Quotes on Conflict Resolution

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.

The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.

You can't shake hands with a closed fist.

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.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.

There are three ways of dealing with difference: domination, compromise, and integration. By domination only one side gets what it wants; by compromise neither side gets what it wants; by integration we find a way by which both sides may get what they wish.

One of the most basic principles for making and keeping peace within and between nations. . . is that in political, military, moral, and spiritual confrontations, there should be an honest attempt at the reconciliation of differences before resorting to combat

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

All wars signify the failure of conflict resolution mechanisms, and they need post-war rebuilding of faith, trust and confidence.

Don't find fault, find a remedy.

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

Only reverence can restrain violence - reverence for human life and the environment.

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.

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.

Conflict is inevitable but combat is optional.

True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.