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Quotes about change

166 quotes from 131 people

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We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn’t mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy.
Mark Carneyborn 1965Speech at WEF, Davos (January 20, 2026)
It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
Lewis Carroll1832–1898Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Chapter XIn context
- Time
If only I could live the rest of my life in some new way! If I could only wake some still, bright morning and feel that life had begun again; that the past was forgotten and had vanished like smoke.
Anton Chekhov1860–1904Uncle Vanya (1897), Act IV, spoken by VoitskiIn context
- Life & Death
In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”
G. K. Chesterton1874–1936The Thing (1929), Ch. IV: “The Drift From Domesticity”
- Wisdom
Impermanence becomes vivid in the present moment; so do compassion and wonder and courage. And so does fear.
Pema Chödrönborn 1936When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (1997)
- Fear
The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.
Winston Churchill1874–1965Speech in the House of Commons, November 12, 1936 “Debate on the Address”
- Responsibility
The dinosaurs disappeared because they could not adapt to their changing environment. We shall disappear if we cannot adapt to an environment that now contains spaceships, computers — and thermonuclear weapons.
Arthur C. Clarke1917–2008Foreword to The Collected Stories (June 2000)
- Technology
If a man like Malcolm X could change and repudiate racism, if I myself and other former Muslims can change, if young whites can change, then there is hope for America.
Eldridge Cleaver1935–1998Soul on Ice (1968)
- Hope
- Race
Yesterday is yesterday. If we try to recapture it, we will only lose tomorrow.
Bill Clintonborn 1946President Clinton’s speech at the 200th anniversary of the University of North Carolina.
- Time
How ridiculous I was as a Marionette! And how happy I am, now that I have become a real boy!
Carlo Collodi1826–1890The Adventures of Pinocchio (1881–1883), Chapter 36In context
- Happiness
Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.
Aleister Crowley1875–1947Magick Book IV: Liber ABA, Part III: Magick in Theory and Practice (1929), Introduction
When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong.
Eugene V. Debs1855–1926Speech in Cleveland, Ohio.(Sept. 11, 1918) Eugene V. Debs Speaks, ed. Jean Y. Tussey (1970)
- History
To-day we love what to-morrow we hate; to-day we seek what to-morrow we shun; to-day we desire what to-morrow we fear, nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of.
Daniel Defoe1660–1731Robinson Crusoe (1719), Chapter XIIn context
- Emotion
Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.
Charles Dickens1812–1870Great Expectations (1861), Chapter IXIn context
- Life & Death
Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but⁠—I hope⁠—into a better shape.
Charles Dickens1812–1870Great Expectations (1861), Chapter LIXIn context
- Experience