If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.
Interpretation
To maintain the current state of affairs, we must embrace change.
This quote suggests that stagnation is not an option; if we desire continuity in our lives or circumstances, we must be willing to adapt and modify our actions and approaches. It highlights the paradoxical nature of stability, implying that true consistency can only be achieved through proactive change.
In practice
In a discussion about innovation and progress in a company meeting.
All this shouldn't last; but it will, always; the human 'always' of course, a century, two centuries... and after that it will be different, but worse. We were the Leopards, the Lions; those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth.
If we want everything to remain as it is, it will be necessary for everything to change.
The Nation has not yet found peace from its sins; the freedman has not yet found in freedom his promised land. Whatever of good may have come in these years of change, the shadow of a deep disappointment rests upon the Negro people,βa disappointment all the more bitter because the unattained ideal was unbounded save by the simple ignorance of a lowly people.
We've taken bold action at home by making historic investments in renewable energy, by putting our people to work increasing efficiency in our homes and buildings, and by pursuing comprehensive legislation to transform to a clean energy economy.
We are losing our living systems, social systems, cultural systems, governing systems, stability, and our constitutional health, and we're surrendering it all at the same time.
The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.
We have seen a man dragged to death in Texas simply because he was black. A young man murdered in Wyoming simply because he was gay. In the last year alone, we've seen the shootings of African Americans, Asian Americans, and Jewish children simply because of who they were. This is not the American way. We must draw the line. Without delay, we must pass the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. And we should reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.
I hope the day will never come when the American nation will be the champion of the status quo. Once that happens, we shall have forfeited, and rightly forfeited, the support of the unsatisfied, of those who are the victims of inevitable imperfections, of those who, young in years or spirit, believe that they can make a better world and of those who dream dreams and want to make their dreams to come true.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.