Quotes
Quotes about Reform
Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations . . . can never effect a reform.
You do not reform a world by ignoring it.
Tax reform means, 'Don't tax you, don't tax me. Tax that fellow behind the tree.'.
There are two fools in this world. One is the millionaire who thinks that by hoarding money he can somehow accumulate real power, and the other is the penniless reformer who thinks that if only he can take the money from one class and give it to another, all the world's ills will be cured.
I am for Peace, for Retrenchment, and for Reform,--thirty years ago the great watchwords of the great Liberal Party.
Be a pattern to others, and then all will go well; for as a whole city is affected by the licentious passions and vices of great men, so it is likewise reformed by their moderation.
Letters are useful as a means of expressing the ideal self. . . . In letters we can reform without practice, beg without humiliation, snip and shape embarrassing experiences to the measure of our own desires. . . .
Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.
The only way a woman can ever reform her husband is by boring him so completely that he loses all possible interest in life.
A man who marries a woman to educate her falls a victim to the same fallacy as the woman who marries a man to reform him.
Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations ... can never effect a reform. -Susan B. Anthony.
To give up the task of reforming society is to give up one's responsibility as a free man.
At thirty, man suspects himself a fool, Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan; At fifty, chides his infamous delay, Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve, In all the magnanimity of thought; Resolves, and re-resolves, then dies the same. And why? because he thinks himself immortal, All men think all men mortal but themselves.
The term up has no meaning apart from the word down. The term fast has no meaning apart from the term slow. In addition such terms have no meaning even when used together, except when confined to a very particular situation... most of our language about the organization and objective's of government is made up of such polar terms. Justice and injustice are typical. A reformer who wants to abolish injustice and create a world in which nothing but justice prevails is like a man who wants to make everything up. Such a man might feel that if he took the lowest in the world and carried it up to the highest point and kept on doing this, everything would eventually become up. This would certainly move a great many objects and create an enormous amount of activity. It might or might not be useful, according to the standards which we apply. However it would never result in the abolishment of down.
American is the crucible of God. It is the melting pot where all the races are fusing and reforming . . . these are the fires of God you've come to. . . . Into the crucible with you all. God is making the American.
Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal.
Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation.
All zeal for a reform, that gives offence To peace and charity, is mere pretence.
All reformers are bachelors.
I do not mean to be disrespectful, but the attempt of the Lords to stop the progress of reform, reminds me very forcibly of the great storm of Sidmouth, and of the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824, there set in a great flood upon that town--the tide rose to an incredible height: the waves rushed in upon the houses, and everything was threatened with destruction. In the midst of this sublime and terrible storm, Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea water, and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused. Mrs. Partington's spirit was up; but I need not tell you that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or a puddle, but she should not have meddled with a tempest.
Every reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to an excess which will itself need reforming.
A conservative is someone who believes in reform. But not now.
Reform is born of need, not pity. No vital movement of the people has worked down, for good or evil; fermented, instead, carried up the heaving, cloggy mass.
At twenty a man is full of fight and hope. He wants to reform the world. When he is seventy he still wants to reform the world, but he knows he can't.
Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations . . . can never effect a reform.
