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You should have disagreements with your leaders and your colleagues, but if it becomes immediately a question of questioning people's motives, and if immediately you decide that somebody who sees a whole new situation differently than you must be a bad person and somehow twisted inside, we are not going to get very far in forming a more perfect union.

Bill Clinton#26

Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.

PoliticsUnityCharacterDisagreementDiscourse

About this quote

What does it mean?
Clinton warns that questioning colleagues' motives instead of their ideas prevents progress toward a more perfect union.
In plain terms
Don't attack people's character when you disagree with them.
What can you take from it?
Focusing on ideas rather than motives allows productive disagreement.

Where it applies

  • political discussion
  • team collaboration

Putting it to work

  • separate ideas from people
  • avoid ad hominem attacks

Questions to consider

  • How do you know if a motive is suspect?

Another view

Sometimes motives genuinely matter for assessing credibility in public service.

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