Quotes About Change

Every time I write an article pointing out there is no scientific consensus on the extent of man-made - as opposed to natural - climate change, or that attacks on genetically modified food are flawed, I am accused, quite seriously, of being on the payroll of Monsanto or Western Mining.

I think our Western society is very much about, 'Tuck your head in; make sure you're safe. Don't rock the boat.'

I've wanted to see beyond the Western, mechanical view of the world and see what else might appear when the lens was changed.

People who have reached France or other prosperous western democracies are still desperate to come to the U.K. Because we live here too, we don't want that desirability to change. So let's have an asylum system that can cope.

Finally, I have to say that the most surprising aspect has been the speed at which the folks in India adapt to Western practices. They learn fast, really, really fast.

We are here because we are determined to offer the people of the Western Cape choices which are long overdue.

The one thing I miss is hitchhiking. Now there's no more of that. When's the last time you saw a hitchhiker? It's not that I consider it a great sport, but it was my way of seeing the country. The open road, especially in the western United States, is still very pristine, but everything else around it has changed.

Over the course of my life, I have made many transitions - most of them taking me further away from my Somali roots and steadily toward the enlightened mentality of Western democracy.

We know a way now to make use of democracy, and we know how to change the attitude of people towards government, but yet the majority of people are without vision. We who have prevision must lead them and guide them into the right way if we want to escape the confusions of Western democracy and not follow in the tracks of the West.

Today our books are numberless, and one man cannot master them in a lifetime. Now that the sea-waves are dashing upon our shores, unless we keep pace with the times and acquire Western learning, we shall be left in the lurch.

My play is the ultimate expression of my feeling of the twilight of Western civilization.

We are reminded repeatedly, often by older men, that western civilization has died on the altar of social media.

All I can say is that we cannot shut our eyes to Western culture if that is not going to suit ours.

There is something intrinsically, systemically wrong with white, western culture, and if we don't fix it, it won't continue.

My parents separated soon after I was born, so I left Helsinki when I was a year old. My mother took me to Paris and then other places throughout Western Europe.

Inertia is a powerful force in human and political affairs.

To be happy about the fall of one powerful man is to know there are another 10 that need to follow.

Whatever he does in office, no man can live up to the high expectations of the world, but we have been changed by his election. Obama's inauguration is a historic global achievement, a major milestone in the journey of a powerful nation.

The reality of Barack Obama being the president of the United States - quite possibly the most powerful nation in the world - means that the image of power is completely new for an entire generation of not only black American kids but every population group in this nation.

To me, the most powerful people in this country, politically, are mayors. If you took all the mayors of the 25 biggest cities and you got them together, you could do more on that level than you ever could through the bureaucracy in Washington.

It is in the power of every individual to do that which the community as a whole is powerless to effect.

Are we like late Rome, infatuated with past glories, ruled by a complacent, greedy elite, and hopelessly powerless to respond to changing conditions?

There's nothing more paralysing or more likely to make people fall into a malaise of believing they are powerless than just hearing that everything's negative and everything's shot to bits. It's really important that we know we can change this planet for the better and that every single one of us, no matter how small we may feel, has that power.

We know that Brexit would make our poorest communities poorer still. That it would make the powerless even less able to effect change.