11 Adlai Stevenson Quotes on Change

Adlai Stevenson quotes on change

9. What counts now is not just what we are against, but what we are for. Who leads us is less important than what leads us - what convictions, what courage, what faith - win or lose. A man doesn't save a century, or a civilization, but a militant party wedded to a principle can.

16. The time to stop a revolution is at the beginning, not the end.

41. We live in an era of revolution - the revolution of rising expectations.

44. All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions. All change is the result of a change in the contemporary state of mind. Don't be afraid of being out of tune with your environment, and above all pray God that you are not afraid to live, to live hard and fast. To my way of thinking it is not the years in your life but the life in your years that count in the long run. You'll have more fun, you'll do more and you'll get more, you'll give more satisfaction the more you know, the more you have worked, and the more you have lived. For yours is a great adventure at a stirring time in the annals of men.

51. There is a new America every morning when we wake up. It is upon us whether we will it or not. The new America is the sum of many small changes - a new subdivision here, a new school there, a new industry where there had been swampland - changes that add up to a broad transformation of our lives. Our task is to guide these changes. For, though change is inevitable, change for the better is a full-time job.

62. Today we are plunged into a battle that is familiar to us. the enemies and the problems are the same. But the terrain is different. The world around us has changed and shifted so much we no longer recognize it.

64. The elephant has a thick skin, a head full of ivory, and as everyone who has seen a circus parade knows, proceeds best by grasping the tail of its predecessor.

67. She would rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world.

102. Ignorance is stubborn and prejudice is hard.

103. I am always amazed by the resistance offered to progress, even the most innocuous progress. Imagine, if you will, jumping from one rickety bridge to another, with blind men running back and forth trying to push you off, and you will have some idea what legislating progress is like. The good news is that if you're pushed off, you can always climb back up and try again.

108. That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in the next.