Why does the term ‘change’ strike fear in the hearts of many?
As popular podcaster Tim Ferriss says,
“People would rather be unhappy than uncertain.”
Change forces us out of tired old habits and forces us to embrace new ones. But it can also be stressful, costly and destructive. At its core, it isn’t the change itself that people resist. People resist change because they fear the unknown. It’s hard to let go of comfort zones and a sense of familiarity. Adapting to new situations and habits doesn’t come easily.
Accepting change however, can make it a lot easier. The more we deal with change, the more used to it we become, the easier it becomes to deal with it. Here are 100 thought provoking quotes on change, that will get you thinking.
1. The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.
-Oprah Winfrey
2. The price of doing the same old thing is far higher than the price of change.
– Bill Clinton
3. Each of us has the opportunity to change and grow until our very last breath. Happy creating.
– M F Ryan
4. The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.
– Albert Einstein
5 Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
– Leo Tolstoy
6. To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
– Winston Churchill
7. I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
– Jimmy Dean
8. If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.
-Maya Angelou
9. People change. I wouldn’t like to be accountable for the interviews I’ve done, or the person I was when I was 20, 21.
-Robbie Williams
11. Our only security is our ability to change.
– John Lilly
12. Change before you have to.
– Jack Welch
13. The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.
– Socrates
14. Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
– Barack Obama
15. Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future.
– John F. Kennedy
16. Things don’t have to change the world to be important.
– Steve Jobs
17. Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.
– Will Smith
18. One child, one teacher, one pen, and one book can change the world.
– Malala Yousafzai
19. There is nothing permanent except change.
– Heraclitus
19. Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.
– Walt Disney
21. If you want to make enemies, try to change something.
– Woodrow Wilson
22. Our ability to adapt is amazing. Our ability to change isn’t quite as spectacular.
– Lisa Lutz
23. Change is inevitable—except from a vending machine.
– Robert C Gallagher
24. People are very open-minded about new things, as long as they’re exactly like the old ones.
– Charles F. Kettering
25. Give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to accept the things I cannot, and a great big bag of money.
– Anonymous
26. It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.
-W. Edwards Deming
27. 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
28. If you’re in a bad situation, don’t worry it’ll change. If you’re in a good situation, don’t worry it’ll change.
-John A. Simone, Sr.
29. Changing is what people do when they have no options left.
– Holly Black
31. By changing nothing, nothing changes.
– Tony Robbins
32. People don’t resist change. They resist being changed!
-Peter Senge
33. Slowness to change usually means fear of the new.
– Philip Crosby
34. All great changes are preceded by chaos.
-Deepak Chopra
35. Things do not change; we change.
-Henry David Thoreau
36. My theory on life is that life is beautiful. Life doesn’t change. You have a day, and a night, and a month, and a year. We people change – we can be miserable or we can be happy. It’s what you make of your life.
– Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
37. Change your thoughts and you change your world.
-Norman Vincent Peale
38. When in doubt, choose change.
-Lily Leung
39. Your life does not get better by chance; it gets better by change.
-Jim Rohn
41. The key to change is to let go of fear.
– Rosanne Cash
42. Few things are more important during a change event than communication from leaders who can paint a clear and confidence-inspiring vision of the future.
– Sarah Clayton
43. They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.
– Andy Warhol
44. The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.
– Charles Kettering
45. 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
46. I’ve learned that for many people, change is uncomfortable. Maybe they want to go through it, and they can see the benefit of it, but at a gut level, change is uncomfortable.
– Mitchell Baker
47. 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 will be static, boring, dull.
– Dr. Dennis O’Grady
48. In life, change is inevitable. In business, change is vital.
-Warren G. Bennis disrespect me again I was not in love with you I don’t care I will destroy you I’m not Avantika
49. Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times.
– Niccolo Machiavelli
51. Change cannot be put on people. The best way to instill change is to do it with them. Create it with them
– Lisa Bodell
52. 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
53. If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
– Lao Tzu
54. It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.
– Charles Darwin
55. You can’t build an adaptable organization without adaptable people–and individuals change only when they have to, or when they want to.
– Gary Hamel
56. People will try to tell you that all the great opportunities have been snapped up. In reality, the world changes every second, blowing new opportunities in all directions, including yours.
– Ken Hakuta
57. Learn to adjust yourself to the conditions you have to endure, but make a point of trying to alter or correct conditions so that they are most favorable to you.
– William Frederick Book
58. I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.
– Georg C. Lichtenburg
59. Powerful and sustained change requires constant communication, not only throughout the rollout but after the major elements of the plan are in place. The more kinds of communication employed, the more effective they are.
– DeAnne Aguirre
61. As dealing with change becomes a regular activity, leading it becomes a skill to hone, an internal capacity to master.
– Arnaud Henneville
62. The reality is that the only way change comes is when you lead by example.
– Anne Wojcicki
63. You can’t change the world alone – you will need some help – and to truly get from your starting point to your destination takes friends, colleagues, the good will of strangers and a strong coxswain to guide them.
– William H. McRaven
64. Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.
– Eckhart Tolle
65. Companies that change may survive, but companies that transform thrive. Change brings incremental or small-scale adaptations, while transformation brings great improvements that ripple through the future of an organization.
– Nick Candito
66. 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.
67. Change hurts. It makes people insecure, confused, and angry. People want things to be the same as they’ve always been, because that makes life easier. But, if you’re a leader, you can’t let your people hang on to the past.
– Richard Marcinko
68. You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
– Buckminster Fuller
69. 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 into another.
– Anatole France
71. You must welcome change as the rule but not as your ruler.
– Denis Waitley
72. To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
– Henri Bergson
73. Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights.
– Pauline R. Kezer
74. The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.
– Friedrich Nietzsche
75. Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history.
– Joan Wallach Scott
76. The business changes. The technology changes. The team changes. The team members change. The problem isn’t change, per se, because change is going to happen; the problem, rather, is the inability to cope with change when it comes.
– Kent Beck
77. You cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
– C. S. Lewis
78. Change does not change tradition. It strengths it. Change is a challenge and an opportunity, not a threat.
– Prince Philip of England
79. There is nothing wrong with change. if it is in the right direction.
-Winston Churchill
81. Great companies start because the founders want to change the world, not make a fast buck.
– Guy Kawasaki
82. Change is inevitable, progress is a choice.
– Dean Lindsay
83. You cannot go on indefinitely being an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.
– CS Lewis
84. Change your thoughts and you change your world
– Norman Vincent Peale
84. Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.
– Mahatma Gandhi
85. We are beginning to resemble extinct dinosaurs who suffered from too much armour and too little brain.
– W Sloane Coffin
86. Expecting things to change without putting in any effort, is like waiting for a ship at the airport.
– Bright Vibes.
87. When life does not allow you to change anything, get a new haircut.
– The Salon Business.com
88. Yesterday, I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today, I am wise, so I am changing myself.
– Rumi
89. Cindrella is proof that a new pair of shoes can change your life.
-Quotes Gram
91. Almost everything worthwhile carries with it some sort of risk, whether it’s starting a new business, whether it’s leaving home, whether it’s getting married, or whether it’s flying into space.
– Chris Hadfield
92. Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
– Will Rodgers
93. The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.
-Rupert Murdoch
94. Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
– George Bernard Shaw
95. Every success story is a tale of constant adaption, revision and change. A company that stands still will soon be forgotten. Trying to provoke positive change is a principle we’ve embedded across the Virgin family for more than four decades.
– Richard Branson
96. 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
97. Maybe sometimes people did not actually change. Maybe you just never knew who they really were.
– Unknown
98. For people who had curve balls thrown at them, it is easier to digest change and digest change in other people. Change only scares the small-minded.
– Casey Affleck
99. People change over the years, and that changes situations for good and for bad.
– Bobby Knight