Barack Obama Quotes About Compromise

• We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend. And we honor those ideals by upholding them not when it's easy, but when it is hard.

  Barack Obama

  Powerful, Fighting, Honor

  Nobel Prize for Peace Acceptance Speech and Lecture, delivered 10 December 2009, Oslo City Hall, Oslo, Norway

• ... the country deserves us to be willing to compromise on behalf of the greater good.

  Barack Obama

  Country, Compromise, Greater Good

• No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise. But when Governor Romney and his allies in Congress tell us we can somehow lower our deficit by spending trillions more on new tax breaks for the wealthy - well, you do the math. I refuse to go along with that. And as long as I'm President, I never will.

  Barack Obama

  Party, Math, Long

  "Transcript: President Obama's DNC Speech". abcnews.go.com. September 6, 2012.

• Those of us who have the privilege to serve this country have an obligation to do our job as best we can. We come from different parties, but we are Americans first. And that's why disagreement cannot mean dysfunction. It can't degenerate into hatred. The American people's hopes and dreams are what matters, not ours. Our obligations are to them. Our regard for them compels us all, Democrats and Republicans, to cooperate, and compromise, and act in the best interests of our nation –- one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

  Barack Obama

  Dream, Country, Jobs

  "Obama may have won now, but next three years could be tough" by Leigh Ann Caldwell, www.cnn.com. October 18, 2013.

• A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, 'Huh. It works. It makes sense.'

  Barack Obama

  Music, Powerful, Pieces

• For the young people here: practicality is a good thing. There are times where compromise is necessary. That's part of wisdom. But it's also important to hang on to what you believe.

  Barack Obama

  Believe, Memorable, People

• One thing I will not compromise over is whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they've already racked up. If Congress refuses to give the United States the ability to pay its bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy could be catastrophic.

  Barack Obama

  Giving, United States, Pay

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

• At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It insists on the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God's edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one's life on such uncompromising commitment may be sublime; to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing.

  Barack Obama

  Commitment, Policy Making, Sublime

  Barack Obama (2006). “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream”, p.153, Crown

• No party has a monopoly on wisdom. No democracy works without compromise.

  Barack Obama

  Party, Democracy, Compromise

  Second Democratic Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech, delivered 6 September 2012, Charlotte, North Carolina

• A political candidacy built around hope and change and compromise would eventually become a presidency of crisis and confrontation.

  Barack Obama

  Political, Compromise, Crisis

  Source: www.cbsnews.com

• If people, whether they are conservative or liberal, left or right, are unwilling to compromise and engage in the democratic process, and are taking absolutist views, and demonizing opponents, then democracy will break down.

  Barack Obama

  Views, People, Democracy

  Source: time.com

• I believe the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America's commitment to abide by the Geneva conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend.

  Barack Obama

  War, Believe, Commitment

  Nobel Prize for Peace Acceptance Speech and Lecture, delivered 10 December 2009, Oslo City Hall, Oslo, Norway

• In the course of a healthy debate, we prioritize different goals, and the different means of reaching them. But without some common baseline of facts, without a willingness to admit new information and concede that your opponent might be making a fair point, and that science and reason matter - then we're going to keep talking past each other, and we'll make common ground and compromise impossible.

  Barack Obama

  Mean, Past, Goal

  Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

• The reason we're governing right now is because we defeated moderate Republicans with moderate Democrats. And people need to be patient about that and realize that compromise is not evil.

  Barack Obama

  People, Evil, Needs

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

• Peace depends upon compromise among peoples who must live together long after our speeches are over, long after our votes have been tallied.

  Barack Obama

  Long, Together, Speech

  Remarks by President Obama in Address to the United Nations General Assembly, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. September 21, 2011.

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