All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.

All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.

Real life is, to most men, a long second-best, a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible but the read more

Real life is, to most men, a long second-best, a perpetual compromise between the ideal and the possible but the world of pure reason knows no compromise, no practical limitations, no barrier to the creative activity.

Compromise is but the sacrifice of one right or good in the hope of retaining another--too often ending in the read more

Compromise is but the sacrifice of one right or good in the hope of retaining another--too often ending in the loss of both.

People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. Actually, all human problems, excepting morals, come read more

People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. Actually, all human problems, excepting morals, come into the gray areas. Things are not all black and white. There have to be compromises. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.

The swift wind of compromise is a lot more devastating than the sudden jolt of misfortune.

The swift wind of compromise is a lot more devastating than the sudden jolt of misfortune.

Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to read more

Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better than a whole loaf.

Once you consent to some concession, you can never cancel it and put things back the way they are.

Once you consent to some concession, you can never cancel it and put things back the way they are.

Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof; it is temporary expedient, often wise in party politics, almost sure read more

Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof; it is temporary expedient, often wise in party politics, almost sure to be unwise in statesmanship.