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About this quote

What does it mean?
A play on the idiom about dogs, suggesting old ideas cannot easily learn new ways.
In plain terms
Old beliefs cannot easily change.
What can you take from it?
Expect resistance to change in old ideas.

Where it applies

  • policy reform
  • education
  • family habits

Putting it to work

  • manage expectations
  • plan change
  • understand resistance

Questions to consider

  • Can old habits change?
  • Why do people resist change?

Another view

It implies change is impossible rather than just difficult.

More from Dorothy Parker

  1. This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.

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  2. [On her abortion] It serves me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard.

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  3. There is no such hour on the present clock as 6:30, New York time. Yet, as only New Yorkers know, if you can get through the twilight, you'll live through the …

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