“Problems are the price of progress. Don't bring me anything but trouble. Good news weakens me.” ProblemScienceChallengesProgressTroubleNewsGood News Author:Charles Kettering
“You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.” StillsScienceTimeChanceProgressStandingFasterClassroomToesStanding Still Author:Charles Kettering
“Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar, you present a new place for new ideas and progress.” IdeasRealityProgressTearsNew YearNew IdeasLeafsCalendarsNew Years EveHappy New YearNew PlacesBest YearNew Year's ResolutionsNew Year New BeginningNew Year New StartHappy New Year EveNew Years Eve InspirationalHappy New Year InspirationalNew Year New MeOld YearInspirational New YearNew Years Eve LoveNew Year FriendshipNew Years DayNew Year Motivational Author:Charles Kettering
“I think this [ statement that Donald Trump would fight for LGBTQ people] is not just a story of the media spinning people up, but it's a story of special interests on the left, who also feel like their candidate lost, and stoking the flames on the fire because it helps spin up their supporters and help their donations and help their organizations. And it helps, frankly, polarize the country to their short-term benefit and at the expense, frankly, of progress for LGBTQ Americans.” PeopleThinkingFeelsCountryHelpingStoriesFightingLostLeftTermInterestFireProgressSpecialMediaTrumpBenefitsOrganizationStatementsFlamesCandidatesExpensesSupporterShort TermSpinningSpecial InterestsDonation Author:Margaret Hoover
“We understand that most of the middle class doesn't know what to do, doesn't feel like they have economic progress, and [Hillary Clinton] goes, "OK, I realize that's my top agenda item. That's the thing I need to do."” KnowsNeedsFeelsRealizingClassProgressEconomicMiddleClintonMiddle ClassAgendasItemsEconomic Progress Author:Reid Hoffman
“In 1949, I believed that social progress, the triumph of the proletariat, socialism would lead to the emancipation of women. But I saw that nothing came of it: first of all, that socialism was not achieved anywhere, and that in certain countries which called themselves socialist, the situation of women was no better than it was in so-called capitalist countries.” FirstsCountryCertainSocialSituationSawsProgressSocialismTriumphCapitalistSocialistEmancipationProletariatSocial Progress Author:Simone de Beauvoir
“Technology is an important element in progress. See, we can always do something better. We can improve water technology, or energy efficiency. There is always progress forward using technology and that's where innovation starts.” ImportantEnergyWaterTechnologyProgressElementsInnovationEfficiencySomething BetterEnergy Efficiency Author:Santiago Calatrava
“We need more emphasis on linking jobs and economic progress with environmental issues, and not allowing environmentally damaging industries to be brought into the country simply to provide employment. It's not easy to balance.” NeedsCountryJobsEasyIssuesProgressEconomicIndustryBalanceEnvironmentalEmploymentAllowingEmphasisEnvironmental IssuesEconomic Progress Author:Mary Robinson
“To make progress we have to build a multi-stakeholder process, harnessing the appropriate energies.” EnergyProcessProgressAppropriateStakeholder Author:Mary Robinson
“If we want to make progress in key areas now, we have to build a multi-stakeholder process, harnessing the appropriate energies. So not only the politicians but also business, the wider civil society, and the trade union movement all have a contribution to make, whether it is at national or at international level.” IfsWantEnergyProcessLevelsProgressMovementKeysPoliticianAreasTradeUnionsInternationalContributionAppropriateCivil SocietyTrade UnionsStakeholder Author:Mary Robinson
“Your enemies are always manufactured to suit your purpose, right? How can you have a good enemy? You have to have an utterly evil enemy - and then the evilness has to progress.” PurposeEvilEnemyProgressSuitsEvilnessGood Enemy Author:Arundhati Roy
“In the forests of central India and in many, many rural areas, a huge battle is being waged. Millions of people are being driven off their lands by mining companies, by dams, by infrastructure companies, and a huge battle is being waged. These are not people who have been co-opted into consumer culture, into the western notions of civilisation and progress. They are fighting for their lands and their livelihoods, refusing to be looted so that someone somewhere far away may "progress" at their cost.” PeopleMayHas BeensCultureFightingCompanyMillionsProgressLandHugeBattleCostAreasIndiaWesternNotionDrivenForestsConsumersFar AwayInfrastructureCivilisationLivelihoodMiningDamsRural AreasConsumer Culture Author:Arundhati Roy
“Every time you have an opportunity of opening a school, its fee and funding is really relatively small in comparison with the big expenditure, which is basically quote unquote defense. I think if there were fees, progress could be very much faster. But for that we need not only the government in different countries to understand it but the society to put pressure on it, the parents to understand that their desire to have their children educated can actually be realized, and it could make a dramatic difference.” IfsThinkingNeedsChildrenDifferentCountryBigsGovernmentSchoolDesireOpportunityParentDifferencesProgressPressureDefenseOpeningEducatedFasterDramaticComparisonFundingFeesExpendituresDifferent Countries Author:Amartya Sen
“What drives me is a sense of urgency. We live in frightening times. Progress towards gender equality and vital battles to end discrimination on grounds such as race, age, sexuality and disability are stalling and in some places, reversing. This is happening because of the collapse of trust in nearly all public institutions, and in particular in politics and media, and the inescapable feeling that the current system isn't working for most people.” PeopleEndsFeelingsAgeRaceProgressMediaParticularBattleHappeningsInstitutionsCurrentsGenderSexualityDiscriminationDisabilityCollapseFrighteningUrgencyGender EqualitySense Of UrgencyStalling Author:Catherine Mayer
“Pushing legislation that would undercut our troops just as we're beginning to make progress in Baghdad.” ProgressPushingTroopsLegislationBaghdadOur TroopsUndercut Author:George W. Bush
“I believe we're making really good progress in Iraq.” BelieveI BelieveProgressIraq Author:George W. Bush
“There are huge areas where the human mind is apparently incapable of forming sciences, or at least has not done so. There are other areas - so far, in fact, one area only [physics] - in which we have demonstrated the capacity for true scientific progress.” MindHumansDoneFactsProgressHugeAreasCapacityPhysicsHuman MindIncapableScientific Progress Author:Noam Chomsky
“Physics and those parts of other fields that grow out of physics - chemistry, the structure of big molecules - in those domains, there is a lot of progress. In many other domains, there is very little progress in developing real scientific understanding.” LittlesRealBigsGrowsUnderstandingProgressFieldsStructurePhysicsDevelopingChemistryDomainMolecules Author:Noam Chomsky
“The very properties of the human mind that provide an enormous scope for human genius in some domains will serve as barriers to progress in other domains, just as the properties that enable each child to acquire a complex and highly articulated human language block the acquisition of other imaginable linguistic systems.” MindHumansChildrenLanguageProgressGeniusPropertyComplexesEnormousBlockAcquireBarriersHuman MindDomainScopeAcquisitionHuman Language Author:Noam Chomsky
“If humans are organisms like every other organism - which they are - then we should expect that if there are some domains where real scientific progress is possible, then there are others where it is not.” IfsShouldHumansRealProgressOrganismsDomainScientific Progress Author:Noam Chomsky
“To say that the United States has pursued diplomacy with North Korea is a little bit misleading. It did under the Clinton administration, though neither side completely lived up to their obligations. Clinton didn't do what was promised, nor did North Korea, but they were making progress. So when Bush came into the presidency, North Korea had enough uranium or plutonium for maybe one or two bombs, but then very limited missile capacity. During the Bush years it's exploded. The reason is, he immediately canceled the diplomacy and he's pretty much blocked it ever since.” YearsLittlesTwoStatesReasonEnoughBitsSidesUnitedUnited StatesProgressLittle BitCapacityClintonObligationAdministrationBombsPresidencyDiplomacyKoreaPursuedNorth KoreaMisleadMissilesHad EnoughBlockedUraniumPlutonium Author:Noam Chomsky
“Today, we have come a distance. We have made a lot of progress. That cannot be denied. You cannot dispute the fact that our country is so different from 50 years ago. But we still have problems. There are too many people that have been left out and left behind, and they are African American, they are White, Latino, Asian American, and Native American.” PeopleYearsHas BeensMadeStillsDifferentCountryFactsProblemTodayLeftWhiteBehindsProgressYears AgoDistanceOur CountryAfrican AmericanNativeDeniedNative AmericanDisputesLeft BehindAsianLatinoLeft OutAsian American Author:John Lewis
“I think it is a must for young people and generations yet to come, to understand, to feel, to touch, to almost smell the drama of what happened a few short years ago [the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s]. So maybe, just maybe, we will never ever repeat this unbelievable time in our history. We have to tell it all, and make it plain, and make it clear, so people will never ever forget the distance we have come, and the progress we have yet to make.” PeopleThinkingFeelsYearsYoungForgetClearRightsProgressGenerationsHappenedMovementDramaYears AgoDistanceSmellCivil RightsRepeatsUnbelievable1960sCivil Rights Movement Author:John Lewis
“I know it feels like two steps forward and one step back, but we are making progress. In my lifetime, I have lived through one World War, I have lived through the end of Apartheid in South Africa, the pulling down of the Berlin Wall. I have experienced what I never thought I would have experienced, which is a pretty workable peace in Northern Ireland, and I experienced a unified Europe - until the Conservative government got its hands on the idea that in order to appease a few back-benchers they would hold a referendum, what a disastrous idea.” KnowsWorldFeelsTwoIdeasWarEndsHandsGovernmentOrderStepsProgressWallEuropeLifetimeSouthConservativeWar Of The WorldsIrelandWorld War ISouth AfricaPullingBerlinApartheidSteps ForwardUnifiedAppeaseNorthern IrelandReferendumsBerlin Wall Author:Patrick Stewart
“Nobody thinks quotas are a great win for women - the win would be removing the discrimination and inequality that creates under-representation in the first place. But in the short term, alongside other measures, they can be an effective way to make progress happen faster.” ThinkingWayFirstsHappensWould BeWinningTermProgressDiscriminationInequalityFasterRepresentationShort TermQuota Author:Laura Bates
“Think of US slavery in 1850, or the subjection of women. Both of these injustices could have been - and were! - defended by pointing out, quite correctly, that this situation of slaves and women had been improving throughout the preceding century. Slaves, in particular, were worked less hard, beaten and raped less frequently, better fed, and less often ripped apart from their families. So would a celebration of moral progress have been appropriate in 1850? Surely not. Slavery could have been and should have been abolished - then, if not before.” IfsThinkingShouldHas BeensHardSituationMoralProgressCenturyParticularShould HaveSlaverySlaveInjusticeAppropriateFedsCelebrationBeatenImprovingPointingCould Have BeenShould Have BeenRippedSubjection Author:Thomas Pogge
“It is true that the principle of national citizenship, associated with rights, and the control of a country's borders are two key aspects of modern 'sovereign' nation states as they emerged in the Westphalian order. But there has been much progress since 1648.” Has BeensTwoCountryStatesOrderNationsPrinciplesRightsProgressModernKeysAspectBordersSovereignCitizenship Author:Kofi Annan
“I was finishing up at High School of Performing Arts and finally, by the end of junior year and start of senior year, made some progress as a 16 year-old classical saxophone player. But not really... not like how the legit cats do. But I love the [Jacques] Ibert, love [Alexander] Glazunov, love the [Paul] Creston.” YearsArtMadeEndsSchoolPlayerProgressHigh SchoolCatPerformingSeniorJuniorsFinishingSaxophonePerforming ArtsSenior YearJunior YearLegitFinishing Up Author:Jon Gordon
“I think that the risk to all the progress we've made was at stake in the election because not just the president-elect but a lot of members of Congress, including now the Speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader, have said that their principal agenda was to undo a lot of this progress. But as I've been talking about over the last several days when it comes to health care, the gains that we've made are there. Twenty million people have health insurance that didn't have it before. The uninsured rate is the lowest it's ever been.” PeopleThinkingMadeSaidCareLastsHousePresidentTalkingLeaderMillionsProgressRiskMembersGainsTwentiesElectionMajorityRateIncludingCongressHealth CareAgendasStakesSenateSpeakersPrincipalLowestMajority Leader Author:Barack Obama
“The rise in health care costs since Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act was passed, have been at their lowest rate in 50 years. Those savings have extended the Medicare trust fund by 11 years. So we've got a baseline of facts.So it is true theoretically that all that progress can be undone, and suddenly 20 million people or more don't have health insurance.” PeopleYearsHas BeensFactsCareMillionsProgressCostRateSavingHealth CareFundLowestSavingsObamacareAffordableUndoneMedicareAffordable Care ActHealth Care CostsTrust Funds Author:Barack Obama
“I think Republicans now are recognizing that [Obamacare cancellation] may not be what the American people, including even [Donald] Trump voters, are looking for. And my hope is that the president-elect, members of Congress from both parties look at, "Where have we objectively made progress, where things are working better?" Don't undo things just because I did them. I don't have pride of authorship.” PeopleThinkingLooksMayMadePresidentPartyProgressPrideTrumpRepublicanMembersIncludingCongressVotersRecognizingObamacareAuthorshipCancellation Author:Barack Obama
“One of the gratifying things, I think, about the end of my presidency even though admittedly my successor ran against a lot of what we stood for, is when you look at the individual issues and the progress that we've made on a lot of those issues, we got the support of a pretty decent majority.” ThinkingLooksMadeEndsIndividualSupportIssuesProgressMajorityRanDecentPresidencySuccessors Author:Barack Obama
“Just like I described in health care, yeah, somebody comes in, they got new ideas, maybe ideas that are completely opposite of my ideas. Maybe some of it goes, maybe some of that progress goes back. Maybe they think of some things we didn't think of, and so in some other areas - we can learn something.” ThinkingIdeasCareProgressAreasOppositesYeahHealth CareNew Ideas Author:Barack Obama
“That just gives sort of the democracy an opportunity to test ideas, for those who lost to catch their breath, regain energy, re-energize themselves and then get back in the arena, and then we'll make some more progress in the future.” GivingIdeasOpportunityEnergyLostDemocracyProgressTestsBreathsGet BackArena Author:Barack Obama
“I think that we are in a position to continue to make progress, but it's gonna require us to both recognize what the problems are, also recognize the progress we've made. Last point I'd make on this, since we're on criminal justice: During the course of my presidency crime has been the lowest it's been probably since the '60s.” ThinkingHas BeensMadeProblemLastsCoursesJusticeProgressCrimePositionCriminalsLowestPresidencyCriminal Justice Author:Barack Obama
“We have to recognize we've got some big problems on race, just like we got still big problems on crime, just like we got big problems on just about everything. But we also have to make sure that we've - draw confidence from the progress that we have made, 'cause otherwise, you get into this cycle of cynicism.” MadeStillsProblemBigsCausesRaceProgressCrimeDrawsCyclesCynicismBig Problems Author:Barack Obama
“Best of all, persons can sometimes be app-transcendent: making dramatic progress or discoveries, without any dependence on any app. In this context, I like to mention Steve Jobs. While he had as much to do as anyone with the invention and development of apps, he NEVER was limited by the current technology - indeed, he typically transcended it and relied on his own considerable wits.” PersonsSometimesJobsTechnologyProgressDevelopmentDiscoveryCurrentsWitInventionDramaticDependenceTranscendentApps Author:Howard Gardner
“The biblical picture is not one of an upward, linear progress or a precipitous, downward decline. It is a more complicated picture of a fallen world in which there is a gospel of power.” WorldProgressComplicatedFallenDeclineBiblicalLinearFallen World Author:Russell D. Moore
“I am happy to accept that badge of ambivalence if that means some progress in dismantling this false opposition: writers boldly using their privileges of free speech in the morally superior West versus pathetic wimps in repressive countries we don't like.” IfsMeanCountryAcceptingProgressSpeechWestPrivilegeSuperiorsOppositionFree SpeechVersusPatheticBadgesAmbivalenceWimps Author:Pankaj Mishra
“It is undeniable that the French were in a better situation in 1960s then than they are today in 2017. I don't look in the rearview mirror. But there was no need for us to experience an end to social progress since then.” NeedsLooksEndsTodaySocialSituationProgressMirrors1960sSocial ProgressRearview Mirror Author:Marine Le Pen
“We are all forever a work in progress. I mean, that is the truth. You are forever in your whole life a work in progress, and forever there is a 12-year-old that's driving in to work with you every day. And you are still on the school playground and you are still whatever it is in college or you are still wondering why someone didn't return your call or ask you out.” YearsMeanStillsWholeSchoolAsksWonderForeverProgressCollegeReturnWhole LifeDrivingPlaygroundsWork In Progress Author:Sherry Lansing
“I think in a society where you can't even pass the Equal Rights Amendment, it's very difficult to women make a progress. Incidentally, we are exactly 160 years after the very first women's public rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, when a handful of women started it all and began the movement to make women equal.” ThinkingFallDifficultProgressEqualEqual Rights Author:Carolyn Maloney
“The original feminists wanted two things. They wanted the right to vote, from which we could work to get more equality. And we have made progress. We did pass the anti-discrimination law, Title 7, Title 9, equality in the workplace, equality in education and in sports and in all these other areas. But enforcement is very hard. Changing stereotypes is very hard.” SportsProgressVoteFeministStereotypeWorkplaceRight To Vote Author:Carolyn Maloney
“I think that changing stereotypes and attitudes, it takes time. As we progress and we have more women astronauts and more women in construction sites and everything else, then we're making progress. Discrimination is deeply embedded in our community, but we do have the tools to combat it.” ThinkingCommunityAttitudeProgressDiscriminationConstructionTake TimeStereotypeAstronautEmbeddedIt Takes Time Author:Carolyn Maloney
“I'm not optimistic about reform in many, if any, policy areas at all. I think we'll make further progress by inventing new things that aren't much regulated yet and outracing bad policy. I look at so many policy areas - regulation, regulatory reform, health care reform - it's all failing, we're not making improvements, we're going backwards.” ThinkingCareProgressFailingPolicyImprovementOptimisticHealth CareBackwardsHealth Care Reform Author:Tyler Cowen
“There's something human that has to do with time and space and being who I am that is in progress and always will be in progress. And who I am, on different days, different moments, depends on different aspects of my past.” DifferentMomentsPastProgressTime And SpaceMy Past Author:John Edgar Wideman
“I'm a painter, that's where I started out, at four years old, that was my first love as far as expression. So, I'm not a painter in the sense of, "Please come see my paintings" but, I do understand the value of not looking over the artist's shoulder while the work is in progress.” ValuesProgressPaintingPainterFirst Love Author:Diane Lane
“The reason I wrote Lean In is I think people weren't actually noticing that we had stopped making progress. I gave a TED talk and said: "It turns out men still run the world." And the audience gasped as if that was news.” PeopleThinkingMenWorldReasonRunningAudienceProgressNoticing Author:Sheryl Sandberg
“America going into this huge, costly, never-ending war created huge debt, which became a huge problem in Congress and led to it stalling many times, putting a halt to different kinds of social progress.” KindDifferentWarProblemProgressDifferent KindsSocial Progress Author:Karan Mahajan
“The construction of femininity is a construction, yes, but also it can be twisted and turned around in such a way that doesn't necessarily mean it is pointing to the female body or male body in such a binary fashion. The culture is already there and has always been, but not as equal citizens. I think there is more progress to come.” ThinkingMeanCultureProgressFashionEqualFemaleConstructionFemininityPointingTwistedBinaryFemale Body Author:Lorna Simpson