best quotations about
Adaptation |
and Flexibility
| 55 quotes | Visits: 5,673 |
Quotations
 | It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. — Charles Darwin, 1809-1882, British scientist 36 likes |
 | We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people. — Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860, German philosopher 12 likes |
| Building a better mousetrap merely results in smarter mice. — Charles Darwin, 1809-1882, British scientist 12 likes |
 | There is nothing in the world more soft and weak than water, yet for attacking things that are hard and strong there is nothing that surpasses it, nothing that can take its place. — Lao-Tzu, 6th cent. BC, Chinese philosopher 11 likes |
 | The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. — George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish writer, Nobel 1925 9 likes |
 | Human nature is like water. It takes the shape of its container. — Wallace Stevens, 1879-1955, American poet 8 likes |
 | If you haven’t the strength to impose your own terms upon life, then you must accept the terms it offers you. — T. S. Eliot, 1888-1965, British poet, Nobel 1948 7 likes |
 | When in Rome, do as the Romans do. — St. Ambrose, 340-397, Bishop of Milan, Church Father 7 likes |
 | I am sometimes a fox and sometimes a lion. The whole secret of government lies in knowing when to be the one or the other. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 7 likes |
 | Whatever the hell happens, say, “This is what I need.” — Joseph Campbell, 1904-1987, American academic 7 likes |
 | Whoever says that he “belongs to his time” is only saying that he agrees with the largest number of fools at that moment. — Nicolas Gomez Davila, 1913-1994, Colombian writer 6 likes |
| The greater the man, the less is he opinionative, he depends upon events and circumstances. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 5 likes |
 | Man’s unique reward, however, is that while animals survive by adjusting themselves to their background, man survives by adjusting his background to himself — Ayn Rand, 1905-1982, American writer & philosopher 5 likes |
 | The difference between a movie star and a movie actor is this: a movie star will say, “How can I change the script to suit me?” and a movie actor will say. “How can I change me to suit the script?” — Michael Caine, 1933-, English actor 5 likes |
 | I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. — Bill Cosby, 1937-, American comedian 4 likes |
 | When you can’t change the direction of the wind, adjust your sails. — H. Jackson Brown, Jr., 1940-2021, American self-help writer 4 likes |
 | Instead of chopping yourself down to fit the world, chop the world down to fit yourself. — D. H. Lawrence, 1885-1930, British writer 4 likes |
 | Take the tone of the company you are in. — Lord Chesterfield, 1694-1773, English statesman & writer 3 likes |
 | With a gentleman I am always a gentleman and a half, and with a fraud I try to be a fraud and a half. — Otto von Bismarck, 1815-1898, German chancellor 3 likes |
 | You can’t help what you feel, but you can help how you behave. — Margaret Atwood, 1939 -, Canadian writer 3 likes |
 | Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place. — Rumi, 1207-1273, Persian mystic & poet 3 likes |
 | Today the atomic bomb has altered profoundly the nature of the world as we know it, and the human race consequently finds itself in a new habitat to which it must adapt its thinking. — Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, German-Jewish physicist 2 likes |
 | Often a person endowed with superior qualities cannot adapt to society. People don’t go to the market with gold bars. They go with coins. — Nicolas Chamfort, 1740-1794, French writer 2 likes |
| If all you can do is crawl, start crawling. — Rumi, 1207-1273, Persian mystic & poet 2 likes |
 | The dinosaurs disappeared because they could not adapt to their changing environment. We shall disappear if we cannot adapt to an environment that now contains spaceships, computers — and thermonuclear weapons. — Arthur Clarke, 1917-2008, British Sci-Fi writer 2 likes |
 | The ideal place for me is the one in which it is most natural to live as a foreigner. |
 | I present myself to you in a form suitable to the relationship I wish to achieve with you. |
 | Better mad with the rest of the world than wise alone. |
 | It is a poor mind that would think with the multitude, because it is multitude. Truth is not altered by the opinions of the vulgar, or by confirmations of the many. |
| “Finding himself,” for modern man, means dissolving himself in any collective entity. |
 | The only distinction that democracies reward is a high degree of conformity. |
 | When my friends are one-eyed, I look at them in profile. |
 | An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior. |
 | No one can be good for long, if goodness is not in demand. |
 | There's not much need for prophets who are in synch with their society. |
| He who integrates is lost. |
| People know what they want because they know what other people want. |
 | The true wisdom is to be always seasonable, and to change with a good grace in changing circumstances. |
 | There are many people for whom “thinking” necessarily means identifying with existing trends. — Marshall McLuhan, 1911-1980, Canadian academic & media theorist |
 | Rather hang thyself than belong to the horde of successful imitators. — Sri Aurobindo, 1872-1950, Indian nationalist, yogi & philosopher |
 | A man who is ill-adjusted to the world is always on the verge of finding himself. One who is adjusted to the world never finds himself, but gets to be a cabinet minister. |
 | In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone. — John Kenneth Galbraith, 1908-2006, American-Canadian economist |
 | There is no salvation in becoming adapted to a world which is crazy. |
| Whatever there be of progress in life comes not through adaptation but through daring. |
 | I don't mind living in a man's world, as long as I can be a woman in it. |
 | There is not secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves. |
 | The more one pleases everybody, the less one pleases profoundly. |
| To think like everybody else is a recipe for prosperity and stupidity. |
Latin Quotes
 | Homeland is where your life is good. Ubi bene, ibi patria. 45 likes |
Ancient Greek
 | We live, not as we wish to, but as we can. Ζώμεν γαρ ού ως θέλομεν, αλλ’ ως δυνάμεθα. — Menander, 4th cent. BC, Ancient Greek dramatist (New Comedy) 48 likes |
 | For the wise is easy to go anywhere. Because the whole world is home for a good soul. Ανδρί σοφώ πάσα γη βατή, ψυχής γαρ αγαθής πατρίς ο ξύμπας κόσμος. — Democritus, 470-370 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 10 likes |
Proverbs
 | At war as at war. A la guerre comme a la guerre. 3 likes |
 | If the cap fits, wear it. 3 likes |
 | In the company of the blind, close your eyes. 2 likes |
