Quotes About Change in Business

Change is the name of the retail industry game—rapid, relentless, unforgiving change. And that makes “change management,” another name for retail survival. And yet the only thing that people working in the retail industry (or anywhere) seem to fear more than failure is change. Judging from the choices made by the retail chains gone bankrupt, the most hated retail companies, the worst retail employers, and the retail brands with the worst reputation, some retail organizations choose failure over change every day.

The quotes below from business principals, great achievers, and famous thought leaders reveal different ideas and philosophies about change. But there are two aspects of change upon which the oft-quoted seem to agree.

That change is inevitable, and resistance is futile. These days, it seems as if change is the only certain path to retail stability.

The funny and inspirational quotes about change that follow can provide a catalyst for the change-resistant to change their minds about change. These quotes about change are arranged from funniest to most inspiration, according to the opinion of the person who ordered them.

Quotes About Business, Societal, and Individual Growth

• “There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one’s position and be bruised in a new place.” —Washington Irving
• “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” —Woodrow Wilson
• “Our ability to adapt is amazing. Our ability to change isn't quite as spectacular. “ —Lisa Lutz
• “Change is inevitable—except from a vending machine.” —Robert C Gallagher
• “People are very open-minded about new things, as long as they're exactly like the old ones.” —Charles F. Kettering
• “Give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to accept the things I cannot, and a great big bag of money.” —Unknown
• “In a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” —Warren Buffett
• “Don't knock the weather; nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.” —Kin Hubbard
• “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” —W. Edwards Deming
• “Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof." —John Kenneth Galbraith
• “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.
• “After you've done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over.” —Alfred Edward Perlman
• “Changing is what people do when they have no options left.” —Holly Black
• “There is nothing wrong with change...if it is in the right direction.” —Winston Churchill
• “By changing nothing, nothing changes.” —Tony Robbins
• “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed!” —Peter Senge
• “Slowness to change usually means fear of the new.” —Philip Crosby
• “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence—it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” —Peter Drucker
• “All great changes are preceded by chaos.” —Deepak Chopra
• “Things do not change; we change.” —Henry David Thoreau
• “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” —Norman Vincent Peale
• “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
• “When in doubt, choose change.” —Lily Leung
• “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” —Jim Rohn 
• “Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable.” —Denis Waitley
• “Our only security is our ability to change.” —John Lilly
• “Change before you have to.” —Jack Welch
• “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” —Niccolo Machiavelli
• “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