Quotes About Consensus

Because government has tremendous power, it attracts people who are eager to game the system, obtaining by force of law what they could never achieve through consensus.

Some single mind must be master, else there will be no agreement in anything.

Vox populi, vox Humbug.

We cannot think of uniting with others, until after we have first united among ourselves.... One can't unite bananas with scattered leaves.

History is a fable agreed upon.

Negotiating in the classic diplomatic sense assumes parties more anxious to agree than to disagree.

Just because 2 billion people believe it, doesn't mean it's true.

Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken.

You'll mold the minds of men and women to your will, and make any group yield to the dominion of your voice. Even more important, you'll get them to want to yield, to commit to your plan, and to consider the result a consensus.

Seduction is manipulation, manipulation is half of argument, and therefore many of us shy from it. But seduction offers more than just consensual sex. It can bring you consensus. Even Aristotle, that logical old soul, believed in the curative powers of seduction. Logic alone will rarely get people to do anything. They have to desire the act. You may not like seduction's manipulative aspects; still, it beats fighting, which is what we usually mistake for an argument.

We have not reached the consensus that to eat is a basic human right. This is an ethical crisis. This is a crisis of faith.

The warming of the planet is not waiting for consensus-building.

The consensus was what they termed "Christian communism," since they believed that "from each according to ability, to each according to need" was the proper church approach.

All men and all women are mostly the same, most of the time," she clarified. "Everybody knows that this is true." The other Hmong ladies all nodded in agreement.

All hands agreed, and the wire was sent. The reply was a one-word telegram: "Proceed.

What is morality in any given time or place? It is what the majority then and there happen to like, and immorality is what they dislike.

The idea that Jews were a distinct race was given currency by Nazi racial science. But before that, there was little consensus that Jews were a distinct race.

They're called rollerblades, she said. Rollerblades, Daniel said. Right. Well? And you can't rollerblade on grass, she said. Can't you? Daniel said. How very disappointing truth is sometimes. Can't we try? There'd be no point, she said. Can't we try anyway? he said. We might disprove the general consensus. Okay, Elisabeth said.

proclaimed a predictably democratic unwillingness to be disagreed with, and used that unwillingness to pull down the entire house.

The anchors of the Arab consensus have long been Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and both are now weakened forces in Arab politics and diplomacy.

The General Assembly is a unique organ. It's the most representative organ of the United Nations, where all 193 Member States are present. Each has one vote regardless of its size, power, or wealth. That gives the body a huge authority.

Embryonic stem cell research wears no political stripes - it is embraced by conservatives, liberals, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

Forcing polarized groups into a swarm allows them to find the answer that most people are satisfied with.

I look for the consensus because the consensus drives the policy into new places.