Change Quotes

"Unless you are prepared to give up something valuable you will never be able to truly change at all, because you'll be forever in the control of things you can't give up."

— Andy Law
Creative Company

"Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change."

— Confucius

"Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have—and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up."

— James Belasco and Ralph Stayer
Flight of the Buffalo (1994)

"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things."

— Niccolo Machiavelli
The Prince (1532)

"The rate of change is not going to slow down anytime soon. If anything, competition in most industries will probably speed up even more in the next few decades."

— John P. Kotter
Leading Change

"There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place."

— Washington Irving
Tales of a Traveler (1824)

"We are chameleons, and our partialities and prejudices change place with an easy and blesses facility, and we are soon wonted to the change and happy in it."

— Mark Twain

"Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times."

— Niccolo Machiavelli

"People don't resist change. They resist being changed!"

— Peter Senge

"Even those who fancy themselves the most progressive will fight against other kinds of progress, for each of us is convinced that our way is the best way."

— Louis L'Amour
The Lonely Men

"All is connected ... no one thing can change by itself."

— Paul Hawken
"Natural Capitalism, Yoga Journal October 1994

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

"Your success in life isn't based on your ability to simply change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers and business."

— Mark Sanborn

"When a mature and able manager feels bored, he should seriously consider changing jobs, changing companies—or simply retiring. It is not fair to anyone for half a leader to hold a full-time leadership job."

— James L. Hayes

"Change has a bad reputation in our society. But it isn't all bad — not by any means. In fact, change is necessary in life — to keep us moving ... to keep us growing ... to keep us interested . ... Imagine life without change. It would be static ... boring ... dull."

— Dr. Dennis O'Grady
in Bottom Line - Personal

"Everybody has accepted by now that change is unavoidable. But that still implies that change is like death and taxes — it should be postponed as long as possible and no change would be vastly preferable. But in a period of upheaval, such as the one we are living in, change is the norm."

— Peter Drucker
Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999)

"Culture does not change because we desire to change it. Culture changes when the organization is transformed; the culture reflects the realities of people working together every day."

— Frances Hesselbein
The Key to Cultural Transformation, Leader to Leader (Spring 1999)

"It is a bad plan that admits of no modification."

— Publilius Syrus
First Century BC

"The most successful businessman is the man who holds onto the old just as long as it is good, and grabs the new just as soon as it is better."

— Robert P. Vanderpoel

"As the births of living creatures are at first ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which are the births of time."

— Francis Bacon
Essays, II, On Innovation

"Every generation needs a new revolution."

— Thomas Jefferson

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

— Margaret Mead

"I'll go anywhere as long as it's forward."

— David Livingstone

"An important scientific innovation rarely makes its way rapidly winning over and converting its opponents; it rarely happens that Saul becomes Paul. What does happen is that its opponents gradually die out and that the growing generation is familiarized with the idea from the beginning."

—Max Planck
The Philosophy of Physics, 1936

"Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

—John F. Kennedy

"Ten years ago, Peter Senge introduced the idea of the 'learning organization' Now he says that for big companies to change, we need to stop thinking like mechanics and to start acting like gardeners."

— Alan M. Webber
Learning for a Change

"Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you've got. "

— Peter Drucker

"He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator."

— Francis Bacon
Essays, II, On Innovation

"Everything is in a process of change, nothing endures; we do not seek permanence."

— Masatoshi Naito

"Most of our assumptions have outlived their uselessness."

— Marshall McLuhan

"Keep in mind that you cannot control your own future. Your destiny is not in your hands; it is in the hands of the irrational consumer and society. The changes in their needs, desires, and demands will tell you where you must go. All this means that managers must themselves feel the pulse of change on a daily, continuous basis.... They should have intense curiosity, observe events, analyze trends, seek the clues of change, and translate those clues into opportunities."

— Michael J. Kami