Change Quotes

These 102 quotes on change come straight from the QuotePlace collection — lines by poets, philosophers, leaders and artists across the centuries. Open any card to read the quote on its own page and meet the author behind it.

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself. — Rumi
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.
Rumi
We are the first generation to be able to end poverty, and the last generation that can take steps to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. — Ban Ki-moon
We are the first generation to be able to end poverty, and the last generation that can take steps to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
Ban Ki-moon
Even the smallest person can change the course of the future. — J.R.R. Tolkien
Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.
J.R.R. Tolkien
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it. — Karl Marx
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.
Karl Marx
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it. — Marcus Aurelius
The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.
Marcus Aurelius
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. — Nelson Mandela
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Nelson Mandela
You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. — Thomas Sankara
You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness.
Thomas Sankara
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. — Barack Obama
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for.
Barack Obama
What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain. — Maya Angelou
What you're supposed to do when you don't like a thing is change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it. Don't complain.
Maya Angelou
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. — Lao Tzu
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
Lao Tzu
Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced. — James Baldwin
Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
James Baldwin
The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering. — Ben Okri
The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.
Ben Okri
This world is not going to change unless we are willing to change ourselves. — Rigoberta Menchú
This world is not going to change unless we are willing to change ourselves.
Rigoberta Menchú
The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed. — Jiddu Krishnamurti
The moment you have in your heart this extraordinary thing called love and feel the depth, the delight, the ecstasy of it, you will discover that for you the world is transformed.
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things pass away; God never changes. — Teresa of Ávila
Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things pass away; God never changes.
Teresa of Ávila
I read a book one day and my whole life was changed. — Orhan Pamuk
I read a book one day and my whole life was changed.
Orhan Pamuk
Every body perseveres in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by forces impressed. — Isaac Newton
Every body perseveres in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by forces impressed.
Isaac Newton
You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time. — Angela Davis
You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.
Angela Davis
If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone. — Marcus Aurelius
If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone.
Marcus Aurelius
You cannot change your future, but you can change your habits, and surely your habits will change your future. — A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
You cannot change your future, but you can change your habits, and surely your habits will change your future.
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you. — Octavia Butler
All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you.
Octavia Butler
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. — Alan Watts
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.
Alan Watts
Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day. — Dalai Lama
Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.
Dalai Lama
I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it. — Maya Angelou
I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.
Maya Angelou
I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples. — Mother Teresa
I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.
Mother Teresa
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. — George Bernard Shaw
Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
George Bernard Shaw
Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change. — Mary Shelley
Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.
Mary Shelley
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