“In a change effort, culture comes last, not first.”

—  John P. Kotter

Step 8, p. 175
The Heart of Change, (2002)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "In a change effort, culture comes last, not first." by John P. Kotter?
John P. Kotter photo
John P. Kotter 26
author of The heart of Change 1947

Related quotes

Georges Duhamel photo

“Culture is at once the expression and the reward of an effort, and any system of civilization which tends to relax effort will suffer a corresponding depreciation of culture.”

Georges Duhamel (1884–1966) French writer

Source: Défense des Lettres [In Defense of Letters] (1937), p. 22

Haruki Murakami photo

“Between the time the last train leaves and the first train arrives, the place changes: it's not the same as in daytime.”

Haruki Murakami book After Dark

Source: After Dark

Barack Obama photo

“We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last to be able to do anything about it.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

Barack Obama during the Climate change summit in New York, as quoted in The Guardians article Climate change summit: Julie Bishop commends Australia’s emission targets by Helen Davidson (24 September 2014) http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/24/climate-change-summit-julie-bishop-commends-australias-emission-targets
2014

Francis George photo

“When it comes to abortion, euthanasia, and other sanctity of life issues, we should not suppose that our choice is between reforming the law and working to change the culture. We must do both. The work of legal reform is necessary, though not sufficient, ingredient in the larger project of cultural transformation. Yes, we must change people's hearts. But no, we must not wait for changes of heart before changing the laws. We must do both at the same time, recognizing that just laws help to form good hearts, and unjust laws impede every other effort in the cause of the Gospel of Life.”

Francis George (1937–2015) Catholic cardinal

God in Action: How Faith in God Can Address the Challenges of the World (2011) Ch. 3 "Personal Freedom in American Culture: We Can't Act If God Can't," pp. 72-73.

Margaret Atwood photo

“Touch comes before sight, before speech. It is the first language and the last, and it always tells the truth.”

Margaret Atwood book The Blind Assassin

Source: Der blinde Mörder

Jerry Coyne photo

“What I am saying is two things. First, religion hasn’t obviously come closer to understanding the divine…. I also claim that insofar as theology or religious beliefs do change within a faith, those changes are driven largely by either science or changes in secular culture…. Religious morality, at least as promulgated by priests, rabbis, imams, and theologians, is usually one step behind secular morality.”

Jerry Coyne book Faith vs. Fact: Why Science and Religion are Incompatible

Source: Faith vs. Fact (2015), pp. 87-88

“The change of way of worship under duress or for other reasons has not changed their forefathers or their culture. Culture is associated with a country and not with a religion.”

Balraj Madhok (1920–2016) Indian politician

B. Madhok: Indianisation quoted in Decolonizing the Hindu Mind (2001) by Koenraad Elst

Leonardo Da Vinci photo

“The water you touch in a river is the last of that which has passed, and the first of that which is coming. Thus it is with time present.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Variant: In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.
Source: Leonardo's Notebooks

Related topics