Change

Change

No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.
Epictetus c. 60-120, Roman philosopher

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950, Irish playwright and critic

Our ideas are only intellectual instruments which we use to break into phenomena; we must change them when they have served their purpose, as we change a blunt lancet that we have used long enough.
Claude Bernard 1813-1878, French physiologist

God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.
Reinhold Niebuhr 1892-1971, Protestant theologian

Management must guide the forces of change.
John W. Teets, former chairman, Greyhound

Softness triumphs over hardness, feebleness over strenght. What is malleable is always superior to that what is immovable. This is the principle of controlling things by going along with them, of mastery through adaptation.
Lao Tzu c.604BC-531BC, Chinese philosopher, founder of Taoism

Slow and steady wins the race.
Aesop c. 620-560 BC, Greek writer

Be not afreaid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still.
Chinese Proverb

"Bury me on my face," said Diogenes; and when he was asked why, he replied, "Because in a little while everything will be turned upside down."
Diogenes 412BC-323BC, Greek philosopher

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.
Arthur Schopenhauer 1788-1860, German philosopher and notorious pessimist

Change is scientific, progress is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy.
Bertrand Rusell 1872-1970, British philosopher and mathematician

You are young, my son, and, as the years go by, time will change and even reverse many of your present opinions. Refrain therefore awhile from setting yourself up as a judge of the highest matters.
Plato 428 BC-347 BC, ancient Greek philosopher, Laws, 888

All things are in a state of flux.
Heraclites 540BC–480BC, Greek Philosopher

Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.
Sun Tzu c. 490 BC, Chinese military strategist

Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two.
Octavio Paz 1914-1998, Mexican poet and essayist

Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.
Henry Brooks Adams 1838-1919, American writer and historian

The real problem is what to do with problem solvers after the problem is solved.
Gay Talese 1932-, American (Italian-born) journalist

It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be... This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our business men, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking.
Isaac Asimov 1920-1992, Russian pioneer in science fiction writing

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.
Heraclitus 540 BC – 480 BC, Greek Philosopher

A fanatic is one who can`t change his mind and won`t change the subject.
Winston Churchill 1874-1965, British prime minister and writer

Management that wants to change an institution must first show it loves that institution.
John Tusa 1936-, British radio journalist

If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.
Albert Einstein 1879-1955; German-born American theoretical physicist