and with the horror of their breath in the morning as they pursue the ancient art of forgetting to brush. Lucky me that I should be permitted the luxury of choosing to find the intimacy inherent in this work that is thrust upon so many women. Lucky me. ~ Michael Chabon

Because TPP negotiations are still ongoing, it makes sense to reserve judgment until we can evaluate the final proposed agreement. It ~ Hillary Rodham Clinton

The western mantra is that Israel seeks negotiations without preconditions, while the Palestinians refuse. The opposite is more accurate. ~ Noam Chomsky

If women ran the world there would be no wars. However every 28 days there would be some very intense negotiations. ~ Robin Williams

The symbolic significance of individual athletes' achievements has sometimes proved more productive than the negotiations of diplomats or politicians. ~ Richard Attias

The negotiations were simultaneously cerebral and physical, abstract and personal, something like a combination of chess and mountain climbing. ~ Richard Holbrooke

The core issue here is that the Israeli government refuses to commit to terms of reference for the negotiations that are based on international law and United Nations resolutions, and that it frantically continues to intensify building of settlements on the territory of the State of Palestine. ~ Mahmoud Abbas

[A]s they are currently practiced, there is no common ground between science and religion ... Although just as in hostage negotiations, it's probably best to keep both sides talking to each other. ~ Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Three rules of good negotiation:
1. Know what the other party wants.
2. Listen carefully.
3. Don't let your emotions get in the way of a good deal. ~ Betty Liu