Common Ground Quotes

• We have not all had the good fortune to be ladies. We have not all been generals, or poets, or statesmen; but when the toast works down to the babies, we stand on common ground.

  Mark Twain

  Mom, Baby, Common

  Mark Twain, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Mark Twain: All 13 Novels, Short Stories, Poetry and Essays”, p.2170, GENERAL PRESS

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• All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort -- a sustained effort -- to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings.

  Barack Obama

  Children, Focus, Effort

  A New Beginning: Speech at Cairo University, delivered 4 June 2009, Cairo, Egypt

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• It's good to find common ground with people. When you find common ground and you see things from other people's perspective, you can have a voice in their lives, you can have an influence.

  Victoria Osteen

  Voice, People, Perspective

  Source: www.foxnews.com

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• If we reach common ground, and can understand what everybody's going through, we can really affect change. And make sure that everyone is trated equally and has the same freedom.

  Colin Kaepernick

  Common, Ifs

  Source: ninerswire.usatoday.com

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• If you meet a sectary, or a hostile partisan, never recognize the dividing lines; but meet on what common ground remains,--if onlythat the sun shines, and the rain rains for both; the area will widen very fast, and ere you know it the boundary mountains, on which the eye had fastened, have melted into air.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Rain, Eye, Air

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “Nature and Other Essays”, p.69, Courier Corporation

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• We meet on the common ground of an uncommon age and share out our gifts of dark and light, good and bad, simple joy and not so simple sorrow.

  Ray Bradbury

  Dark, Simple, Light

  Ray Bradbury (1990). “Medicine for Melancholy”, Spectra

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• Touch the earth, speak of love, walk on common ground.

  Steven Van Zandt

  Earth, Common, Speak

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• I like to see myself as a bridge builder, that is me building bridges between people, between races, between cultures, between politics, trying to find common ground.

  T. D. Jakes

  Race, Bridges, People

  "Mega Church Leader Bishop T.D. Jakes". "Talk of the Nation" with Neal Conan, www.npr.org. May 2, 2006.

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• The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.

  Thomas Merton

  God, Kindness, Compassion

  Thomas Merton (2015). “Choosing to Love the World: On Contemplation”, p.22, Sounds True

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• When you voice your disagreement, begin by talking about what you have in common with the person you are arguing with. Too often we rush to judgment, race to argue, and overlook all the common ground we share.

  Matthew Kelly

  Race, Talking, Voice

  Matthew Kelly (2015). “Perfectly Yourself: 9 Lessons for Enduring Happiness”, p.160, BookBaby

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• Solidarity does not assume that our struggles are the same struggles, or that our pain is the same pain, or that our hope is for the same future. Solidarity involves commitment, and work, as well as the recognition that even if we do not have the same feelings, or the same lives, or the same bodies, we do live on common ground.

  Sara Ahmed

  Pain, Struggle, Commitment

  Sara Ahmed (2013). “The Cultural Politics of Emotion”, p.189, Routledge

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• No matter what message you are about to deliver somewhere, whether it is holding out a hand of friendship, or making clear that you disapprove of something, is the fact that the person sitting across the table is a human being, so the goal is to always establish common ground.

  Madeleine Albright

  Hands, Goal, Sitting

  "Madeleine Albright: An Exclusive Interview". Interview with Marianne Schnall, www.huffingtonpost.com. June 15, 2010.

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• There are two kinds of comprehensive doctrines, religious and secular. Those of religious faith will say I give a veiled argument for secularism, and the latter will say I give a veiled argument for religion. I deny both. Each side presumes the basic ideas of constitutional democracy, so my suggestion is that we can make our political arguments in terms of public reason. Then we stand on common ground. That's how we can understand each other and cooperate.

  John Rawls

  Religious, Ideas, Two

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• Collaboration is when magic is made with more than one person. It's when more than one person finds common ground on the same page. That's collaboration.

  Michael Urie

  Magic, Pages, Collaboration

  Source: www.broadwayworld.com

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• COMMUNICATION: If I had to pick a first rule of communication-the one practice above all others that opens the door to connecting with others-it would be to look for common ground. Too often people see communication as the process of transmitting massive amounts of information to other people. But that's the wrong picture. Communication is a journey. The more that people have in common, the better the chance that they can take that journey together.

  John C. Maxwell

  Communication, Journey, Doors

  FaceBook post by John C. Maxwell from Sep 29, 2014

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• Always look for common ground, but don't ever be afraid to choose sides.

  Mark Deklin

  Looks, Sides, Common

  "Mark Deklin: On Love, Parenthood, and Making a Difference". Interview with Maranda Pleasant, www.marandapleasantmedia.com. September 9, 2014.

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• Uniform ideas originating among entire peoples unknown to each other must have a common ground of truth.

  Giambattista Vico

  Truth, Ideas, Uniforms

  Giambattista Vico (2015). “The New Science of Giambattista Vico”, p.27, Cornell University Press

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• Our similarities bring us to a common ground;
  Our differences allow us to be fascinated by each other.

  Tom Robbins

  Differences, Common, Similarity

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• Conservatives and liberals can find common ground.

  Jesse Jackson

  Common

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• Let's clean up the Senate and return to politics of common ground.

  Mark Pryor

  Return, Common, Cleanliness

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• Real estate sales was perfect training for the experience to go into public life because you learn to accept rejection, learn to meet new people, learn to work with people and find common ground. That's the way you sell houses... that's also the way you win over constituency.

  Johnny Isakson

  Real, Winning, People

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• I think the most effective forms of critique are ones that establish a common ground for people to occupy, and then appeal to the best nature of people on that common ground.

  Mohsin Hamid

  Thinking, People, Common

  "Occupational hazards" by Decca Aitkenhead, www.theguardian.com. August 11, 2007.

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• This was our common ground, the secret we shared but never spoke aloud.

  Sarah Dessen

  Secret, Common, Spokes

  Sarah Dessen (2006). “The Truth About Forever”, p.19, Penguin

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• We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own ... in order to create this common ground.

  Hillary Clinton

  Giving Up, Order, People

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• Free verse seemed democratic because it offered freedom of access to writers. And those who disdained free verse would always be open to accusations of elitism, mandarinism. Open form was like common ground on which all might graze their cattle - it was not to be closed in by usurping landlords.

  James Fenton

  Might, Common, Accusation

  "Negative images" by James Fenton, www.theguardian.com. November 15, 2002.

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