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Inspiration for the Spirit

A lovely place to wander for poetry and inspiration to soothe the soul

Home ▷ Quotes ▷ Change

Change

by Patricia Petro

changeNowadays change is around every corner; in my day it was only around the expected ones. —V. L. Allineare

The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind. —Dr. Maya Angelou

We would rather be ruined than changed; we would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die.
—W. H. Auden

He that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator.
—Francis Bacon, On Innovation,1597

Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly.
—Francis Bacon

Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations. —Faith Baldwin

When you are through changing, you are through. —Bruce Barton

The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind. —William Blake

Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. —Bertold Brecht

I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed. —George Carlin

They must often change who would be constant in happiness or wisdom. —Confucius

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. —Charles Darwin

It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory. —W. Edwards Deming

What I like most about change is that it’s a synonym for hope. If you are taking a risk, what you are really saying is, “I believe in tomorrow and I will be part of it.” —Linda Ellerbee

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. —Mary Engelbreit

What can we take on trust in this uncertain life? Happiness, greatness, pride—nothing is secure, nothing keeps. —Euripides

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance. —Harrison Ford

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. —Anatole France

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. —Victor Frankl

Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. —John Kenneth Galbraith

All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward. —Ellen Glasgow

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. —Victor Frankl

Change is inevitable—except from a vending machine. —Robert C. Gallagher

It’s not that some people have willpower and some don’t. It’s that some people are ready to change and others are not. —James Gordon

We did not change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves. —Lynn Hall

Sudden resolutions, like the sudden rise of the mercury in the barometer, indicates nothing but the changeableness of the weather. —Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth by Two Brothers, 1827

There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one’s position, and be bruised in a new place. —Washington Irving

Faced with inevitable change, the choice was mine. I could fight until my spirit was weary, or I could release all resistance and create something new in my changed world. —Dean Jackson

If your life is a mess and you don’t know where to begin to make things better, you might start by simply putting your physical world in order. Get rid of the dirt and clutter in your environment and replace junk food and other unhealthy habits with something better. As you go through this process, you’ll find yourself receiving insights into the deeper issues that are troubling you, and you’ll feel empowered to create positive change in your life. —Kajama

Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights. —Pauline R. Kezer

The best way to change the world is to change your mind. —Anne Lamott

If you want to truly understand something, try to change it. —Kurt Lewin

Our only security is our ability to change. —John Lilly

How do I change?
If I feel depressed, I will sing.
If I feel sad, I will laugh.
If I feel ill, I will double my labor.
If I feel fear, I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior, I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain, I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty, I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent, I will think of past success.
If I feel insignificant, I will remember my goals.
Today, I will be the master of my emotions.
—Og Mandino

It’s the most unhappy people who most fear change. —Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, 1966

I know change is part of the plot; that’s how your character evolves. And with change, there is grief for what has been lost, but also opportunity—and the choice of how to see it. Choose wonderful. —Suzanne McMinn

The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down. —Jawaharlal Nehru

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. —Reinhold Niebuhr

After you’ve done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion; and after ten years, throw it away and start all over. —Alfred Edward Perlman, New York Times, July 3, 1958

Change your thoughts and you change your world. —Norman Vincent Peale

Just because everything is different doesn’t mean anything has changed. —Irene Peter

Change always comes bearing gifts. —Price Pritchett

Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have retained of them. —Marcel Proust

Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history. —Joan Wallach Scott

The circumstances of the world are so variable that an irrevocable purpose or opinion is almost synonymous with a foolish one. —William H. Seward

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

Without accepting the fact that everything changes, we cannot find perfect composure. But unfortunately, although it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we cannot accept the truth of transience, we suffer. —Shunryu Suzuki

Things do not change; we change. —Henry David Thoreau

Life is its own journey, presupposes its own change and movement, and one tries to arrest them at one’s eternal peril. —Laurens van der Post

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. —Alan W. Watts

Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind.
To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse.
To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better.
To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.
—King Whitney, Jr.

He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. —Harold Wilson

If you want to make enemies, try to change something. —Woodrow Wilson

If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies. —Author Unknown

Most often we change jobs, friends, and spouses instead of ourselves. —Author Unknown

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