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“I need a life. I need a friend. I need a change. But nothing ever changes.”
Christopher Durang (1949–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is always going to be change and the changes to the team in terms of the personalities and characters and human beings are always unique and different, and it helps having someone like Lee Langeveldt here, who is still with me.”
Deano van Rooyen (born 1996) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To find a way play on the edge, so if the law is ‘x’, you try to find out how you can do ‘x’ as well as possible and push the boundaries. Kitch Christie initiated law changes and Rassie Erasmus has affected law change while Springboks head coach.”
Jake White (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My merry, merry, merry roundelay Concludes with Cupid’s curse: They that do change old love for new, Pray gods, they change for worse!”
George Peele (1556–1596) said by 1596 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sweet were change, If but a change of tortures! But to grow A motionless rock, fast as my strong prison, Age after age, till circling suns outnumber The sands upon the tide-worn beach! No hope, Or that sad mockery of hope that fools With dull despair, spanning the infinite! Torment unmeasurable!”
Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lasting change is a series of compromises. And compromise is alright, as long your values don't change.”
Jane Goodall (1934–2025) first seen 2002 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Subject: Jane Goodall, primatologist and conservationist, interviewed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002)
“This is not a mere change of guards, I think this is a fundamental change in the politics of our government.”
Yoweri Museveni (born 1944) first seen 1986 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: First public speech as Ugandan president (26 January 1986), as quoted in "Rebel Sworn in as Uganda President" (30 January 1986), by Sheila Rule, The New York Times
“Does a man’s existence change in any way when he removes his overcoat? Neither does it change when death removes the overcoat of his body. He’s still the same person. No wiser. No happier. No better off. Exactly the same. "Death is merely continuation at another level.”
Richard Matheson (1926–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If there is no joy, ease, or lightness in what you are doing, it does not necessarily mean that you need to change what you are doing. It may be sufficient to change the how. “How” is always more important than “what.” See if you can give much more attention to the doing than to the result that you want to achieve through it.”
Eckhart Tolle (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Myself and the people close to me are all part of a social system, and we were being conditioned to accept the status quo. But on this album, I'm saying it's time for us to take charge. We can change it. We can take control of our emotional system and be happy. My point is don't just sit there and allow life to happen to you. Go out and take charge if you want change, but it begins closer to home.”
Seal (musician) first seen 2007 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Seal" profile at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (CBS) (4 December 2007)
“On me, on me Time and change can heap no more! The painful past with blighting grief Hath left my heart a withered leaf. Time and change can do no more.”
Richard Henry Horne (1802–1884) said by 1884 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dirge; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 342-44.
“From Bradford Yorkshire to Bristol Temple Meads you don't have to change your underwear but you have to change at Leeds”
John Hegley (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Today, I should think of something about myself that really annoys me, and I should try to change it. Then, when I fail to change it, I can be annoyed by that as well. Then, I can be annoyed about how easily I get annoyed. Then I can get angry.”
John S. Hall (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Geologists discover... an almost complete difference to exist between the species or stamp of life, of one epoch from that of every other. We are therefore led to admit, either of a repeated miraculous creation; or of a power of change, under a change of circumstances, to belong to living organised matter, or rather to the congeries of inferior life, which appears to form superior.”
Patrick Matthew (1790–1874) said by 1874 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When we change the way we communicate, we change society.”
Clay Shirky (born 1964) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Shirky (2008), cited in: Jennex, Murray (2012). Managing Crises and Disasters with Emerging Technologies. p. 3
“We Socialists are not reformers; we are revolutionaries. We Socialists do not propose change forms. We care nothing for forms. We want a change of the inside of the mechanism of society, let the form take care of itself.”
Daniel De Leon (1852–1914) said by 1914 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A leopard does not change his spots, or change his feeling that spots are rather a credit.”
Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884–1969) first seen 1933 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: More Women than Men (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, [1933] 1951) p. 54.
“If we believe that it is predominantly men who batter women, it is hard to see why women also need to change: We will continue saying, “Just change the men. They’re the batterers.”
Warren Farrell (born 1943) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You know, Republicans went to Washington to change the culture, to change the city. Instead, they became changed by Washington. Now, it doesn't do any good for us to look backwards or to fight amongst ourselves. We need to be looking forward.”
Bobby Jindal (born 1971) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Gov Jindal: GOP Must Become the Conservative Party Again", Fox News Channel, November 13, 2008
“I have always wanted to play different kinds of stuff, but it's hard, first to find good material, and then to change people's perception of you so they'll let you do it. I mean, I would really like to play a poet, but once they get this notion of you as a street guy, it's hard to change that.”
Matt Dillon (born 1964) first seen 1995 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Terry Lawson (October 1, 1995) "Matter of Maturation? - Actor Swapping Rebellion for Responsibility in Recent Roles", Dayton Daily News, p. 1C.
“What does not change / is the will to change”
Charles Olson (1910–1970) said by 1970 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My illusion is to have something to transmit. If I can't change the world, at least I want to change the way people look at it.”
Antoni Tàpies (1923–2012) first seen 1990 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: a quote from Tàpies' talk, when his museum opened in 1990; as quoted in 'Antoni Tàpies a Painter With Textures, Dies at 88', by William Grimes, in 'The New York Times', 8 Febr, 2012, p. B17
“The tragedy of marriage is that while all women marry thinking that their man will change, all men marry believing their wife will never change.”
Len Deighton (1929–2026) first seen 1985 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: London Match (London: Hutchinson, 1985) p. 18
“What will India do if Pakistan designates August 15 as ‘Partition Horrors Condemnation Day’?” “Hostility apart, India and Pakistan are neighbours. We can change our friends but we cannot change our neighbours. India should behave as a mature and seasoned nation.”
P. Chidambaram (born 1945) first seen 2021 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Tweet on Twitter, Aug 2021 also at
“A change of scene is good for a change of mind.”
J. P. Donleavy (1926–2017) said by 2017 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We all leave one another. We die, we change - it's mostly change - we outgrow our best friends; but even if I do leave you, I will have passed on to you something of myself; you will be a different person because of knowing me; it's inescapable.”
Edna O'Brien (1930–2024) first seen 1962 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Girl With Green Eyes (1962), Chapter Twenty-One
“Calculus is the mathematics of change. ...Change is characteristic of the world.”
Richard Hamming (1915–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The spiritual process is just to create the right kind of chemistry, where you are naturally peaceful, naturally joyous. When you are joyous by your very own nature, when you don't have to do anything to be happy, then the very dimension of your life, the very way you perceive and express yourself in the world will change. The very way you experience your life will change.”
Sadhguru (born 1957) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When a change occurs in Nature, the quantity of action necessary for that change is as small as possible.”
Pierre Louis Maupertuis (1698–1759) said by 1759 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If a man achieves or suffers change in premises which are deeply embedded in his mind, he will surely find that the results of that change will ramify throughout his whole universe.”
Gregory Bateson (1904–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A lot of times we look at the whole world and think, 'it's so daunting, how can we change the whole world?' and you don't need to do that, what you need to do is change your world a little bit, and see if you can, through example, inspire others to do the same thing.”
Michael Franti (born 1966) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I do not suggest to you, Comrades, that in staying you put up with the suffering and the situation that you're not satisfied with. Quite the contrary. You must change the situation together with all other progressive people here in Serbia and Yugoslavia.… We in Serbia and everybody else in Yugoslavia will strive to change the situation.”
Slobodan Milošević (1941–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No cuts to education, no cuts to health, no change to pensions, no change to the GST and no cuts to the ABC or SBS”
Tony Abbott (born 1957) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Clarifying his election commitments in an interview with Anton Enus on SBS News and subsequently quoted in "Then and now: the Abbott government's broken promises" Sydney Morning Herald, September 6, 2013.
“At least so far, it’s climate change policy that’s doing harm. Climate change itself is probably doing good; or at least, more good than harm.”
Tony Abbott (born 1957) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Tony Abbott says climate change is 'probably doing good'", The Guardian, October 10, 2017
“Unsurprisingly, the recipients of climate change subsidies and climate change research grants think action is very urgent indeed. As for the general public, of course saving the planet counts – until the bills come in and then the humbug detector is switched on.”
Tony Abbott (born 1957) first seen 2017 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "'I've learnt to speak my mind': 10 excerpts from Tony Abbott's climate change speech in London'", Sydney Morning Herald, October 10, 2017
“If we do not understand the cause or causes for the biggest climate change of all time, what hope have we of understanding modern climate change?”
Ian Plimer (born 1946) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The significance of a basic medium to its civilization is difficult to appraise since the means of appraisal are influenced by the media, and indeed the fact of appraisal appears to be peculiar to certain types of media. A change in the type of medium implies a change in the type of appraisal and hence makes it difficult for one civilization to understand another.”
Harold Innis (1894–1952) said by 1952 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 2007 edition, p. 29.
“Healing requires conscious choices… Very few alcoholics want to give up liquor. Obese people don’t want to give up food. Diabetics don’t want to give up sugar. People in toxic relationships don’t want to leave because that’s what they know. It’s change. People are afraid of change.”
Caroline Myss (born 1952) first seen 2003 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Caroline Myss' Journey" by Terry Loncaric, at Conscious Choice (September 2003)
“Sir, you will see that they want to place the word ‘East Pakistan’ instead of ‘East Bengal’. We have demanded so many times that you should use Bengal instead of Pakistan. The world Bengal has a history, has a tradition of its own. You can change it only after the people have been consulted. If you want to change it, then we have to go back to Bengal and see whether Bengalis will accept it.”
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (1920–1975) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speaking to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan in Karachi in 1955 during a debate on whether to adopt the One Unit scheme in Pakistan and divide the country into two provinces- East and West Pakistan.
“We know that when change comes, no one is more adamant in holding on to the past than those in power. They know change is inevitable, but they would, if they could, parcel it out in measured pieces. Grain for chickens.”
Jack McDevitt (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you depend on the widespread lover's delusion, 'With my love he or she will change,' you have little chance to help yourself. This delusion is external control to the maximum. If things are not good from the beginning, they are very likely to change, but not for the better.”
William Glasser (1925–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There was no simple riddance to the power of a dangerous political idea; no assassination possible to avert a disruptive change in technology; no natural death to be counted on to stop an economic change that ripped up ancestral estates or stirred up class discontent.”
Robert Heilbroner (1919–2005) said by 2005 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“JUSTICE GINSBURG: The Legislature can make the change, can facilitate the change, as laws like the Family Medical Leave Act do. But it’s not something a court can decree. A court can’t tell the man, You’ve got to do more than carry out the garbage.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020) said by 2020 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Revolution means action. It means a change brought about deliberately by an organized and systematic work, as opposed to sudden and unorganised or spontaneous change or breakdown.”
Bhagat Singh (1907–1931) first seen 1931 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: To Young Political Workers (1931)
“The west has fiscalised its basic power relationships through a web of contracts, loans, shareholdings, bank holdings and so on. In such an environment it is easy for speech to be "free" because a change in political will rarely leads to any change in these basic instruments. Western speech, as something that rarely has any effect on power, is, like badgers and birds, free.”
Julian Assange (born 1971) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Valued achievements connect to people at a deeper level—and a deeper level can change behavior that is generally very difficult to change.”
John Kotter (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All lasting change is preceded by changed thinking. Any other type of change will only be temporary.”
Tommy Newberry (born 2000) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are what we think. To change how people act, we must change what they believe.”
Mark Riebling (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have noticed not only a change of emphasis but a distinct change of policy, and it may be that the Tories have been conducting some market research with the assistance of the advertising firm which they have engaged. It has a foreign-sounding name. It sounds a coloured name to me—Saatchi and Saatchi. Certainly it does not sound very English.”
Dennis Skinner (born 1932) first seen 1978 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nuclear Safeguards and Electricity (Finance) Bill", Hansard, HC Debates (24 April 1978) vol 948, cc1113
“We're not Republican or Democrat. We won't fold into one party or the other. We're a tax-paying party that can make a difference and a party of normal people who want change. Bigger government and higher taxes is not working. Right now we're at a real crossroads to make change, and the bottom line is there's never been so much disdain for politicians.”
Scott Ashjian (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source