The First Goal of Conversation: Understanding, not Agreement

“Understanding and agreement are not the same thing.”

— Teri Hall

There is an Arabic proverb which says that "Peace comes from understanding, not agreement." Agreements are more easily broken than made; but understanding never.…

— King Hussein I

Look at what I am proposing, and we [wih Bernie Sanders] have a vigorous agreement here. We both want to reign in the excesses…

— Hillary Clinton

Whatever you perceive, you always make a story with yourself as the main character, and that dictates your life. Then when you read 'The…

— Miguel Angel Ruiz

At Ohio State University, to avoid being guilty of 'sexual assault' or 'sexual violence,' you and your partner now apparently have to agree on…

— Rush Limbaugh

We recognize that NAFTA is a three-country agreement, and we need a three-country negotiation.

— Chrystia Freeland

Gaia's main problems are not industrialization, ozone depletion, overpopulation, or resource depletion. Gaia's main problem is the lack of mutual understanding and mutual agreement…

— Ken Wilber

As long as I sit at Henry Clay's desk, I will remember his lifelong desire to forge agreement, but I will also keep close…

— Rand Paul

Because countries often have differing political and economic systems, agreements are needed to protect those invested in trade.

— David Suzuki

I am formally accountable to the steering board of the PIC, and I meet with nine ambassadors from the PIC every week. I have…

— Paddy Ashdown

Identity is not negotiable. An identity you have achieved by agreement is always a prison.

— M. John Harrison

In coming to that agreement, my party had a clear philosophy throughout. In Northern Ireland, we should have institutions that respected the differences of…

— John Hume

Biochemists and biologists who adhere blindly to the Darwinism theory search for results that will be in agreement with their theories and consequently orient…

— Pierre-Paul Grasse

There's no way to have a peace agreement unless the mediator or negotiator looks at both sides from an equal basis.

— Jimmy Carter

Therefore, I see whatever exists as good, death is to me like life, sin like holiness, wisdom like foolishness, everything has to be as…

— Hermann Hesse