47 Inspiring Quotes on Change

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Be the change that you wish to see in the world. – Mahatma Gandhi

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one things of changing himself. – Leo Tolstoy

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead

The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking.  It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. – Albert Einstein

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

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.  Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow.  Let reality be reality.  Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. – Lao Tzu

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.

The present changes the past.  Looking back you do not find what you left behind. – Kiran Desai

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

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

Stepping onto a brand-new path is difficult, but not more difficult than remaining in a situation, which is not nurturing to the whole woman. – Maya Angelou

We can’t be afraid of change.  You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea.  Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don’t have something better. – C. JoyBell C.

We are taught you must blame your father, your sisters, your brothers, the school, the teachers – but never blame yourself.  It’s never your fault.  But it’s always your fault, because if you wanted to change you’re the one who has got to change. – Katharine Hepburn

Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.  Today I am wise, so I am changing myself. – Rumi

Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. – George Bernard Shaw

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples. – Mother Teresa

Some changes look negative on the surface, but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge. – Eckhart Tolle

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice.  It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. – William Jennings Bryan

We are all products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it. – Rick Warren

No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you’ve come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself. – Madonna

Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most. – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

When people are ready to, they change.  They never do it before then, and sometimes they die before they get around to it.  You can’t make them change if they don’t want to, just like when they do want to, you can’t stop them. – Andy Warhol

Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence. – Ovid

If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. – Milton Berle

Don’t confuse poor decision-making with destiny.  Own your mistakes.  It’s ok; we all make them.  Learn from them so they can empower you. – Steve Maraboli

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.  The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure.  The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. – Jon Krakauer

All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil.  The only crime is pride. – Sophocles

Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write. – Martin Luther

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. – Alan W. Watts

I have accepted fear as part of life – specifically the fear of change… I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back…. – Erica Jong

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often. – Winston S. Churchill

How would your life be different if…You stopped worrying about things you can’t control and started focusing on the things you can? Let today be the day…You free yourself from fruitless worry, seize the day and take effective action on things you can change. – Steve Maraboli

Act as if what you do makes a difference.  It does. – William James

It’s not that some people have willpower and some don’t… It’s that some people are ready to change and others are not. – James Gordon

If you want to change attitudes, start with a change in behavior. – Katharine Hepburn

The changes we dread most may contain our salvation. – Barbara Kingsolver

Change your thoughts and you change your world. – Norman Vincent Peale

Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape. – William S. Burroughs

The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. – Socrates

I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. – Steve Jobs

One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world. – Malala Yousafzai

Don’t waste your energy trying to change opinions … Do your thing, and don’t care if they like it. – Tina Fey

Change almost never fails because it’s too early. It almost always fails because it’s too late. – Seth Godin

Let him who would move the world first move himself. – Socrates

One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change. – Martin Luther King Jr.

A tiny change today brings a dramatically different tomorrow. – Richard Bach