30 QUOTES ON CHANGE
Since the work I do is all about helping teams and organizations change I gathered together 30 of my favorite sayings on the topic. I separated them between why and how. “Why” sayings are about the motivation for change (ie. survival). “How” sayings are tips on what it takes to change in attitude and behaviour (ie. ownership, perseverance).
WHY CHANGE?:
1. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin
2. “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
3. “A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn.” ― Helen Keller
4. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
5. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” — Henry Ford
6. “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” ― Winston S. Churchill
7. “Changing is what people do when they have no options left.” ― Holly Black
8. “Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.” ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
9. “Our ability to adapt is amazing. Our ability to change isn't quite as spectacular.” ― Lisa Lutz
10. “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
11. “When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” ― Haruki Murakami
12. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” ― Rob Siltanen
13. “All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change.” ― Octavia E. Butler
14. “There can be no life without change, and to be afraid of what is different or unfamiliar is to be afraid of life.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
15. “The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.” ― C. JoyBell C.
HOW TO CHANGE:
16. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein
17. “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” ― George Bernard Shaw
18. “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” ― Wayne W. Dyer
19. “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” ― Buckminster Fuller
20. “Change, like healing, takes time.” ― Veronica Roth
21. “Change almost never fails because it's too early. It almost always fails because it's too late.” ― Seth Godin
22. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ― Nelson Mandela
23. “Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end.” ― Robin Sharma
24. “You cannot change what you are, only what you do.” ― Philip Pullman
25. “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” ― Mother Teresa
26. “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” ― Barack Obama
27. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” ― Leo Tolstoy
28. “Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don't.” ― Steve Maraboli
29. “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” ― Brene Brown
30. “Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.” ― Ovid
These are ideas I believe are worth sharing as you take your team to the next level. If you like them, please share.
Brad Gaulin, P.Eng., MBA
Chief Evolution Officer