# Quotes about change - Quotes: 30 - Authors: 18 - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change ## Quotes > The science of government being, therefore, so practical in itself, and intended for such practical purposes, a matter which requires experience, and even more experience than any person can gain in his whole life, however sagacious and observing he may be, it is with infinite caution that any man ought to venture upon pulling down an edifice which has answered in any tolerable degree for ages the common purposes of society, or on building it up again without having models and patterns of approved utility before his eyes. Reflections on the Revolution in France Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > By the disposition of a stupendous wisdom, moulding together the great mysterious incorporation of the human race, the whole, at one time, is never old, or middle-aged, or young; but, in a condition of unchangeable constancy, moves on through the varied tenor of perpetual decay, fall, renovation, and progression. Reflections on the Revolution in France Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [transience](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/transience.md) > A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation. Reflections on the Revolution in France Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > The way a crow > > Shook down on me > > The dust of snow > > From a hemlock tree Has given my heart > > A change of mood > > And saved some part > > Of a day I had rued. [Robert Frost](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost.md) · [New Hampshire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost/new-hampshire.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/robert-frost/new-hampshire/the-way-a-crow.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature.md) > The practical reformer has continually to demand that changes be made in things which are supported by powerful and widely-spread feelings, or to question the apparent necessity and indefeasibleness of established facts; and it is often an indispensable part of his argument to show, how these powerful feelings had their origin, and how those facts came to seem necessary and indefeasible. There is therefore a natural hostility between him and a philosophy which discourages the explanation of feelings and moral facts by circumstances and association, and prefers to treat them as ultimate elements of human nature; a philosophy which is addicted to holding up favorite doctrines as intuitive truths, and deems intuition to be the voice of Nature and of God, speaking with an authority higher than that of our reason. In particular, I have long felt that the prevailing tendency to regard all the marked distinctions of human character as innate, and in the main indelible, and to ignore the irresistible proofs that by far the greater part of those differences, whether between individuals, races, or sexes, are such as not only might but naturally would be produced by differences in circumstances, is one of the chief hindrances to the rational treatment of great social questions, and one of the greatest stumbling blocks to human improvement. Autobiography · p. 273 Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [character](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/character.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > It is the character of the British people, or at least of the higher and middle classes who pass muster for the British people, that to induce them to approve of any change, it is necessary that they should look upon it as a middle course: they think every proposal extreme and violent unless they hear of some other proposal going still farther, upon which their antipathy to extreme views may discharge itself. So it proved in the present instance; my proposal was condemned, but any scheme for Irish Land reform, short of mine, came to be thought moderate by comparison. Autobiography · p. 294 Topics: [politics](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/politics.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > [I]t might even be questioned if the various causes of deterioration which had been at work in the meanwhile, had not more than counterbalanced the tendencies to improvement. I had learnt from experience that many false opinions may be exchanged for true ones, without in the least altering the habits of mind of which false opinions are the result. The English public, for example, are quite as raw and undiscerning on subjects of political economy since the nation has been converted to free-trade, as they were before; and are still further from having acquired better habits of thought and feeling, or being in any way better fortified against error, on subjects of a more elevated character. For, though they have thrown off certain errors, the general discipline of their minds, intellectually and morally, is not altered. I am now convinced, that no great improvements in the lot of mankind are possible, until a great change takes place in the fundamental constitution of their modes of thought. Autobiography · p. 238 Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > In this third period (as it may be termed) of my mental progress, which now went hand in hand with hers, my opinions gained equally in breadth and depth, I understood more things, and those which I had understood before, I now understood more thoroughly. I had now completely turned back from what there had been of excess in my reaction against Benthamism. I had, at the height of that reaction, certainly become much more indulgent to the common opinions of society and the world, and more willing to be content with seconding the superficial improvement which had begun to take place in those common opinions, than became one whose convictions on so many points, differed fundamentally from them. I was much more inclined, than I can now approve, to put in abeyance the more decidedly heretical part of my opinions, which I now look upon as almost the only ones, the assertion of which tends in any way to regenerate society. Autobiography · p. 230 Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > The experiences of this period had two very marked effects on my opinions and character. In the first place, they led me to adopt a theory of life, very unlike that on which I had before acted, and having much in common with what at that time I certainly had never heard of, the anti-self-consciousness theory of Carlyle. Autobiography · p. 141 Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > New technologies create new customs, new laws, new ethics, new crimes. [Larry Niven](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven.md) · [Flatlander](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven/flatlander.md) · p. 28 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven/flatlander/new-technologies-create.md) Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > Putting a monkey wrench in machinery is often the only way to force somebody to repair, replace, or redesign the machinery. Especially legal or social machinery. [Larry Niven](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven.md) · [The World Of Ptavvs](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven/the-world-of-ptavvs.md) · p. 97 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/larry-niven/the-world-of-ptavvs/putting-a-monkey.md) Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > There is social and psychological inertia, as well as physical inertia. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Prelude to Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation.md) · p. 457 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/prelude-to-foundation/there-is-social.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > Your emotions are, of course, only the children of your background and are not to be condemned - merely changed. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [Second Foundation](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/second-foundation.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/second-foundation/your-emotions-are.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > Victories over ingrained patterns of thought are not won in a day or a year. [Isaac Asimov](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov.md) · [The Naked Sun](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-naked-sun.md) · p. 402 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/isaac-asimov/the-naked-sun/victories-over-ingrained.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [perseverance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/perseverance.md) > A single neutron begins the chain-reaction that in an instant can destroy a million lives and the toil of generations. Equally insignificant and unimportant are the trigger-events which can sometimes change a man’s course of action and so alter the whole pattern of his future. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The Collected Stories Of Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke.md) · p. 181 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-collected-stories-of-arthur-c-clarke/a-single-neutron.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [the future](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future.md) > Khedron was content with the order of things as it was. True, he might upset that order from time to time—but only by a little. He was a critic, not a revolutionary. On the placidly flowing river of time, he wished only to make a few ripples; he shrank from diverting its course. [Arthur C. Clarke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke.md) · [The City And The Stars](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars.md) · p. 44 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/arthur-c-clarke/the-city-and-the-stars/khedron-was-content.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > We flew to Crawford that night and were up at dawn the next morning for what Laura had termed "the afterlife." I was struck by the calm. There was no CIA briefing to attend and no blue sheet from the Situation Room. I felt like I had gone from a hundred miles an hour to about ten. I had to force myself to relax. I would read the news and instinctively think about how we would have to respond. Then I remembered that decision was on someone else's desk. [George W. Bush](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-w-bush.md) · [Decision Points](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-w-bush/decision-points.md) · p. 475 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-w-bush/decision-points/we-flew-to-crawford.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. The Philosophy of Andy Warhol Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > In the sudden change that had come over her heart, she no longer recognised herself. Thérèse Raquin Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > I grieved to think how brief the dream of the human intellect had been. It had committed suicide. It had set itself steadfastly towards comfort and ease, a balanced society with security and permanency as its watchword, it had attained its hopes—to come to this at last. Once, life and property must have reached almost absolute safety. The rich had been assured of his wealth and comfort, the toiler assured of his life and work. No doubt in that perfect world there had been no unemployed problem, no social question left unsolved. And a great quiet had followed. > > It is a law of nature we overlook, that intellectual versatility is the compensation for change, danger, and trouble. An animal perfectly in harmony with its environment is a perfect mechanism. Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers. [H.G. Wells](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells.md) · [The Time Machine](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/hg-wells/the-time-machine/i-grieved-to-think.md) Topics: [thinking](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/thinking.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > Moscow has changed. I was here in 1982, during the Brezhnev twilight, and things are better now. For instance, they've got litter. In 1982 there was nothing to litter with. Holidays in Hell Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > He marveled at the strange blindness by which men, though they are so alert to what changes in themselves, impose on their friends an image chosen for them once and for all. He was being judged by what he had been. Just as dogs don't change character, men are dogs to one another. [Albert Camus](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus.md) · [A Happy Death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/a-happy-death.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/albert-camus/a-happy-death/he-marveled-at-the.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [relationships](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/relationships.md) > It is difficult to be king when the gods are changing. [James A. Michener](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener.md) · [Hawaii](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/hawaii.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/james-a-michener/hawaii/it-is-difficult.md) Topics: [power](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > Men remain in their present low and primitive condition; but if they should feel the influence of the spring of springs arousing them, they would of necessity rise to a higher and more ethereal life. Walden · p. 49 Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > Then she told me all about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there. She got mad then, but I didn’t mean no harm. All I wanted was to go somewheres; all I wanted was a change, I warn’t particular. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [Adventures of Huckleberry Finn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/adventures-of-huckleberry-finn.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/adventures-of-huckleberry-finn/then-she-told.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it. [Mark Twain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain.md) · [The Adventures of Tom Sawyer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/mark-twain/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/often-the-less.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things. [Douglas Adams](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams.md) · [The Salmon of Doubt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-salmon-of-doubt.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/douglas-adams/the-salmon-of-doubt/anything-that-is-in-the.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > Undershaft: You have made for yourself something that you call a morality or a religion or what not. It doesn't fit the facts. Well, scrap it. Scrap it and get one that does fit. That is what is wrong with the world at present. It scraps its obsolete steam engines and dynamos; but it wont scrap its old prejudices and its old moralities and its old religions and its old political constitutions. Whats the result? In machinery it does very well; but in morals and religion and politics it is working at a loss that brings it nearer bankruptcy every year. [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [Major Barbara](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/major-barbara/undershaft-you-have.md) Topics: [society](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/society.md), [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them. [George Bernard Shaw](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw.md) · [Man and Superman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/man-and-superman.md) · p. 37 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/george-bernard-shaw/man-and-superman/the-only-man.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md) > Miss Pross recalled soon afterwards, and to the end of her life remembered, that as she pressed her hands on Sydney’s arm and looked up in his face, imploring him to do no hurt to Solomon, there was a braced purpose in the arm and a kind of inspiration in the eyes, which not only contradicted his light manner, but changed and raised the man. [Charles Dickens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens.md) · [A Tale of Two Cities](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/charles-dickens/a-tale-of-two-cities/miss-pross-recalled.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md)