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Quotes about change

166 quotes from 131 people

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I tell you: one must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star.
Friedrich Nietzsche1844–1900Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883–1885), First Part, Zarathustra’s PrologueIn context
- Inspiration
Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.
Florence Nightingale1820–1910Cassandra (1860)
The progressive world is necessarily divided into two classes — those who take the best of what there is and enjoy it — those who wish for something better and try to create it.
Florence Nightingale1820–1910Cassandra (1860)
- Motivation & Goals
It is never to be expected in a revolution that every man is to change his opinion at the same moment. There never yet was any truth or any principle so irresistibly obvious that all men believed it at once.
Thomas Paine1737–1809First Principles of Government (1795)
- Truth & Lies
The only thing that does not change is that at any and every time it appears that there have been ‘great changes.’
Marcel Proust1871–1922
Fashions, being themselves begotten of the desire for change, are quick to change also.
Marcel Proust1871–1922In Search of Lost Time / Remembrance of Things Past (1913-1927), Vol II: Within a Budding Grove (1919)
Once you begin a great movement, there’s no telling where it will end. We meant to change a nation, and instead, we changed a world.
Ronald Reagan1911–2004Ronald Reagan’s Farewell Address (1989)
Actors are agents of change. A film, a piece of theater, a piece of music, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world.
Alan Rickman1946–2016Interview: Alan Rickman on “Nobel Son” by Aaron Hillis, IFC.com (4 December 2008)
- Acting
- Art
We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.
J. K. Rowlingborn 1965Harvard address (2008)
- Inspiration
Change is one thing, progress is another.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970Unpopular Essays (1950)
Without effort and change, human life cannot remain good. It is not a finished Utopia that we ought to desire, but a world where imagination and hope are alive and active.
Bertrand Russell1872–1970Political Ideals (1917)
- Hope
It is best to bear what cannot be changed.
Seneca the Younger5 BC–AD 65Moral Letters to Lucilius, Letter 107, 9
“New friends, however, will not be the same.” No, nor will you yourself remain the same; you change with every day and every hour.
Seneca the Younger5 BC–AD 65Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter CIV: On Care of Health and Peace of Mind
- Friendship
We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Hamlet (c. 1600), Act IV, Scene V, spoken by OpheliaIn context
- Character
Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well.
William Shakespeare1564–1616King Lear (c. 1606), Act I, Scene IV, spoken by AlbanyIn context