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Social Change Quotes

Browse 498 quotes about Social Change.

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Social Change Quotes

“Buddhism is not concerned just with private destiny, but with the lives and consciousness of all beingsAny attempt to understand Buddhism apart from its social dimension is fundamentally a mistake. Until Western Buddhists understand this, their embrace of Buddhism will not help very much in the efforts to bring about meaningful and positive social change, or even in their struggle to transform their ego.”

HelpingSocialEffortMistakeConsciousnessDestinyStruggleBuddhismEgoConcernedEmbraceWesternMeaningfulBuddhistDimensionsSocial Change
Author:Sulak Sivaraksa
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“Some people seem to believe that for each problem there is a solution readily available - a solution that can be promptly achieved by passing a law and voting some money. I think of this as the vending machine concept of social change. Put a coin in the machine and out comes a piece of candy. If there is a social problem, pass a law and out comes a solution.”

PeopleIfsThinkingBelieveProblemSeemsLawBeliefSocialPiecesSolutionsConceptsMachinesAvailablePassingPassingsVotingCoinsCandySocial ChangeSocial ProblemsVending Machines
Author:John W. Gardner
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“Two of the greatest hungers in our world today are the hunger for spirituality and the hunger for social change. The connection between the two is the one the world is waiting for, especially the new generation. And the first hunger will empower the second.”

WorldFirstsTwoInspirationTodayChristianSpiritualitySocialWaitingGenerationsConnectionsHungerEmpoweringOur WorldSocial ChangeWorld TodayNew Generation
Book:The Great Awakening: Seven Ways to Change the World
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“The suffering of either sex - of the male who is unable, because of the way in which he was reared, to take the strong initiating or patriarchal role that is still demanded of him, or of the female who has been given too much freedom of movement as a child to stay placidly within the house as an adult - this suffering, this discrepancy, this sense of failure in an enjoined role, is the point of leverage for social change.”

WayChildrenHas BeensStillsSufferingHouseStrongGivenSocialSexRolesToo MuchFeminismMovementAdultsFemaleMalesSocial ChangeDiscrepancies
Author:Margaret Mead
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“The end is what you want, the means is how you get it. Whenever we think about social change, the question of means and ends arises. The man of action views the issue of means and ends in pragmatic and strategic terms. He has no other problem; he thinks only of his actual resources and the possibilities of various choices of action. He asks of ends only whether they are achievable and worth the cost; of means, only whether they will work. ... The real arena is corrupt and bloody.”

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Author:Saul Alinsky
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“It is always the young that make the change. You don't get these ideas when you're middle-aged. Young people have daring, creativity, imagination and personal computers. Above all, what you have as young people that's vitally needed to make social change, is impatience. You want it to happen now. There have to be enough people that say, ‘We want it now, in our lifetime.’ This is your moment. This is your opportunity. Be adventurists in the sense of being bold and daring. Be opportunists and seize this opportunity, this moment in history, to go out and save our country. It's your turn now.”

PeopleWantIdeasCountryEnoughMomentsHappensYoungTurnsOpportunitySocialImaginationCreativityMiddleNeededComputerLifetimeOur CountryDaringSocial ChangeImpatienceYour MomMiddle AgedOpportunistPersonal Computers
Author:Abbie Hoffman
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“Community connectedness is not just about warm fuzzy tales of civic triumph. In measurable and well-documented ways, social capital makes an enormous difference in our lives...Social capital makes us smarter, healthier, safer, richer, and better able to govern a just and stable democracy.”

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Author:Robert D. Putnam
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“The future is our responsibility, but change will not take place until the majority loose confidence in their dictator’s and elected officials’ ability to solve problems. It will likely take an economic catastrophe resulting in enormous human suffering to bring about true social change.”

HumansProblemSufferingSocialAbilityResponsibilityEconomicMajoritySolveEnormousOfficialsDictatorCatastropheSocial ChangeHuman SufferingElected Officials
Author:Jacque Fresco
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“Social change cannot come above the intellect, it comes about by people suffering. And the more people are related to that, the more they lose respect for an existing government. They will seek another direction. If there are too many people who seek a new direction, then the existing government calls upon the army and police to manage society – that is called fascism.”

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Author:Jacque Fresco
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“When we generate utopian visions and hope to make them happen soon – when we elect Barack Obama and expect all our problems to be solved, and solved quickly, by his presidency – the outcome is both predictable and tragic. That is not the way to engage social change in a democracy. And it is not the way to help democracy itself survive and thrive. Democracy is a non-stop experiment. Each generation must help sustain it, which means being in it day-by-day for the long haul.”

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Author:Parker J. Palmer
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“Those who make us believe that anything’s possible and fire our imagination over the long haul, are often the ones who have survived the bleakest of circumstances. The men and women who have every reason to despair, but don’t, may have the most to teach us, not only about how to hold true to our beliefs, but about how such a life can bring about seemingly impossible social change.”

MenBelieveMayLongReasonBeliefSocialImaginationTeachFireImpossibleHe ManCircumstancesDespairMen And WomenSurvivedSocial ChangeHaulLong Haul
Author:Paul Rogat Loeb
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“Family life is the source of the greatest human happiness. This happiness is the simplest and least costly kind, and it cannot be purchased with money. But it can be increased if we do two things: if we recognize and uphold the essential values of family life and if we get and keep control of the process of social change so as to make it give us what is needed to make family life perform its essential functions.”

IfsLifeGivingHumansKindTwoLife IsValuesSocialProcessMoneySourceNeededEssentialsFunctionTwo ThingsSimplestSocial ChangeFamily LifeFamily ValuesHuman Happiness
Author:Robert J. Havighurst
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“Ninety-nine percent of the time humans have lived on this planet we've lived in tribes, groups of 12 to 36 people. Only during times of war, or what we have now, which is the psychological equivalent of war, does the nuclear family prevail, because it's the most mobile unit that can ensure the survival of the species. But for the full flowering of the human spirit we need groups, tribes.”

PeopleNeedsHumansDoeWarSpiritChangeGroupsPlanetsSurvivalPercentSpeciesNuclearNinePsychologicalCollaborationUnitsTribesSocial ChangeHuman SpiritNinetyMobileFloweringNinety NineNuclear Families
Author:Margaret Mead
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“Mysticism has often been misunderstood as the attempt to escape this simple, phenomenal world to a more pure existence in heaven beyond. This is not mysticism, but Gnosticism. Biblical mysticism is the attempt to exit 'this world' to an alternative reality that pervades the old order. Its goal is to jettison the mind-set that says 'greed is good,' selfishness is normal,' and 'killing is necessary.' Mysticism in biblical terms is not escapism, as so many have caricatured it, but a fight for ethics and social change.”

WorldMindRealityOrderFightingHeavenSocialGoalTermSimpleExistenceThis WorldPureNormalEthicsKillingGreedAlternativesSelfishnessMysticismBiblicalSocial ChangeMisunderstoodExitPhenomenalEscapismMind SetGnosticismGreed Is Good
Author:Walter Wink
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