206 Best “People Change” Quotes

Change is everywhere we look. It not only affects the world we live in and everything in it, but also us as individuals. In addition to climate changes and technological development, human beings undergo transformations as well – on the outside and from within. To give you some inspo to change your life and personality, here’s a list of the best 206 quotes about people changing for the better as well as their opinions on change.

206 Best “People Change” Quotes

1. “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? – Rabbi Hillel
2. “I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better” – Plutarch
3. “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” – John D. Rockefeller
4. “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.” – Oprah Winfrey
5. “True life is lived when tiny changes occur.” – Leo Tolstoy
6. “Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor” – Alexis Carrel
7. “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed.” – Peter Senge
8. “What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.” – Abraham Maslow
9. “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
10. “To change one’s life: 1. Start immediately. 2. Do it flamboyantly. 3. No exceptions.” – William James
11. “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” – Anatole France
12. “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
13. “Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.” – Will Smith
14. “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” – Rumi

15. “People change over the years, and that changes situations for good and for bad.” – Bobby Knight
16. “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” – Norman Vincent Peale
17. “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
18. “No matter what people will tell you, words and ideas can change the world.” – Robin Williams
19. “Things do not change, we change.” – Henry David Thoreau
20. “Some people change when they think they’re a star.” – Paris Hilton
21. “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
22. “Love can change a person the way a parent can change a baby – awkwardly, and often with a great deal of mess.” – Lemony Snicket
23. “People change, they grow.” – Jacob Young

24. “It’s hard to watch people change, but it’s even harder to remember who they used to be.” – Wiz Khalifa
25. “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – Buckminster Fuller
26. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy
27. “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
28. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi
29. “And that is how change happens. One gesture. One person. One moment at a time.” – Libba Bray
30. “The good and bad things are what form us as people… change makes us grow.” – Kate Winslet
31. “Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.” – Confucius
32. “We change the world not by what we say or do, but as a consequence of what we have become.” – Dr. David Hawkins
33. “Sometimes you hit a point where you either change or self–destruct.” – Sam Stevens
34. “Bending beats breaking.” – Betty Greene
35. “Change is the end result of all true learning.” – Leo Buscaglia
36. “Either way, change will come. It could be bloody, or it could be beautiful. It depends on us.” – Arundhati Roy
37. “People don’t change, they just have momentary steps outside of their true character.” – Chad Kultgen
38. “People can cry much easier than they can change.” – James Baldwin
39. “People who can change and change again are so much more reliable and happier than those who can’t” – Stephen Fry
40. “Words are where most change begins.” – Brandon Sanderson
41. “What people have the capacity to choose, they have the ability to change.” – Madeleine Albright
42. “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” – Alan Watts
43. “Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw

44. “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
45. “People change and forget to tell each other.” – Lillian Hellman
46. “Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end.” – Robin Sharma
47. “Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.” – Simone de Beauvoir
48. “Changing is what people do when they have no options left.” – Holly Black
49. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
50. “Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky
51. “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
52. “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
53. “Nothing endures but change.” – Heraclitus
54. “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
55. “I believe people change. I think that they can learn from mistakes.” – Kevin Plank
56. “Change begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Roy T. Bennett
57. “To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.” – Stephen R. Covey
58. “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
59. “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

60. “The changes we dread most may contain our salvation.” – Barbara Kingsolver
61. “Life belongs to the living, and he who lives must be prepared for changes.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
62. “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs
63. “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” – Karl Marx

64. “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.
65. “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston S. Churchill
66. “Change may not always bring growth, but there is no growth without change.” – Roy T. Bennett
67. “Change before you have to.” – Jack Welch
68. “If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou
69. “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
70. “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Victor E. Frankl
71. “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
72. “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa
73. “Moving doesn’t change who you are. It only changes the view outside your window.” – Rachel Hollis
74. “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw
75. “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
76. “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” – Albert Einstein
77. “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
78. “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
79. “You cannot change what you are, only what you do.” – Philip Pullman
80. “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
81. “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
82. “Our ability to adapt is amazing. Our ability to change isn’t quite as spectacular.” – Lisa Lutz
83. “Anger, resentment and jealousy doesn’t change the heart of others– it only changes yours.” – Shannon Alder

84. “People underestimate their capacity for change. There is never a right time to do a difficult thing.” – John Porter
85. “Change, like healing, takes time.” – Veronica Roth
86. “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
87. “Change almost never fails because it’s too early. It almost always fails because it’s too late.” – Seth Godin
88. “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
89. “Sometimes, it’s not the people who change, it’s the mask that falls off.” – Anonymous
90. “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
91. “We first make our habits, then our habits make us.” – John Dryden
92. “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
93. “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
94. “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
95. “Anyone who isn’t embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn’t learning enough.” – Alain de Botton
96. “People are very open–minded about new things, as long as they’re exactly like the old ones.” – Charles F. Kettering
97. “Some people can change, others will always be the same. The difficulty is in figuring out which type they are.” – Scaylen Renvac
98. “Act the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you’d like to act.” – Bob Dylan
99. “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
100. “People change for two reasons; either they learned a lot or they’ve been hurt too much.” – Anonymous
101. “People change. They get successful and change. They get unsuccessful and change.” – Teresa Giudice
102. “Being friends with anyone for 30 years is no easy task – people change, they drift apart, they move on.” – Alana Stewart

103. “…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

104. “Change is the only universal law.” – Ahmed Mostafa
105. “Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.” – Carol Burnett
106. “Change is painful, but nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.” – Mandy Hale
107. “A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.” – Spanish proverb
108. “When in doubt, choose change.” – Lily Leung
109. “The moment of change is the only poem.” – Adrienne Rich
110. “You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy.” – C. JoyBell
111. “Growth and comfort do not coexist.” – Ginni Rometty
112. “The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” – Steve Maraboli
113. “To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” – Henri Bergson
114. “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” – Wayne W. Dyer
115. “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” – Lao Tzu
116. “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” – John Maxwell
117. “All things are difficult before they are easy.” – Thomas Fuller
118. “Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” – Hermann Hesse
119. “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” – Charles Darwin
120. “What’s dangerous is not to evolve.” – Jeff Bezos
121. “There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” – C.S. Lewis
122. “Time may change me, but I can’t trace time.” – David Bowie
123. “And all the lives we ever lived and all the lives to be are full of trees and changing leaves.” – Virginia Woolf

124. “If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.” – Roy T. Bennett
125. “Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.” – Raymond Lindquist
126. “In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.” – Abraham Maslow
127. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” – Helen Keller
128. “Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.” – Stephen Chbosky
129. “People change more frequently than the seasons do and still we blame the sun for bringing in the light.”-Shweta Tale
130. “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
131. “It doesn’t matter how strong your opinions are. If you don’t use your power for positive change, you are indeed part of the problem.” – Coretta Scott King
132. “My theory on life is that life is beautiful. Life doesn’t change. You have a day, and a night, and a month, and a year. We people change – we can be miserable or we can be happy. It’s what you make of your life.”- Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
133. “There is a kind of magicness about going far away and then coming back all changed.” – Kate Douglas Wiggin
134. “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
135. “Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.” – Walt Disney
136. “How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
137. “There is nothing permanent except change.” – Heraclitus
138. “One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.”- Malala Yousafzai
139. “You must welcome change as the rule, but not as your ruler.” – Denis Waitley
140. “Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable.” – Denis Waitley
141. “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” – Mary Shelley
142. “The world doesn’t change in front of your eyes, it changes behind your back.” – Terry Hayes
143. “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by discomforts.” – Arnold Bennett

144. “All is flux, nothing stays still.” – Plato
145. “Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.” – Sydney J. Harris
146. “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy
147. “If you want to change attitudes, start with a change in behavior.” – William Glasser
148. “Just when I think I have learned the way to live, life changes.” – Hugh Prather
149. “I don’t know that love changes. People change. Circumstances change.”- Nicholas Sparks
150. “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change.” – Brene Brown
151. “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
152. “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” – Gail Sheehy
153. “Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.” – Nikos Kazantzakis
154. “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.
155. “The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” – Flannery O’Connor
156. “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” – Albert Einstein
157. “Dreams are the seeds of change. Nothing ever grows without a seed, and nothing ever changes without a dream.” – Debby Boone
158. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela
159. “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” – Woodrow Wilson
160. “When you blame others, you give up your power to change.” – Robert Anthony
161. “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” – Andy Warhol
162. “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” – Margaret Mead
163. “If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by changing the organization.” – Mary Douglas

164. “Ignorance is always afraid of change.” – Jawaharlal Nehru
165. “The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” – Nathaniel Branden
166. “To change what you get, you must change who you are.” – Vernon Howard
167. “We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance.” – Harrison Ford
168. “Change in all things is sweet.” – Aristotle
169. “Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly.” – Francis Bacon
170. “We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.” – Carl Jung
171. “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” – Dolly Parton
172. “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.” – Charles Kettering
173. “The more things change, the more they are the same.” – Alphonse Karr
174. “Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.” – Elon Musk
175. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass
176. “Change brings opportunity.” – Nido Qubein
177. “Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.” – Bertolt Brecht
178. “All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.” – Ellen Glasgow
179. “Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.” – Keri Russell
180. “Change will never happen when people lack the ability and courage to see themselves for who they are.” – Bryant H. McGill
181. “Miracles happen every day. Change your perception of what a miracle is and you’ll see them all around you.” – Jon Bon Jovi
182. “Just because everything is different doesn’t mean anything has changed.” – Irene Peter
183. “You’re only as young as the last time you changed your mind.” – Timothy Leary

184. “In order to change the world, you have to get your head together first.” – Jimi Hendrix
185. “The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.” – Rupert Murdoch
186. “Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.” – Frank Herbert
187. “My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.” – Jack Layton
188. “Change is inevitable. Change is constant.” – Benjamin Disraeli
189. “It’s the most unhappy people who most fear change.” – Mignon McLaughlin
190. “Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what’s going to happen next.” – Gilda Radner
191. “-You know, in a way, you haven’t changed at all and that takes me from the present back to the past. But in other ways, you are another person, completely different.”- Natasha Lester
192. “There is nothing so stable as change.” – Bob Dylan
193. “He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” – Harold Wilson
194. “The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being.” – Lech Walesa
195. “I have noticed even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road.” – Stephen Hawking
196. “Progress is a nice word, but change is its motivator. And change has its enemies.” – Robert Kennedy
197. “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves. We must die to one life before we can enter another.” – Anatole France
198. “Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.” – A. C. Benson
199. “Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands.” – Clint Eastwood
200. “Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.” – Victor Hugo
201. “A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.”- Icelandic Proverb
202. “People change, they have faulty memories, gratitude for past generosities fades.”- Mario Puzo
203. “Don’t be too confident when someone tells you they like you. The real question is until when? Because people change and so do feelings.”- Ritu Ghatourey
204. “You collect people to take with you. Some people change, other people don’t… it’s wonderful because I’ve met some incredible friends.”- Imogen Poot
205. “If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said ‘Don’t change anything.’” – Henry Ford
206. “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

Infographic: 10 Amazing “People Change” Quotes

Change can be scary, but inevitably needed. Sometimes you might feel stuck – life seems stagnant while everyone else is moving along – and can’t find any motivation to carry on. A “People Change” quote might just ignite the fire inside you and inspire you to alter your course of action. Check out the infographic below to discover the top 10 life-changing quotes you may need to hear right now!

Illustration: The Bridal Box Design Team

That was our list of the 206 best “people change” quotes. If you are looking to change something in your life or struggling to accept the shifts that are already taking place in your environment, take inspiration from these quotes and invite positivity in your life for your evolution into a better human being.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most popular quote on people changing?

“If you can’t change it, change your attitude,” by Maya Angelou is a popular quote on people changing. The quote signifies the importance of adaptation to suit your environment.

Who said “Change is the only constant in life”?

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “Change is the only constant in life,” highlighting the fact that everything changes over time and nothing remains still. It is one of the best ‘people change with time’ quotes for self-motivation to improve yourself.

What do people’s change quotes teach us about human nature?

The quotes on people changing teach us that human nature is subject to alterations and modifications, and it is an inevitable aspect of human nature and existence.

Life is a journey of people growing and changing, and sometimes, you need reminders that change is inevitable. Check out this video to embrace the journey and relish the reality of change.

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