“To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”

Variant: In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.
Source: An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845), Chapter 1, Section 1, Part 7.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often." by John Henry Newman?
John Henry Newman photo
John Henry Newman 37
English cleric and cardinal 1801–1890

Related quotes

Winston S. Churchill photo

“To improve is to change, so to be perfect is to have changed often.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Winston Churchill (June 23, 1925), His complete speeches, 1897–1963, edited by Robert Rhodes James, Chelsea House ed., vol. 4 (1922–1928), p. 3706. During a debate with Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden.
Often misquoted as: To improve is to change, to be perfect is to change often.
Early career years (1898–1929)

Winston S. Churchill photo

“But now let me return to my theme of the many changes that have taken place since I was last here. There is a jocular saying: ‘To improve is to change; to be perfect is to have changed often.’ I had to use that once or twice in my long career.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Address to a joint session of Congress, Washington, D.C., (17 January 1952) "We Must Not Lose Hope", in The Great Republic : A History of America (2000), Churchill, Random House, p. 399 ISBN 0375754407
Post-war years (1945–1955)

Stephanie Okereke Linus photo

“Film is often the perfect vehicle to provide education about social issues and to inspire social and political change.”

Stephanie Okereke Linus (1982) Nigerian Actress and singer

Source: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/exclusive-interview-with-_37_b_11591236 During an interview (December 6 2017)

“You cannot just speak change, you have to LIVE change!”

Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 83

Victor Villaseñor photo
Andrew S. Grove photo

“A corporation is a living organism; it has to continue to shed its skin. Methods have to change. Focus has to change. Values have to change. The sum total of those changes is transformation.”

Andrew S. Grove (1936–2016) Hungarian-born American businessman, engineer, and author

Andrew Grove, in: " What I've Learned: Andy Grove http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a1449/learned-andy-grove-0500/", Esquire magazine, May 1, 2000
New millennium

Eleanor Roosevelt photo

“You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

“You can't just wish change; you have to live the change in order for it to become a reality.”

Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 61

J.B. Priestley photo

“Living in age of advertisement, we are perpetually disillusioned. The perfect life is spread before us every day, but it changes and withers at a touch.”

J.B. Priestley (1894–1984) English writer

"The Disillusioned", in The Balconinny, and Other Essays ([1929] 1969) p. 30.

Related topics