Change is the sole surety in life, thus harness it as an opportunity to expand your vistas.
A world in flux is the backdrop to our lives, as we witness the constant metamorphosis of landscapes, technologies, and indeed ourselves. Change is not merely an external phenomenon, but also a profound personal journey. We transform, physically and emotionally, continually growing, learning, and refining ourselves. To galvanise your journey of self-improvement and adaptation, I’ve curated a selection of the top 101 quotes on personal transformation and the power of change.
101 Sterling Quotes on “People Change”
- “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” – Oprah Winfrey
- “True life is lived when tiny changes occur.” – Leo Tolstoy
- “Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor” – Alexis Carrel
- “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed.” – Peter Senge
- “What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.” – Abraham Maslow
- “We are not trapped or locked up in these bones. No, no. We are free to change. And love changes us. And if we can love one another, we can break open the sky.” – Walter Mosley
- To change one’s life: 1. Start immediately. 2. Do it flamboyantly. 3. No exceptions.” – William James
- “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” – Anatole France
- “People change. I wouldn’t like to be accountable for the interviews I’ve done, or the person I was when I was 20, 21.” – Robbie Williams
- “Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.” – Will Smith
- “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” – Rumi
- “People change over the years, and that changes situations for good and for bad.” – Bobby Knight
- “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale
- “Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.” – Jacob M. Braude
- “No matter what people will tell you, words and ideas can change the world.” – Robin Williams
- “Things do not change, we change.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Some people change when they think they’re a star.” – Paris Hilton
- “I don’t think people change. I think they definitely mature. But I think the essence of what I am today is the same as when I was five years old. It’s just maturity. I’ve become a healthier, fuller expression of that essence.” – Ricky Williams
- “Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby – awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess.” – Lemony Snicket
- “People change, they grow.” – Jacob Young
- It’s hard to watch people change, but it’s even harder to remember who they used to be.” – Wiz Khalifa
- “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – Buckminster Fuller
- “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy
- “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
- “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “And that is how change happens. One gesture. One person. One moment at a time.” – Libba Bray
- “The good and bad things are what form us as people… change makes us grow.” – Kate Winslet
- Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.” – Confucius
- “We change the world not by what we say or do, but as a consequence of what we have become.” – Dr. David Hawkins
- “Sometimes you hit a point where you either change or self–destruct.” – Sam Stevens
- “Bending beats breaking.” – Betty Greene
- Change is the end result of all true learning.” – Leo Buscaglia
- “Either way, change will come. It could be bloody, or it could be beautiful. It depends on us.” – Arundhati Roy
- “People don’t change, they just have momentary steps outside of their true character.” – Chad Kultgen
- “People can cry much easier than they can change.” – James Baldwin
- People who can change and change again are so much more reliable and happier than those who can’t” – Stephen Fry
- “Words are where most change begins.” – Brandon Sanderson
- “What people have the capacity to choose, they have the ability to change.” – Madeleine Albright
- “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts
- “Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw
- “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
- People change and forget to tell each other.” – Lillian Hellman
- “Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end.” – Robin Sharma
- “Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.” – Simone de Beauvoir
- “Changing is what people do when they have no options left.” – Holly Black
- “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
- “Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky
- “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
- “For people who had curve balls thrown at them, it is easier to digest change and digest change in other people. Change only scares the small–minded.” – Casey Affleck
- “Nothing endures but change.” – Heraclitus
- “You cannot have the same kind of character again and again in every season or every stage of your life. You change, people change.” – Varun Grover
- “I believe people change. I think that they can learn from mistakes.” – Kevin Plank
- “Change begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.” – Stephen R. Covey
- “No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side. Or you don’t.” – Stephen King
- “I find the best way to love someone is not to change them, but instead, help them reveal the greatest version of themselves.” – Steve Maraboli
- “The changes we dread most may contain our salvation.” – Barbara Kingsolver
- “Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs
- “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” – Karl Marx
- “If you’re in a bad situation, don’t worry it’ll change. If you’re in a good situation, don’t worry it’ll change.” – John A. Simone, Sr.
- “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston S. Churchill
- “Change may not always bring growth, but there is no growth without change.” – Roy T. Bennett
- “Change before you have to.” – Jack Welch
- “If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou
- “You’re always you, and that don’t change, and you’re always changing, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” – Neil Gaiman
- “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Victor E. Frankl
- “Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.” – Mahatma Gandhi
- “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa
- “Moving doesn’t change who you are. It only changes the view outside your window.” – Rachel Hollis
- “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw
- “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
- “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” – Albert Einstein
- “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
- “Believe something and the Universe is on its way to being changed. Because you’ve changed, by believing. Once you’ve changed, other things start to follow. Isn’t that the way it works?” – Diane Duane
- “You cannot change what you are, only what you do.” – Philip Pullman
- “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
- “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
- “Our ability to adapt is amazing. Our ability to change isn’t quite as spectacular.” – Lisa Lutz
- “Anger, resentment and jealousy doesn’t change the heart of others– it only changes yours.” – Shannon Alder
- “People underestimate their capacity for change. There is never a right time to do a difficult thing.” – John Porter
- “Change, like healing, takes time.” – Veronica Roth
- “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
- “Change almost never fails because it’s too early. It almost always fails because it’s too late.” – Seth Godin
- “The past can teach us, nurture us, but it cannot sustain us. The essence of life is change, and we must move ever forward or the soul will wither and die.” – Susanna Kearsley
- “Sometimes, it’s not the people who change, it’s the mask that falls off.” – Anonymous
- “I’ve learned that for many people, change is uncomfortable. Maybe they want to go through it, and they can see the benefit of it, but at a gut level, change is uncomfortable.” – Mitchell Baker
- “We first make our habits, then our habits make us.” – John Dryden
- “For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it.” – Eric Roth
- “Every woman that finally figured out her worth, has picked up her suitcases of pride and boarded a flight to freedom, which landed in the valley of change.” – Shannon L. Alder
- “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
- “Anyone who isn’t embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn’t learning enough.” – Alain de Botton
- “People are very open–minded about new things, as long as they’re exactly like the old ones.” – Charles F. Kettering
- “Some people can change, others will always be the same. The difficulty is in figuring out which type they are.” – Scaylen Renvac
- “Act the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you’d like to act.” – Bob Dylan
- “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
- “People change for two reasons; either they learned a lot or they’ve been hurt too much.” – Anonymous
- “People change. They get successful and change. They get unsuccessful and change.” – Teresa Giudice
- “Being friends with anyone for 30 years is no easy task – people change, they drift apart, they move on.” – Alana Stewart
- “…that’s how life is, dear. Even when we think we know something, we’re all really just flying blind. Things change. People change. You can never have all the facts.” – Melanie A. Smith
- “Change is the only universal law.” – Ahmed Mostafa
And there you have it – our list of the crème de la crème, the 101 most stirring quotes about personal transformation. If you find yourself on the cusp of change, grappling with the shifting tides of your life, or perhaps simply yearning for something different, I hope these quotes act as sparks of inspiration, igniting positivity and encouraging your evolution into an ever-improving version of yourself.
Your Queries, Answered
Which quote on personal change resonates the most with people?
Maya Angelou’s powerful words, “If you can’t change it, change your attitude,” have become a guiding mantra for many. The essence of this quote lies in understanding the significance of personal adaptation to navigate the shifting landscapes of life.
Who was it that declared, “Change is the only constant in life”?
It was the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus who famously stated, “Change is the only constant in life.” This aphorism underscores the truth that the world, and indeed ourselves, are in a perpetual state of flux. It serves as an excellent motivator for personal betterment and continuous growth.
What can quotes about personal change teach us about our human nature?
These insightful observations offer us a powerful lens to view human nature. They illuminate the fact that change is not merely something we experience but is woven into the very fabric of our being. Alterations and adaptations are inevitable aspects of our existence, a testament to our capacity for growth and our resilience in the face of life’s ever-changing circumstances.
