Improvement Quotes - Page 39

• The quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in those mental attitudes and values which shape the course of a nation's development. A revolution which aims merely at changing official policies and institutions with a view to an improvement in material conditions has little chance of genuine success. Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration.

  Aung San Suu Kyi

  Attitude, Views, Order

  "Freedom from Fear". Book by Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991.

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• They say that each generation inherits from those that have gone before; if this were so there would be no limit to man's improvements or to his power of reaching perfection. But he is very far from receiving intact that storehouse of knowledge which the centuries have piled up before him; he may perfect some inventions, but in others, he lags behind the originators, and a great many inventions have been lost entirely. What he gains on the one hand, he loses on the other.

  Eugene Delacroix

  Men, Hands, Perfect

  "The Journal of Eugene Delacroix : A Selection". Book edited by Hubert Wellington, translated by Lucy Norton, p. 256, 1980.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Your man with a thin skin, a vehement ambition, a scrupulous conscience, and a sanguine desire for rapid improvement is never a happy, and seldom a fortunate politician.

  Anthony Trollope

  Ambition, Men, Desire

  Anthony Trollope (2016). “Anthony Trollope: The Chronicles of Barsetshire & The Palliser Novels (Unabridged): The Warden + The Barchester Towers + Doctor Thorne + Framley Parsonage + The Small House at Allington + The Last Chronicle of Barset + Can You Forgive Her? + The Prime Minister + Eustace Diamonds...”, p.4904, e-artnow (Open Publishing)

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• A genuinely fundamental and hopeful improvement in "systems" cannot happen without a significant shift in human consciousness.

  Vaclav Havel

  Hopeful, Fundamentals, Consciousness

  "Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Hvížďala". Book by Václav Havel, translated by Paul Wilson. Chapter 1: "Growing Up Outside'", p. 17, 1990.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Beneficent spirals, operating by benign feedback, mean that everything needful is not required at once: each individual improvement is beneficial for the whole

  Jane Jacobs

  Mean, Individual, Feedback

  Jane Jacobs (2007). “Dark Age Ahead”, p.175, Vintage

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• The correct relationship between the higher and lower classes, the appropriate mutual interaction between the two is, as such, the true underlying support on which the improvement of the human species rests. The higher classes constitute the mind of the single large whole of humanity; the lower classes constitute its limbs; the former are the thinking and designing [ Entwerfende ] part, the latter the executive part.

  Johann Gottlieb Fichte

  Thinking, Class, Two

  "The System of Ethics According to the Principles of the Wissenschaftslehre". Book by Johann Gottlieb Fichte, 1798.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• It would clearly not be an improvement to build all houses exactly alike in order to create a perfect market for houses, and the same is true of most other fields where differences between the individual products prevent competition from ever being perfect.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Order, Differences, Perfect

  "Individualism and Economic Order". Book by Friedrich Hayek, The Meaning of Competition, May 1946.

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• A correct theory is the first step towards improvement, by showing what we need and what we might accomplish.

  William Stanley Jevons

  Needs, Might, Firsts

  William Stanley Jevons (1871). “The Theory of Political Economy”, p.14

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• [I]f we could have devised an arrangement for providing everybody with music in their homes, perfect in quality, unlimited in quantity, suited to every mood, and beginning and ceasing at will, we should have considered the limit of human felicity already attained, and ceased to strive for further improvements.

  Edward Bellamy

  Home, Should Have, Perfect

  Edward Bellamy (2016). “Looking Backward, 2000 to 1887: American literature”, p.56, VM eBooks

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Coming here, I sharpened and fine-tuned everything I had and needed. What I thought of as myself as a performer, I looked back and was like, ‘Wow, I improved from where I was.’ I thought I was ready and then saw the improvements I made which were unbelievable. It makes the transition from down here to up there (the WWE roster) so much easier because you’re prepared for what they need you to do. It’s not like you’re jumping into a whole other world. You’re prepared for what they need.

  Bo Dallas

  Other Worlds, Wwe, Jumping

  8 Copy quote

• Previously I always thought it was just tactical and technique, but every match has become almost mental and physical - I try to push myself to move well. I try to push myself not to get upset and stay positive, and that's what my biggest improvement is over all those years. Under pressure I can see things very clear.

  Roger Federer

  Moving, Years, Stay Positive

  "Federer's mental powers keep record in sight" by Richard Jago, www.theguardian.com. March 5, 2007.

  72 Copy quote

  Show source

• In most cases the favorable price performance will be accompanied by a well-defined improvement in the average earnings, in the dividend, and in the balance-sheet position. Thus in the long run the market test and the ordinary business test of a successful equity commitment tend to be largely identical.

  Benjamin Graham

  Running, Commitment, Successful

  Benjamin Graham (1959). “The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel”

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• My philosophy and my belief was that there was a long way for us to go in improving what we had ever known before, that this country of ours was a country of constant improvement. And so I thought that, well, what my whole approach was based on the promise of a better America.

  Ronald Reagan

  Country, Philosophy, America

  6 Copy quote

• Communities now find themselves in possession of improvements [resulting from the WPA] which even in 1929 they would have thought themselves presumptuous to dream of... [but] everywhere there had been an overhauling of the word presumptuous. We are beginning to wonder if it is not presumptuous to take for granted that some people should have much, and some should have nothing; that some people are less important than others and should die earlier; that the children of the comfortable should be taller and fatter, as a matter of right, than the other children of the poor.

  Harry Hopkins

  Dream, Children, Should Have

  "Spending to Save: The Complete Story of Relief". Book by Harry Lloyd Hopkins, p. 184, 1936.

  27 Copy quote

  Show source

• If you're like most people, you've always wanted something better for your life - it's really how we are designed - we're supposed to want improvement, and we're designed to climb upward. But most people stop at that - the WANT. They rarely take any action that actually begins moving their dreams into true reality!

  Bob Proctor

  Dream, Moving, Reality

  FaceBook post by Bob Proctor from Dec 15, 2011

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• The desire for success is inherent within all of us. It is a part of our nature to want to grow, to improve the quality of our lives. However, nothing improves by accident, it requires conscious attention. When you are being bombarded by negatives, improvement, growth and success are easy to forget.

  Bob Proctor

  Bombarded By, Growth, Desire

  FaceBook post by Bob Proctor from Jan 24, 2012

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Boredom has to be the most life sapping, mental disease you can be afflicted with.The most accurate definition of boredom I have ever heard is this - Boredom is the absence of a creative idea. But there is a simple cure - begin to think immediately of a better way to do something. The creative juices are within you but you must turn on the tap. Those who are bored are not living; they are dying. When their heart stops beating, it will be a mere formality. The best way to do anything has never been thought of. Get on a creative improvement kick and jar others mentally into the same activity.

  Bob Proctor

  Heart, Simple, Thinking

  FaceBook post by Bob Proctor from Apr 28, 2012

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Every improvement in our conceptions of justice, as well as in the machinery for the administration of justice, whereby a closer approximation to exact justice may be secured, will make for social peace, though the mere adjudication of conflicting interests will not remove the conflicts themselves nor their cause. That lies deeper than legislatures or courts can probe.

  Thomas Nixon Carver

  Lying, Justice, May

  Thomas Nixon Carver (1915). “Essays in Social Justice”, Harvard university press

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Maybe the growth of "God" signifies the existence of God. That is: if history naturally pushes people toward moral improvement, toward moral growth, and their God, as they conceive their God, grows accordingly, becoming morally richer, then maybe this growth is evidence of some higher purpose, and maybe - conceivably - the source of that purpose is worthy of the name divinity.

  Robert Wright

  Moral Growth, Names, People

  Robert Wright (2010). “The Evolution Of God: The origins of our beliefs”, p.181, Hachette UK

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• The prevailing tendency to regard all the marked distinctions of human character as innate, and in the main indelible, and to ignore the irresistible proofs that by far the greater part of those differences, whether between individuals, races, or sexes are such as not only might but naturally would be produced by differences in circumstances, is one of the chief hinderances to the rational treatment of great social questions, and one of the greatest stumbling blocks to human improvement.

  John Stuart Mill

  Sex, Block, Character

  John Stuart Mill (2009). “Autobiography of John Stuart Mill”, p.270, The Floating Press

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• All recognized famous inventors had capable predecessors and successors and made their improvements at a time when society was capable of using their product.

  Jared Diamond

  Invention, Made, Inventor

  Jared Diamond (2017). “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies”, p.214, W. W. Norton & Company

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• We want to ensure a multilateral development of society, the thriving of all sides of social life, economy, science and culture, the improvement of management, the moulding of the new man and the promotion of socialist ethics and equity.

  Nicolae Ceausescu

  Men, Culture, Want

  Nicolae Ceaușescu (1983). “Nicolae Ceaușescu, builder of modern Romania and international statesman”, Pergamon

  43 Copy quote

  Show source

• Triumphant capitalism has unleashed a powerful drive toward inequality, not improvement, in the social sphere.

  Herbert Schiller

  Powerful, Spheres, Social

  "Living In The Number One Country". Book by Herbert Schiller, 2000.

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• I do not compare the past with the present without a prejudice for either, but, great as the improvement in country life is in many respects, it seems a pity the old cheap, wholesome dishes have gone to make way for tinned and preserved foods.

  Flora Thompson

  Country, Past, Prejudice

  "The Peverel Papers: A Yearbook of the Countryside". Book by Flora Thompson. August Chapter, 1986.

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• One of the leading causes of divorce is sexual incompatibility. Why not mandate premarital sex, overseen, of course, by the Marriage Board to ensure that it was carried out and completed as required? The final exam question could be: "Was it good for you two?" For good measure, the engaged couple should be required to work together on a home improvement project like installing a kitchen sink or finishing a basement. That's the ultimate test of a marital relationship.

  Mike Rosen

  Sex, Couple, Home

  4 Copy quote