32 Quotes About Change to Transform and Inspire Your Best Self

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We’d all like to be the kind of person who rolls with the punches, but sometimes life throws us for a loop. These inspirational quotes about change can help.

Are you trying to create positive change in your life but feel you keep coming up short? Or perhaps you’re reeling from the loss of a loved one. Whether you’re struggling through hard times or trying to accept yourself and your past mistakes, we can learn from others.

The following quotes about change can not only inspire us, they also can make us feel less alone.

32 Inspirational Quotes About Change

Quotes about Change: Making Change Happen

1. “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
— Mahatma Ghandi, Indian Activist

2. “I always wondered why somebody didn’t do something. Then I realized I was somebody.”
— Lily Tomlin, actress and comedian

3. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
— Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist

4. “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
— Milton Berle, comedian and actor

5. “Both tears and sweat are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy; sweat will get you change.”
— Jesse Jackson, former politician

6. “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, cultural anthropologist

7. “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, former U.S. president

Quotes about Change: On Getting Through Hard Times

8. “I say I am stronger than fear.”
— Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist and Nobel Laureate

9. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
— Maya Angelou, poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist

10. “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run then walk. If you can’t walk then crawl. but do whatever you can to keep moving forward.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights activist

11. “Forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a better past.”
— Anne Lamott, novelist, autobiographical writer and activist

12. “We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.”
— Rick Warren, Christian pastor and author

13. “Failure is a bend in the road, not the end of the road. Learn from failure and keep moving forward.”
— Roy T. Bennett

Quotes about Change: On Relationships

14. “If you love deeply, you’re going to get hurt badly. But it’s still worth it.”
—  C.S. Lewis, novelist, poet, theologian

15. “Two people who were once very close can without blame or grand betrayal become strangers. Perhaps this is the saddest thing in the world.”
— Warsan Shire, writer

16.  “At some point you have to realize that some people can stay in your heart but not in your life.”
— Sandi Lynn, writer

17. “Sorry is not enough. Sometimes you actually have to change.”
— A. Meredith Walters, writer

18. “Like a great wine, it just gets better with age – your friendships, your family and your personal confidence.”
— Christiane Amanpour, journalist

Quotes about Change: On Growing to Love Yourself

19. “Don’t be scared to walk alone. Don’t be scared to like it.”
— John Mayer, singer-songwriter

20. “Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself; I am large – I contain multitudes.”
— Walt Whitman, poet, writer, and essayist

21. “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
— Ernest Hemingway, writer

22. “I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be.”
— Joan Didion, writer

23. As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life,
and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow.
Today I call it “MATURITY”
— Charlie Chaplin, comedian

Quotes about Change: On Accepting Things We Can’t Change or Undo

24. “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
— Zora Neale Hurston, novelist

25. “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

26. “You can’t stop the future. You can’t rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret
… Is to press play.”
― Jay Asher

27. “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

28. “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
― George Bernard Shaw

29. “Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.”
— Stephen Chbosky

30. “It’s never too late to change your life for the better. You don’t have to take huge steps to change your life. Making even the smallest changes to your daily routine can make a big difference to your life.”
— Roy T. Bennett

31. “Maturity is when you stop complaining and making excuses, and start making changes.”
— Roy T. Bennett

32 “A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn.”
— Helen Keller

Featured image CC by NC-ND-2.0, by Howard County Library System, via Flickr