Challenging Status Quo Quotes

• Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Change, Ideas, Challenges

  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2013). “"In a Single Garment of Destiny": A Global Vision of Justice”, p.19, Beacon Press

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

  Warren G. Bennis

  Inspirational, Encouragement, Leader

  Warren G. Bennis, Patricia Ward Biederman (2009). “The Essential Bennis”, p.210, John Wiley & Sons

  90 Copy quote

  Show source

• the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

  Steve Jobs

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  203 Copy quote

• Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in'.

  Ronald Reagan

  Business, Latin, Political

  "Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

  41 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Philosophical, Challenging The Status Quo, Want

  38 Copy quote

• Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.

  Walter Isaacson

  Change, Success, Meaningful

  Walter Isaacson (2011). “Walter Isaacson Great Innovators e-book boxed set: Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, Einstein”, p.415, Simon and Schuster

  39 Copy quote

  Show source

• Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently - they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

  Steve Jobs

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  229 Copy quote

• If there is dissatisfaction with the status quo, good. If there is ferment, so much the better. If there is restlessness, I am pleased. Then let there be ideas, and hard thought, and hard work. If man feels small, let man make himself bigger.

  Hubert H. Humphrey

  Hard Work, Men, Ideas

  13 Copy quote

• People who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral but in favor of the status quo.

  Max Eastman

  People, Diversity, Favors

  Max Eastman (1951). “Enjoyment of Poetry with Anthology”

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• It will always be a battle a day between those who want maximum change and those who want to maintain the status quo.

  Gerry Adams

  Maintaining The Status Quo, Battle, Challenging The Status Quo

  Gerry Adams (2007). “An Irish Eye”, Brandon Books

  53 Copy quote

  Show source

• Comedy is to force us to observe ourselves in ways that are humorous and yet, at the end of the day, that cause us enough discomfort with the status quo to make a change.

  Michael Eric Dyson

  Humorous, The End Of The Day, Challenging The Status Quo

  "Michael Eric Dyson and 'Is Bill Cosby Right?'". Interview with Ed Gordon, www.npr.org. May 11, 2005.

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  People, Political, Social Activism

  Methodist Student Leadership Conference Address, delivered 1964, Lincoln, Nebraska

  48 Copy quote

  Show source

• Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke. That's their natural and first weapon. She will need her sisterhood.

  Gloria Steinem

  War, Dirty, Army

  Ms., Spring 1972

  59 Copy quote

  Show source

• One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change. Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions. Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Inspirational, Change, Sleep

  113 Copy quote

• 'Hispanic' is English for a person of Latino origin who wants to be accepted by the white status quo. 'Latino' is the word we have always used for ourselves.

  Sandra Cisneros

  White, Challenging The Status Quo, Want

  FaceBook post by Sandra Cisneros from Sep 20, 2014

  123 Copy quote

  Show source

• I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It's still my symbol of rebellion -- against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others' ideas.

  Johnny Cash

  Mean, Ideas, People

  209 Copy quote

• Faith in God's revelation has nothing to do with an ideology which glorifies the status quo.

  Karl Barth

  God, Challenging The Status Quo, Revelations

  "An Almanac of the Christian Church". Book by William D. Blake, 1987.

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• I've never been one who enjoys maintaining the status quo. I'm always pushing for new ideas, whether it's in business or philanthropy.

  Eli Broad

  Maintaining The Status Quo, Ideas, Challenging The Status Quo

  7 Copy quote

• A faction willing to take the risks of making war on the ossified status quo in the Middle East can be described as many things, but not as conservative.

  Christopher Hitchens

  War, Risk, East

  6 Copy quote

• Punk was originally about creating new, important, energetic music that would hopefully threaten the status quo and the stupidity of the 1970s.

  Jello Biafra

  Creating, Stupidity, Important

  Interview with John Krewson, www.avclub.com. April 9, 1997.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• We have Christians against Muslims against Jews, and no matter how liberal your theology, merely identifying yourself as a Christian or a Jew lends tacit validity to this status quo. People have morally identified with a subset of humanity rather than with humanity as a whole.

  Sam Harris

  Christian, People, Humanity

  12 Copy quote

• I think black Americans expect too much from individual black Americans in terms of changing the status quo.

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  Basketball, Thinking, Black

  7 Copy quote

• Our politicians may fail us, but Status Quo always delivers on the promise.

  Ian Anderson

  Promise, Challenging The Status Quo, May

  7 Copy quote

• The true enemies of Social Security and Medicare are those who defend an imploding status quo.

  Mitch Daniels

  Enemy, Challenging The Status Quo, Social

  Keynote Speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee, delivered 11 February 2011, Ronald Reagan Centennial Dinner, Washington, D.C.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• I'm a harsh critic of the status quo.

  Andrew Cuomo

  Challenging The Status Quo, Harsh, Critics

  "The (Real) Governator". Interview With Lisa Depaulo, www.gq.com. December 14, 2011.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source