Quotes about change
page 17

“An empty frame, in which the picture is always changing, makes a statement about how time is always passing. It doesn't really stop, even in a single image. I t just feels that way.”

Sarah Dessen book The Truth About Forever

Source: The Truth About Forever

Way, Feeling, Time

“Even today, I hunt for the fabulous books that will change me utterly. I find myself happiest in the middle of a book which I forget that I am reading, but am instead immersed in a made-up life lived at the highest pitch.”

Pat Conroy (1945–2016) American novelist

Source: My Reading Life

Life, Books, Reading, Forgetting

“None of us really changes over time. We only become more fully what we are.”

Anne Rice book The Vampire Lestat

Source: The Vampire Lestat

Time

“I could never pretend something I didn't feel. I could never make love if I didn't love, and if I loved I could no more hide the fact than change the color of my eyes.”

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) American actress, model, and singer

Source: My Story

Love, Making love, Color, Feeling

“However difficult it may be to accept what happens to us, one must understand that moments such as this give us the possibility for radical change in our behavior.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Warrior of the Light

Behavior, Understanding

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish playwright

Everybody's Political What's What? (ebook, must be borrowed) https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24979564M/Everybody's_political_what's_what (1944), Chapter XXXVII: Creed and Conduct, p. 330 <br class="br">1940s and later <br class="br">Variant: Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. <br class="br">Context: Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. Creeds, articles, and institutes of religious faith ossify our brains and make change impossible. As such they are nuisances, and in practice have to be mostly ignored.

Motivational, Deep, Success, Inspirational

“I hope they change my drugs soon. Whatever I'm on isn't working.”

Karen Marie Moning (1964) author

Source: Shadowfever

Hope

“… I feel as though I made a face and the wind changed, and now I have to go through life grimacing in this horrible way.”

Nick Hornby book High Fidelity

Source: High Fidelity

Life, Way, Feeling

“The most valuable thing we can do for the psyche, occasionally, is to let it rest, wander, live in the changing light of room, not try to be or do anything whatever.”

May Sarton (1912–1995) American poet, novelist, and memoirist

Light

“I punched to line. "Yes? What?"
"Norville. It's Cormac. If you don't change the subject right now, I'm going to have to go over there and have a word with you.”

Carrie Vaughn (1973) American writer

Source: Kitty and the Midnight Hour

“But you cannot change your past, no matter how you craft your future.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

Source: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto: A Novel

Past, Future

“Power changes everything till it is difficult to say who are the heroes and who the villians… And magic itself is neither good nor bad; it is intent that makes it either.”

Libba Bray book The Sweet Far Thing

Source: The Sweet Far Thing

“I wished that the chains would break and the wind would sweep me up, up, up into the sky, beyond the clouds, beyond the sun and the moon, to some marvelous kingdom where no one ever changed and friends were friends for life.”

Mary Downing Hahn (1937) American children's writer

Source: Daphne's Book

Life, Sun

“I have noticed that doing the sensible thing is only a good idea when the decision is quite small. For the life-changing things, you must risk it.”

Jeanette Winterson (1959) English writer

Source: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?

Life, Idea, Decision

“Kindness eases change.
Love quiets fear.
And a sweet and powerful
Positive obsession
Blunts pain,
Diverts rage,
And engages each of us
In the greatest,
The most intense
Of our chosen struggles.”

Octavia E. Butler book Parable of the Talents

Source: Parable of the Talents

Love, Pain, Fear, Rage

“Today I am a woman torn between the terror that everything might change and the equal terror that everything might carry on exactly the same for the rest of my days.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

“Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.”

Joan Didion The Year of Magical Thinking

Source: The Year of Magical Thinking

Life

“Your prayer for someone may or may not change them, but it always changes YOU.”

Craig Groeschel (1967) American priest

“Everything changes in my life, and the world stays the same.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes

Life, World

“And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn't really change the fact that you have what you have. Good and bad.”

Stephen Chbosky book The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

“I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced that they are about to change the world. I am more awed by those who struggle to make one small difference after another.”

Ellen Goodman (1941) American journalist and writer

Attributed

People, World

“The only difference between me and others is that they think they can change something with cute little poems, nice cards or embracing trees and being nice to little lapdogs.”

Henry Rollins (1961) American singer-songwriter

Thinking, Tree, Cute

“Life is not a race to restore a past situation. Nor does one have to hurry to meet the future. Seeing how things change is what makes life interesting.”

Robin Hobb (1952) American fiction writer (pseudonym)

Life, Past, Future

“memories are funny things. Sometimes they’re real, but other times they change into what we want them to be”

Nicholas Sparks book The Best of Me

Source: The Best of Me

Memory, Time

“Things change, people change, but that doesn't mean you should forget the past.”

Gail Carson Levine (1947) American writer

People, Past, Forgetting

“Successful people make their decisions quickly and change their minds slowly. Failures make their decisions slowly and change their minds quickly.”

Andy Andrews (1959) author and corporate speaker

Source: The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success

People, Failure, Decision, Success

“By the way, there is nothing cute about a pink wheelchair. Pink doesn't change a thing.”

Sharon M. Draper book Out of My Mind

Source: Out of My Mind

Way

“… you spend a much larger part of your life being old, not young. Rules change along the way. The first things to go are those things you thought were eternal.”

Douglas Coupland (1961) Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, and graphic designer

Life, Way, Parting

“He spent six hours examining things, trying to find a difference from their appearance on the previous day in the hope of discovering in them some change that would reveal the passage of time.”

Gabriel García Márquez book One Hundred Years of Solitude

Source: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Hope, Appearance, Time

“Most of us are about as eager to be changed as we were to be born, and go through our changes in a similar state of shock.”

James Baldwin (1924–1987) (1924-1987) writer from the United States

“Shura, I’m yours. You may not like it today, you may not want it tonight, you may wish for it all to be different now, but it remains, and I remain, as always, only yours. Nothing can change that. Not your wrath, your fists, your body or your death.”

Paullina Simons book Tatiana and Alexander

Source: Tatiana and Alexander

Death

“If you and I really, truly wanted to change the world, we'd invent more words that started with.”

David Levithan The Lover's Dictionary

Source: The Lover's Dictionary

World

“Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing! but I have never been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall. And, without love, I am sure I should be a fool to change such a situation as mine.”

Jane Austen book Emma

Source: Emma

Love, Fools, Way, Nature

“When you see a small change in your life it means its a huge change in personality and your trait”

Natasha Friend (1972) American writer

Source: Lush

Life, Personality

“Change is not always accomplished peacefully, but that does not make it disadventageous.”

Cassandra Clare book Clockwork Prince

Source: Clockwork Prince

“All change brings bad things and good things to replace the bad and good things that were before. It is natural to look back and say it was better before—but that does not make it true. Different is not worse. It is just different.”

Patricia Briggs book River Marked

Source: River Marked

Nature

“As long as I was alive, I was something. That was just how it was. But somewhere along the way it all changed. Living turned me into nothing.”

Haruki Murakami book Kafka on the Shore

Source: Kafka on the Shore

Way

“The Warrior of the Light is a believer.

Because he believes in miracles, miracles begin to happen. Because he is sure that his thoughts can change his life, his life begins to change. Because he is certain that he will find love, love appears.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

Source: Warrior of the Light

Love, Life, Light, Appearance

“What a different result one gets by changing the metaphor!”

George Eliot book The Mill on the Floss

Source: The Mill on the Floss

“Just when I discovered the meaning of life, they changed it.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

Life

“The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.”

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) American artist

People

“All blame is a waste of time. No matter how much fault you find with another, it will not change you.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Time

“Either way, change will come. It could be bloody, or it could be beautiful. It depends on us.”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

Beauty, Way, Dependency

“To do what you imply would require nothing short of divine intervention. You must change man, not systems.”

Rafael Sabatini book Scaramouche

Source: Scaramouche

“Change for your own sake, if you must, not for what you imagine another will ask of you.”

Emma Donoghue (1969) Irish novelist, playwright, short-story writer and historian

Source: Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

Imagination

“… the change was adjustment without improvement.”

Toni Morrison book The Bluest Eye

Source: The Bluest Eye

“I changed it. I had to. Do you know why?" She studied him, her eyes grave. "Because that was then and this is now. Because the past is gone, even though it defines the present.”

Stephen King book Doctor Sleep

Source: Doctor Sleep

Study, Past

“I think a good book is a good book forever.
I don't think they get less good because times change.”

Megan Whalen Turner (1965) American children's writer

Books, Thinking, Time

“I just looked at the pattern of my life, decided I didn't like it, and changed.”

David Sedaris (1956) American author

Source: Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays

Life

“Things did change. He’d gone from being eaten up with jealousy of Simon, to a grudging respect for his tenacity and courage, to actually considering him a friend, though he doubted he’d ever say so out loud”

Cassandra Clare book City of Heavenly Fire

Source: City of Heavenly Fire

Jealousy, Courage

“Accept the children the way we accept trees—with gratitude, because they are a blessing—but do not have expectations or desires. You don’t expect trees to change, you love them as they are.”

Isabel Allende (1942) Chilean writer

Love, Children, Way, Tree

“We are all what our pasts have made us,” Catarina said. “The accumulation of thousands of daily choices. We can change ourselves, but never erase what we’ve been.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Lost Herondale

Past

“Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”

William James (1842–1910) American philosopher, psychologist, and pragmatist

"Man alone, of all creatures of earth, can change his thought pattern and become the architect of his destiny." Actually said by Spencer W. Kimball, twelfth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in his Miracle of Forgiveness (1969), p. 114. This predates any of the misquotations.
Other forms: "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind." This is also misattributed to Albert Schweitzer.
James did say: "As life goes on, there is a constant change of our interests, and a consequent change of place in our systems of ideas, from more central to more peripheral, and from more peripheral to more central parts of consciousness."
Misattributed
Context: Man alone, of all the creatures on earth, can change his own patterns. Man alone is the architect of his destiny. The greatest revolution in our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives … It is too bad that most people will not accept this tremendous discovery and begin living it.

Attitude

“Nothing is changed, except
there was a moment when

the wolf, the mongering wolf
who stands outside the self

lay lightly down, and slept.”

Maxine Kumin (1925–2014) American poet and author

Wolf

“If you have felt hopeless, hold on! Wonderful changes are going to happen in your life as you begin to live it on purpose.”

Rick Warren (1954) Christian religious leader

Source: The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?

Life

“If you don't want them to find you, changing your last name seems a fairly elementary first step. Trust me, I'm an expert. I've watched a lot of spy movies.”

Cassandra Clare (1973) American author

Source: The Last Stand of the New York Institute

“Enlightenment is not an attainment, it is a realization. And when you wake up, everything changes and nothing changes.”

Dan Millman (1946) American self help writer

Source: Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives

“The thing about fate, Magnus: even if we can't change the big picture, our choices can alter the details. That's how we rebel against destiny, how we make our mark. What will you choose to do?”

Rick Riordan book The Sword of Summer

Source: The Sword of Summer

Fate

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.”

John F. Kennedy (1917–1963) 35th president of the United States of America

Variant: Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

Life, Law, Past, Future

“Libraries change lives. They are the soul of a people.”

Diane Ackerman (1948) Author, poet, naturalist

People, Soul

“I feel like Alice falling into Wonderland.
A line came to him: It would be so nice if something made sense for a change.”

Eoin Colfer (1965) Irish author of children's books

Source: The Last Guardian

Feeling, Sense

“The real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.”

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867–1957) American children's writer, diarist, and journalist

Letter to children (February 1947) http://www.liwfrontiergirl.com/letter.html <br class="br">Context: The Little House books are stories of long ago. The way we live and your schools are much different now, so many changes have made living and learning easier. But the real things haven't changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.

Happiness, Pleasure, Truth, Courage

“The little bit you and me might change the world," Malloy smiled, "it wouldnt show up until a hundred years after we were dead. We'd never see it."

"But it'd be there.”

James Jones book From Here to Eternity

Source: From Here to Eternity

World, Smile, Dead

“A vocation is not something you slap on, like a coat of paint, and change whenever you want. A vocation is built into you. You have no choice. If you try to do something else, you fail.”

Cinda Williams Chima (1952) Novelist

Source: The Demon King

Painting

“Someday you're gonna look back on this moment of your life as such a sweet time of grieving. You'll see that you were in mourning and your heart was broken, but your life was changing…”

Elizabeth Gilbert (1969) American writer

Life, Time, Heart, Heartbreaking

“You don't change what you love or you never loved it to begin with.”

Lora Leigh (1965) American writer

Source: Nauti Dreams

Love

“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.”

Cormac McCarthy book No Country for Old Men

Source: No Country for Old Men (2005)
Context: The stories gets passed on and the truth gets passed over. As the sayin goes. Which I reckon some would take as meanin that the truth cant compete. But I dont believe that. I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt. You cant corrupt it because that's what it is. It's the thing you're talkin about. I've heard it compared to the rock — maybe in the bible—and I wouldnt disagree with that. But it'll be here even when the rock is gone. I'm sure they's people would disagree with that. Quite a few, in fact. But I never could find out what any of them did believe.

Truth, Thinking, Time

“My daddy said, that the first time you fall in love, it changes you forever and no matter how hard you try, that feeling just never goes away.”

Nicholas Sparks book The Notebook

Source: The Notebook

Love, Feeling, Time

“The world changes too fast. You take your eyes off something that's always been there, and the next minute it's just a memory.”

Michel Faber book The Book of Strange New Things

Source: The Book of Strange New Things

World, Memory

“Death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed.”

Mitch Albom (1958) American author

The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003)
Variant: It is because the spirit knows deep down that all lives intersect. That death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else. And in that small distance, lives are changed.
Source: The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Meniti Bianglala

Death

“When I was seventeen, my life changed forever…”

Nicholas Sparks book A Walk to Remember

Source: A Walk to Remember

Life

“even if we can’t change the big picture, our choices can alter the details. That’s how we rebel against destiny”

Rick Riordan book The Sword of Summer

Source: The Sword of Summer

“If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.”

Anatole France (1844–1924) French writer

“What good is knowledge if it just floats in the air? It goes from computer to computer. It changes and grows every second of every day. But nobody actually knows anything.”

Don DeLillo (1936) American novelist, playwright and essayist

Source: Don DeLillo's White Noise

Knowledge

“You shall not, for the sake of one individual, change the meaning of principle and integrity, nor endeavour to persuade yourself or me, that selfishness is prudence, and insensibility of danger security for happiness.”

Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice

Source: Pride and Prejudice

Happiness, Selfishness

“What one means one day, you know, one may not mean the next. Circumstances change, opinions alter.”

Jane Austen book Northanger Abbey

Source: Northanger Abbey

“Before going back to sleep I imagined (I saw) a plastic universe, changeable, full of wondrous chance, an elastic sky, a sun that suddenly is missing or remains fixed or changes its shape.”

Julio Cortázar book Hopscotch

Source: Hopscotch

Imagination, Sleep, Universe, Chance

“The trip was to be an odyssey in the fullest sense of the word, an epic journey that would change everything.”

Jon Krakauer book Into the Wild

Source: Into the Wild

Sense

“Everything in existence undergoes constant change. The things that surround us, even our selves are temporary manifestations of Ki energy.”

Ilchi Lee (1950) South Korean businessman

Source: Brain Wave Vibration: Getting Back Into the Rhythm of a Happy, Healthy Life

“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist

Time, Future, Personality, Motivational

“Ever, if I’ve learned nothing else in my six hundred years of living, it’s that people hate change almost as much as they hate for their beliefs to be challenged.”

Alyson Nöel (1965) writer

Source: Night Star

Hate, People, Learning

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

Washington Irving book Tales of a Traveller

Tales of a Traveler (1824), Preface, p. 7.
Source: Tales of a Traveller

Travel

“I’d rather welcome change than cling to the past.”

Robert T. Kiyosaki book Rich Dad Poor Dad

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money-That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!
Source: Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Past

“Love changes everything. Days are longer, words mean more. Love changes everything. Pain is deeper than before. Love can turn your world around, and that world will last forever.”

Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948) British composer

Love, Pain, World

“You have to be with other people, he thought. In order to live at all. I mean before they came here I could stand it… But now it has changed. You can't go back, he thought. You can't go from people to nonpeople." - J. R. Isidore”

Philip K. Dick book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Source: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

People

“If someone is really close with you, your getting upset or them getting upset is okay, and they don’t change because of it. It’s just part of the relationship. It happens. You deal with it.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Variant: If someone is really close with you, your getting upset or them getting upset is okay, and they don't change because of it. It's just part of the relationship. It happens. You deal with it.
Source: Just Listen

Parting

“What you're blaming yourself for is being who you are. And that's no one's fault and nothing you can change.”

Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes

Source: City of Ashes