Whether you’re grieving the loss of a loved one or are adjusting to moving to a new place, life is full of uncertainty. Navigating previously unexplored terrain is difficult, exhausting, and even scary.
That’s why we’ve rounded up the best quotes about change and growth right here. We’re hoping that each and every one of the sayings we’ve compiled will bring you some peace, clarity, and much-needed assurance. After all, sometimes an inspirational quote (such as C.S. Lewis’ “There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind”) is all we need to hear in order to better appreciate our current situation. As Steve Maraboli put it, “The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” Or, for a more straightforward perspective, take William Arthur Ward’s wise words into consideration: “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change” -Albert Einstein
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude” -Oprah Winfrey
“Every day the clock resets. Your wins don’t matter. Your failures don’t matter. Don’t stress on what was, fight for what could be.“ -Sean Higgins
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” -Leo Tolstoy
“Play to your strengths. If you aren’t great at something, do more of what you’re great at.” -Jason Lemkin
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” -Harriet Tubman
“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” -Winston Churchill
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” -Maya Angelou
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” -Nelson Mandela
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new” -Socrates
“Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future” -John F. Kennedy
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change” -Albert Einstein
“If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward” -Martin Luther King Jr.
“If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said ‘Don’t change anything.’” -Henry Ford
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” -Barack Obama
“One child, one teacher, one pen, and one book can change the world” -Malala Yousafzai
“Don’t let rejection create self-doubt. The founder of Starbucks was turned down by 217 of the 242 investors he initially spoke with.” -Elizabeth Galbut
“Things don’t have to change the world to be important” -Steve Jobs
“You’ve done it before and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.” -Ralph Marston
“Just take any step, whether small or large. And then another and repeat day after day. It may take months, maybe years, but the path to success will become clear” -Aaron Ross
“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” -Helen Keller
“If your startup builds a room full of pessimists and you have one optimist at the table, then I think you’re in the wrong business. But the other way around is invaluable and necessary” -David Cohen
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” -Leo Tolstoy
“Play to your strengths. If you aren’t great at something, do more of what you’re great at.” -Jason Lemkin
“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” -Johnny Cash
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” -Harriet Tubman
“Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.” -Walt Disney Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.
“Inspiration responds to our attentiveness in various and sometimes unexpected ways. ” – Wayne W. Dyer
“When ordinary people decide to step out and be part of something big, that’s when they become extraordinary.”-
Brett Harris
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”― Oscar Wilde
“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”― William W. Purkey
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”― Mahatma Gandhi
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”― Mahatma Gandhi
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
“Without music, life would be a mistake.”― Friedrich Nietzsche
“We accept the love we think we deserve.”― Stephen Chbosky,
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”― Marilyn Monroe
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”― Albert Einstein
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”― Oscar Wilde
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”― Neil Gaiman
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.”― Bill Keane
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”― Thomas A. Edison
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”― Elie Wiesel
“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”― Albert Einstein
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”― Dr. Seuss,
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”― George Eliot
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”― Maya Angelou
“Everything you can imagine is real.”― Pablo Picasso
“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”― C.S. Lewis
“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”― George Bernard Shaw