Quotes About Stagnation

I've lived all these years among those who create nothing and change nothing,' I said. 'Actors and musicians-they're saints to me.

The silent ebb and flow of life without change seemed deadly to me.

Sifting through these layers of belongings while Ira stood mute behind her, Maggie had a sudden view of her life as circular. It forever repeated itself, and it was entirely lacking in hope.

The truth was that lately, she had not had quite enough happening in her life. She and her husband had moved this past fall to a golfing community outside of Tucson. (Peter was passionate about golf. Willa didn't even know how to play.) She had had to leave behind an ESL teaching job that she loved, and she was hoping to find another one, but she hadn't exactly looked into that yet. She seemed to be sort of paralyzed

She didn't even know if she liked them, in fact, and perhaps she didn't like them, but by now it hardly mattered because how would she ever start over with somebody new, at this point?

she grew numbly, wearily certain that there was no such thing on this earth as real change. You could change husbands, but not the situation. You could change who, but not what. We're all just spinning here, she thought, and she pictured the world as a little blue teacup, revolving like those rides at Kiddie Land where everyone is pinned to his place by centrifugal force.

The Cul-de-Sac ( French for dead end ) ... is a situation where you work and work and work and nothing much changes

Our culture works hard to prevent change.

If you're trying to succeed in a job or a relationship or at a task, you're either moving forward, falling behind, or standing still. There are only three choices. To

Those who fear risk also begin to fear movement of any kind.

Doug has hit a plateau. He's not going to be challenged, pushed, or promoted to president. Doug, regardless of what he could actually accomplish, has stopped evolving—at least in the eyes of the people who matter.

Forward motion isn't the default state of any group of people, particularly groups with lots of people.

Curious people count. Not because there are a lot of them, but because they're the ones who talk to people who are in a stupor. They're the ones who lead the masses in the middle who are stuck. The masses in the middle have brainwashed themselves into thinking it's safe to do nothing, which the curious can't abide.

I stupidly hoped that time would stand still if I stayed still.

Most people would rather suffer through a bad situation than take steps needed to free themselves...

He looked as though his life had not only passed him by but paused along the way to spit in his face.

What really is wild about rock 'n' roll? Nothing. It's so banal and so part of corporate culture. It threatens to lose all its life.

Insanity is coasting through life.

We're repeating the same things all the time; there aren't many new things happening in this life.

Nothing moves at the Hotel New Hampshire! We're screwed down here-for life!

Her life was like running on a treadmill or riding on a stationary bike; it was aerobic, it was healthy, but she wasn't going anywhere.

If she wasn't careful, she'd slide without a ripple into the gently flowing stream of her old life, pulled back under the current without a wimper of protest. Another housewife lost in the flow.

Italians still know how to enjoy life, even as the country seems stuck in place.

Most of us plateau when we lose the tension between where we are and where we ought to be.