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. G K Chesterton
Compromise is the oil that makes governments go. Gerald R Ford
Compromise. Such an adjustment of conflicting interests as gives each adversary the satisfaction of thinking he has got what he ought not to have, and is deprived of nothing except what was justly his due. Ambrose Bierce
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. James Russell Lowell
Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise. Woodrow Wilson
To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don’t be. Golda Meir
All government, – indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act, – is founded on compromise and barter. Edmund Burke
Compromise is but the sacrifice of one right or good in the hope of retaining another – too often ending in the loss of both. Tryon Edwards
From the beginning of our history the country has been afflicted with compromise. It is by compromise that human rights have been abandoned. Charles Sumner
The devil is compromise. Henrik Ibsen
Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got. Janis Joplin