Quotes: Chance. Change.

The bold-face print is an interpretation of the quote that follows.

Chance
Chance 44 Chance appears to us to have been designed. "It may be that the whims of chance are really the importunities of design; but if there is a design, it aims to look natural and fortuitous; that is how it gets us into its web." Mary McCarthy. 1962. Gross, ed. Oxford Book of Aphorisms.

Chance 90 Experiments and chance made him successful. "...his [Pasteur’s] instinct to do experiments, this instinct--and the Goddess of Chance came together to save him." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Change
Change 254 "All things change and we change with them." Latin. Dictionary of Foreign Terms

Change 6 "...for time is the greatest innovator...." F. Bacon, “Of Innovations.” 1621. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 6 "...retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as an innovation; and they that reverence too much old times, are but a scorn to the new." F. Bacon, “Of Innovations.” 1621. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 6 Change is best when it is gradual and hardly noticed. "It were good therefore that men in their innovations would follow the example of time itself; which indeed innovateth greatly, but quietly, and by degrees scarce to be perceived." F. Bacon, “Of Innovations.” 1621. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 6 It is best not to experiment unless the need is urgent and the usefulness obvious. "It is good also not to try experiments...except the necessity be urgent, or the utility evident...." F. Bacon, “Of Innovations.” 1621. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 6 Don't reject novelty, but be suspicious of it. "And lastly, that the novelty, though it not be rejected, yet be held for a suspect...." F. Bacon, “Of Innovations.” 1621. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 171 For all times, conservatives and innovators have battled. "The two parties which divide the state, the party of conservatism and that of innovation, are very old and have disputed the possession of the world ever since it was made." Emerson, “The Conservative.” 1841. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 354 "All movements go too far...." Bertrand Russell. “On Being Modern-Minded.” 1950. Gross, ed. Essays.

Change 17 I'll change when I see reasons that I can accept. Leeuwenhoek: "My determination is not to remain stubbornly with my ideas but I’ll leave them and go over to others as soon as I am shown plausible reasons which I can grasp." DeKruif, Microbe Hunters.

Change 214 My mind is open, but my life is not. "My mind is open to absolutely anything but my life is not; I don’t want to adjust." DeLillo, Underworld.

Change 9 One excuse not to change: fear of offending our forefathers, who are dead, of course. [In response to new ideas] "…they take refuge in saying, 'These things pleased our forefathers; if only we could match their wisdom' …as if it would involve terrible dangers if anyone were found wiser than his forefathers in any matter at all!" Sir Thomas More, Utopia.

Change 34 "The acceleration of change…radically alters the balance between novel and familiar situations." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 46 "Transience: …rate at which our relationships turn over." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 56 Changing technology makes it easier to replace than to repair. "In the past permanence was the ideal [in producing products]…advancing technology tends to lower costs of manufacture much more rapidly than the costs of repair work…becomes cheaper to replace than repair…advancing technology makes it possible to improve the object as time goes by." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 85 Movement is positive, not merely an escape. "But movement becomes a positive value in its own right, an assertion of freedom, not merely a response to or escape from outside pressures." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 217 As innovation takes hold, we lose our sense of mastery. "…will significantly alter the balance that prevails in any society between the familiar and unfamiliar elements in the daily life of its people, between the routine and non-routine, the predictable and unpredictable… “novelty ratio” …as the level of newness or novelty rises, less and less of life appears subject to our routine form of coping behavior…growing weariness and wariness, a pall of pessimism, decline in our sense of mastery." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 326 People can deal with just so much change; there are limits to the amount of change humans can absorb. "It is the thesis of this book that there are discoverable limits to the amount of change that the human organism can absorb, and that by endlessly accelerating change without first determining these limits, we may submit masses of men to demands they simply cannot tolerate." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 320 "In every case, the correlation between change and illness has held." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 332 "…the higher the life change score, the more severe the illness was likely to be." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 359 You can deal with change if it is in a narrow sector of your life. "A second strategy of the future shock victim is specialism…doesn’t block out all novel ideas or information…energetically attempts to keep pace with change…only in a specific narrow sector of life…the physician or financier who makes use of all the latest innovations in his profession, but remains rigidly closed to any suggestion for social, political or economic innovation." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 360 Strategy for dealing with change: stay doggedly with previous decisions and habits. [Another strategy of the future shock victim]: "…sticks to his previously programmed decisions and habits with dogmatic desperation." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 301 Grasps at an idea that seems to explain all the change with which he is faced. [Another strategy of the future shock victim]: "…a single neat equation that will explain all the complex novelties threatening to engulf him…grasping erratically at this idea or that, he becomes a temporary true believer." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 362 Response to too much change: violence. "Violence, too, offers a “simple” way out of burgeoning complexity of choice and general overstimulation." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 377 No change at any time or for any reason. "Nothing is less sensible than the advice of the Duke of Cambridge who is said to have harrumphed: 'Any change at any time, for any reason is to be deplored.' ” Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 378 Find one stabilizing element in order to withstand all the other changes around you. "…existence of what might be called 'stability zones' in their lives—certain enduring relationships that are carefully maintained despite all kinds of other changes. Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 379 Keeping a daily routine is one way to deal with the changes around us. "A…form of stability zone is the habit pattern that goes with the person wherever he travels, no matter what other changes alter his life…same daily regimen wherever he is…reads between eight and nine in the morning, takes forty-five minutes to exercise at lunch time, and then catches a half-hour cat-nap before plunging into work…." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 379 Don't try to suppress change; manage it. "The problem is not, therefore, to suppress change which cannot be done, but to manage it…opt for rapid change in certain sectors of life, we can consciously attempt to build stability zones elsewhere." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 383 "...to create an environment in which change enlivens and enriches the individual, but does not overwhelm him…." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 383 Join with others to face change. "…bringing together people who are sharing or are about to share, a common adaptive experience." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change 393 "In the past, ritual provided an important change-buffer." Toffler, Future Shock.

Change and the individual 35 People must find some part of their lives to anchor them in times of overwhelming change. "…the individual…must search out totally new ways to anchor himself, for all the old roots—religion, nation, community, family, or profession—are now shaking…." Toffler, Future Shock.