Be the change you want to see: 19 quotes to inspire the journey

 February 01, 2022

Worldwide, talented women are forging change - from grassroots activism and idea generation to global initiatives and projects.

Inspirational quotes remind us about the power of change and can send us in new directions.

Here are some great inspirational quotes about change.

"It doesn't matter how strong your opinion are. If you don't use your power for positive change, you are indeed part of the problem."

Coretta Scott King, American author, activist, civil rights leader, and the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. 

"We must be impatient for change. Let us remember that our voice is a precious gift and we must use it."

Claudia Flores, Clinical Professor, University of Chicago Law School

"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, American novelist, satirist, and poet

"When in doubt, choose change."

Lily Leung, Hong Kong actress

"All great changes are preceded by chaos."

Deepak Chopra, Indian-born American author and alternative medicine advocate

"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, American cultural anthropologist, author and speaker

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."

Maya Angelou, American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist

"If you do not change direction, you might end up where you are heading."

Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher

"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, 44th President of the United States

"I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better."

Georg C. Lichtenberg, German physicist, satirist, anglophile and scientist

"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, American abolitionist and political activist

"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.

C. JoyBell C., a leading female thinker and writer

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."

Charles Darwin, English naturalist, geologist and biologist

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."

George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist

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

Mother Teresa, Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun and missionary

"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, 35th President of the United States

"True life is lived when tiny changes occur."

Leo Tolstoy, Russian writer

"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

Steve Jobs, American business magnate, industrial designer, investor, and media proprietor

"There is nothing permanent except change."

Heraclitus, Ancient Greek, pre-Socratic, Ionian philosopher