“Progress is not an illusion; it happens, but it is slow and invariably disappointing.”
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George Orwell473
English author and journalist 1903–1950Related quotes
Martin Amis (1949) Welsh novelist
"Political Correctness: Robert Bly and Philip Larkin" (1997)
Context: I think enlightenment is incremental, and I see it in my children. I was six-years-old when I met a black person. My father tutored me and said, "We're going to meet two men who have black skin." And on the bus in Swansea on the way there, I accepted this and thought this would be no trouble for me. As it was, I went into the room and burst into tears and pointed at the man and said, "You've got a black face."
This wouldn't happen with my children. They've known, they've mingled with black people all their lives. This certainly is not going to occur. And so it goes on in this incremental way. … I think this is the only way it can be achieved. The trouble with proclaiming yourself to be cleansed of atavism is that it's not the case. It's an illusion. It's an illusion that can only be maintained by ideology and executive policing. It is forced consciousness. It's a lie to say, I have no racial feelings. Honesty and slow progress is a better policy, I think.
Dave Eggers (1970) memoirist, novelist, short story writer, editor, publisher
You Shall Know Our Velocity! (2002)
“Life is a slow suicide, and it is happening to every intellectual.”
Shiv Kumar Batalvi (1936–1973) Indian poet
Interview video hosted on Youtube. http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=EgpSHpATAIM,
“Great achievements require gigantic efforts, without which our progress sounds to be slow.”
Fatima Jinnah (1893–1967) Pakistani dental surgeon, biographer, stateswoman and one of the leading founders of Pakistan
Message to the Nation of Pakistan, 14 August 1950 [citation needed]
Ronald Firbank (1886–1926) British novelist
The Princess Zoubaroff, Act I, sc. iv (1920), cited from Steven Moore (ed.) Complete Plays (Normal, Ill.: Dalkey Archive Press, 1994) p. 55.
Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American historian
This "aphorism" was expressed in different forms by Josh Billings and Socrates. note: Often misquoted as, "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge," and often misattributed to Stephen Hawking.
Source: Cleopatra's Nose: Essays on the Unexpected (1995).
“Cinema: An illusion that can only satisfactorily happen in the dark.”
Peter Greenaway (1942) British film director
Rosa: The Death of a Composer
“No one should be discouraged, Theaetetus, who can make constant progress, even though it be slow.”
Original Greek, from Sophist 261b http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0172%3Atext%3DSoph.%3Asection%3D261b: θαρρεῖν, ὦ Θεαίτητε, χρὴ τὸν καὶ σμικρόν τι δυνάμενον εἰς τὸ πρόσθεν ἀεὶ προϊέναι. <br class="br">Also quoted in variant forms such as: Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow <br class="br">Sophist
“What is happening in our country is a slow-motion coup d'état.”
Viktor Yanukovych (1950) Ukrainian politician who was the President of Ukraine
Speaking of the Orange Revolution
Source: [2004-12-06, Янукович назначил нового руководителя своего штаба и ушел в отпуск, https://www.newsru.com/world/06dec2004/yanuk.html, NewsRU]