Constraints Quotes - Page 13

• I write the way you might arrange flowers. Not every try works, but each one launches another. Every constraint, even dullness, frees up a new design.

  Richard Powers

  Flower, Writing, Design

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• Every event has a cause-that is ... for every event e1 there exists an event e2 (or a class of events e2, e3 ...) which precedes e1 and of which e1 is a necessary consequence.... If we assent to this statement then your "choice" to do A rather than B, whatever may have been at the time your sensation of freedom from any constraint, was entirely necessitated. You could not have done otherwise and hence, according to this conception of freedom, were not free.

  Ermanno Bencivenga

  Freedom, Class, Choices

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• In most organizational change efforts, it is much easier to draw on the strengths of the culture than to overcome the constraints by changing the culture.

  Edgar Schein

  Effort, Overcoming, Culture

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• The demands of unbounded individualism need to be weighed in the light of inherent social constraints which can only change their form but cannot be eliminated without eliminating civilization.

  Thomas Sowell

  Light, Civilization, Society

  Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.107, Basic Books

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• We in the network world are used to having time constraints and saying only what you have already thought through 150 times, because you don't have that much expansive opportunity.

  Chris Cuomo

  Opportunity, World, Used

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• Managers construct, rearrange, single out, and demolish many 'objective' features of their surroundings. When people act they unrandomize variables, insert vestiges of orderliness, and literally create their own constraints.

  Karl E. Weick

  People, Variables, Orderliness

  "Social Psychology of Organizing". Book by Karl E. Weick, p. 243, 1979.

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• The reason for you complaint lies, it seems to me, in the constraint which your intellect imposes upon your imagination. Here I will make an observation, and illustrate it by an allegory. Apparently, it is not good-and indeed it hinders the creative work of the mind-if the if the intellect examines too closely the ideas pouring in, as it were, at the gates.

  Friedrich Schiller

  Lying, Ideas, Imagination

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• [M]odern society is indeed often, at least in surface appearance, nothing but a collection of strangers, each pursuing his or her own interests under minimal constraints.

  Alasdair MacIntyre

  Culture, Stranger, Appearance

  Alasdair MacIntyre (2013). “After Virtue”, p.290, A&C Black

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• The constraints that humankind has set upon itself are so narrow, so rigid. If you don't wear your clothes one day, they'll lock you up. That's a pretty simple action.

  Frederick Lenz

  Buddhism, Simple, Clothes

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• Generosity is also an act of freedom, a casting off of the constraints of prudence and self-interest.

  Marilynne Robinson

  Casting Off, Self, Generosity

  "What A Shy Waitress Taught Me About Generosity" by Marilynne Robinson, www.huffingtonpost.com. November 2, 2013.

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• A man's worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes.

  Thomas Huxley

  Freedom, Men, Able

  "Address on University Education" (1876)

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• All constraint, / Except what wisdom lays on evil men, / Is evil.

  William Cowper

  Men, Evil, Lays

  William Cowper (1872). “The poetical works of William Cowper: Complete ed., with memoir, explanatory notes etc”, p.300

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• London Fashion Week is so different from any of the others. Compared to the strictness in New York, London seems freer from commercial constraints. Truer to the process, to street style, to a sense of humour.

  Alexa Chung

  Fashion, New York, Style

  "Alexa Chung: the forces that move fashion" by Eva Wiseman, www.theguardian.com. March 17, 2012.

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• Working within the constraints of a problem is part of the fun and challenge of design.

  Ellen Lupton

  Fun, Design, Challenges

  Ellen Lupton, Jennifer Cole Phillips (2014). “Graphic Design: The New Basics”, p.160, Chronicle Books

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• But the whole history of America is quite different from Europe. People went there to get away from the intolerance and constraints of life in Europe. They sought liberty and opportunity; and their strong sense of purpose has over two centuries, helped create a new unity and pride in being American.

  Margaret Thatcher

  Strong, Pride, Opportunity

  Margaret Thatcher (1988). “Britain and Europe: Text of the Prime Minister's Speech at Bruges on 20th September 1988”

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• If the truth is boring, civilization is irksome. The constraints inherent in civilized living are frustrating in innumerable ways. Yet those with the vision of the anointed often see these constraints as only arbitrary impositions, things from which they-and we all-can be 'liberated.' The social disintegration which has followed in the wake of such liberation has seldom provoked any serious reconsideration of the whole set of assumptions-the vision-which led to such disasters. That vision is too well insulated from feedback.

  Thomas Sowell

  Civilization, Vision, Arbitrary

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• What does this contradictory pattern mean?one conclusion seems inevitable: when it comes to work, people do not heed the evidence of their senses. They disregard the quality of immediate experience, and base their motivation instead on the strongly rooted cultural stereotype of what work is supposed to be like. They think of it as an imposition, a constraint, an infringement of their freedom, and therefore something to be avoided as much as possible.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Motivation, Mean, Thinking

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

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• To gain customer insights, we must understand that we are prisoners of what we know and what we believe.

  Mohanbir Sawhney

  Believe, Innovation, Gains

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• Obedience allows God’s blessings to flow without constraint. He will bless His obedient children with freedom from bondage and misery. And He will bless them with more light.

  Russell M. Nelson

  Children, Blessing, Light

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• Focus on the opportunities, not on the constraints.

  Paul Laseau

  Opportunity, Focus

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• Problems are hidden opportunities and constraints can actually boost creativity. If you have some crazy ideas in your mind, and that people tell you that it's impossible to make, well, that's an even better reason to want to do it, because people have a tendency to see the problems rather than the final result, whereas if you start to deal with problems as being your allies rather than your opponents, life will start to dance with you in the most amazing way.

  Martin Villeneuve

  Crazy, Creativity, Opportunity

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• The difference between a good educator and a great educator is that the former figures out how to work within the constraints of traditional policies and accepted assumptions, whereas the latter figures out how to change whatever gets in the way of doing right by kids. 'But we've always...', 'But the parents will never...', 'But we can't be the only school in the area to...' - all such protestations are unpersuasive to great educators. If research and common sense argue for doing things differently, then the question isn't whether to change course but how to make it happen.

  Alfie Kohn

  School, Kids, Differences

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• It's easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out-of-date.

  Roger von Oech

  Inspirational, Letting Go, Creativity

  Roger Von Oech (1986). “A Kick in the Seat of the Pants: Using Your Explorer, Artist, Judge, & Warrior to Be More Creative”, Harper Perennial

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• Since the nation's founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die, but then are reborn in new form, tailored to the needs and constraints of the time.

  Michelle Alexander

  African American, Crow, Needs

  Michelle Alexander (2013). “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness”, p.21, The New Press

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• Where resources are plentiful (i.e. no constraints), you will find very little creativity. Where resources are scarce (i.e. many constraints), you will find an abundance of creativity.

  Andy Murray

  Creativity, Littles, Abundance

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