Doesn’t autumn tend to feel more like the beginning of a new year than January does? The change in weather often seems to align with a change in our personal lives — big or small, intentional or unplanned, for the better or for the worse.
Whatever kind of change you’re experiencing, we’ve rounded up this list of 99 quotes to ring in this season of transition. Maybe you need help taking a big leap, or you’re looking for comfort about a recent decision — or a recent loss.
And if you’re not going through transition right now, bookmark this link for the next time you are — change is the only constant, after all.
- “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” — Mahatma Gandhi, source unknown
- “To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” ― Henri Bergson, source unknown
- “There is a kind of magicness about going far away and then coming back all changed.” ― Kate Douglas Wiggin, “New Chronicles of Rebecca”
- “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” — Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, “Frankenstein”
- “If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.” ― Roy T. Bennett, “The Light in the Heart”
“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
― Henri Bergson, source unknown
- “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” ― John C. Maxwell, source unknown
- “The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.” — Kakuzo Okakura, “The Book of Tea”
- “All things are difficult before they are easy.” — Thomas Fuller, “Gnomologia”
- “Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.” — Eckhart Tolle, source unknown
- “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” — John Hughes, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”
- “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” — Viktor E. Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning”
- “No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side. Or you don’t.” — Stephen King, “The Stand”
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”
— Viktor E. Frankl, “Man’s Search for Meaning”
- “Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.” — Stephen Chbosky, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”
- “Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time. What we really want is for things to remain the same but get better.” — Sydney J. Harris, source unknown
- “The present changes the past. Looking back you do not find what you left behind.” ― Kiran Desai, “The Inheritance of Loss”
- “If I am an advocate for anything, it is to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river.” — Anthony Bourdain, source unknown
- “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” ― Andy Warhol, “The Philosophy of Andy Warhol”
- “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” — Stephen Hawking, source unknown
- “I have accepted fear as part of life – specifically the fear of change… I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back.” –- Erica Jong, “What Do Women Want?”
- “There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” — C.S. Lewis, “The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 3”
“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”
— Stephen Hawking, source unknown
- “Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.” — Ann Landers, source unknown
- “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.” — Alan Watts, “The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety”
- “Growth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.” ― Mandy Hale, source unknown
- “Just when I think I have learned the way to live, life changes.” — Hugh Prather, “Notes to Myself: My Struggle to Become a Person”
- “Change is the law of life, and those who look only to the past and present are certain to miss the future.” — John F. Kennedy, source unknown
- “Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.” — Frank Herbert, “Dune”
- “Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” — Andy Rooney, source unknown
- “What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.” — Maya Angelou, “Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now”
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.”
— Andy Rooney, source unknown
- Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what’s going to happen next.” — Gilda Radner, source unknown
- “Moving doesn’t change who you are. It only changes the view outside your window.” — Rachel Hollis, “Girl, Wash Your Face”
- “Be willing to transition at every stage of your life. If your heart is open and you have an open mind, the blessing will flow.” — T. D. Jakes, source unknown
- “I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself.” — Aldous Huxley, “Point Counter Point”
- “It is when we are in transition that we are most completely alive.” — William Bridges, source unknown
- “The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” — Steve Maraboli, “Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience”
“It is when we are in transition that we are most completely alive.”
— William Bridges, source unknown
- “The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.” — Charles F. Kettering, source unknown
- “There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, it is often a comfort to shift one’s position and be bruised in a new place.” — Washington Irving, “Tales of a Traveller”
- “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” –- Charles Bernard Shaw, source unknown
- “None of us really changes over time. We only become more fully what we are.” ― Anne Rice, “The Vampire Lestat”
- “All humans change. Development is our life. Transition, in labor, is the most painful time. Without change, there’s no growth.” — Mimi Kennedy, source unknown
- “Light precedes every transition. Whether at the end of a tunnel, through a crack in the door or the flash of an idea, it is always there, heralding a new beginning.” – Theresa Tsalaky, “The Transition Witness”
- “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” — Maria Robinson, source unknown
- “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.” -– Dan Millman, “Way of the Peaceful Warrior”
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
— Maria Robinson, source unknown
- “A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you’re in and take advantage of it.” — Nikki Giovanni, source unknown
- “Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else.” – Tom Stoppard, “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”
- “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well as the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” — Friedrich Nietzsche, “Daybreak”
- “No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you’ve come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.” — Madonna, “I’m Going to Tell You a Secret”
- “True life is lived when tiny changes occur.” — Leo Tolstoy, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”
- “One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.” — Andre Gide, “The Counterfeiters”
“True life is lived when tiny changes occur.”
— Leo Tolstoy, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”
- “Never too old, never too bad, never too late, never too sick to start from scratch once again.” — Bikram Choudhury, source unknown
- “Realize that if a door is closed, it’s because what was behind it wasn’t meant for you.” — Mandy Hale, “The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass”
- “You’re braver than you believe and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” — Carter Crocker, “Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin”
- “When in doubt, choose change.” –- Lily Leung, source unknown
- “The changes we dread most may contain our salvation.” — Barbara Kingsolver, “Small Wonder: Essays”
- “Times of transition are strenuous, but I love them. They are an opportunity to purge, rethink priorities, and be intentional about new habits. We can make our new normal any way we want.” — Kristin Armstrong, source unknown
“The changes we dread most may contain our salvation.”
— Barbara Kingsolver, “Small Wonder: Essays”
- “Keep in mind that people change, but the past doesn’t.” ― Becca Fitzpatrick, “Hush, Hush”
- “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” –- Helen Keller, “Let Us Have Faith”
- “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” — Barack Obama, Feb. 2008 speech
- “In each of us there is another whom we do not know.” ― C.G. Jung, “Civilization in Transition”
- “She knew this transition was not about becoming someone better, but about finally allowing herself to become who she’d always been.” ― Amy Rubin, source unknown
- “How strange that the nature of life is change, yet the nature of human beings is to resist change. And how ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be.” ― Elizabeth Lesser, “Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow”
“In each of us there is another whom we do not know.”
― C.G. Jung, “Civilization in Transition”
- “We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” — Oprah Winfrey, source unknown
- “She understood that the hardest times in life to go through were when you were transitioning from one version of yourself to another.” ― Sarah Addison Allen, “Lost Lake”
- “Any transition is easier if you believe in yourself and your talent.” — Priyanka Chopra, source unknown
- “Temporary discomfort is an investment in your future self. Accept a small and uncomfortable transition now, for a lifetime of growth and self-development.” ― Florence Given, “Women Don’t Owe You Pretty”
- “Step back in perspective, open your heart and welcome transition into a new phase of life.” — Linda Rawson, source unknown
- “We must live in the radiance of tomorrow, as our ancestors have suggested in their tales. For what is yet to come tomorrow has possibilities, and we must think of it, the simplest glimpse of that possibility of goodness. That will be our strength. That has always been our strength.” ― Ishmael Beah, “Radiance of Tomorrow”
“Step back in perspective, open your heart and welcome transition into a new phase of life.”
— Linda Rawson, source unknown
- “Change is not a threat. It’s an opportunity. Survival is not the goal. Transformative success is.” — Seth Godin, source unknown
- “The Earth, time, concepts, love, life, faith, justice, evil — they’re all fluid and in transition. They don’t stay in one form or in one place forever. The whole universe is like some big FedEx box.” ― Haruki Murakami, “Kafka on the Shore”
- “You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” — Jim Rohn, source unknown
- “It’s only through facing the truth that you will be able to fulfill your potential and live the life you were meant to live. It’s only by jumping that you will be able to fly.” ― Nancy Levin, “Jump…And Your Life Will Appear: An Inch-by-Inch Guide to Making a Major Change”
- “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ― Rumi, source unknown
- “Transformation is often more about unlearning than learning.” — Richard Rohr, “Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life”
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
― Rumi, source unknown
- “We must all obey the great law of change. It is the most powerful law of nature.” — Edmund Burke, Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe (1792)
- “How can you know what you’re capable of if you don’t embrace the unknown?” — Esmeralda Santiago, “Conquistadora”
- “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” — Anthony Robbins, source unknown
- “There will come a time when you believe everything is finished; that will be the beginning. ” — Louis L’Amour, “Lonely on the Mountain”
- “The moment in between what you once were, and who you are now becoming, is where the dance of life really takes place.” — Barbara De Angelis, source unknown
- “Beauty is the moment of transition, as if the form were just ready to flow into other forms.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Conduct of Life”
“Beauty is the moment of transition, as if the form were just ready to flow into other forms.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The Conduct of Life”
- “We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” — Maya Angelou, source unknown
- “Transitions are almost always signs of growth, but they can bring feelings of loss. To get somewhere new, we may have to leave somewhere else behind.” — Fred Rogers, “You Are Special: Neighborly Words of Wisdom from Mister Rogers”
- “Change is inevitable in life. You can either resist it and potentially get run over by it, or you can choose to cooperate with it, adapt to it, and learn how to benefit from it. When you embrace change you will begin to see it as an opportunity for growth.” — Jack Canfield, source unknown
- “The future is always all around us, waiting, in moments of transitions, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.” — J. Michael Strazynski, “Babylon 5”
- “The only way that we can live is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.” — C. JoyBell C., source unknown
“Transition isn’t pretty, but stagnation is hideous.”
― Nikki Rowe, source unknown
- “Besides, interesting things happen along borders — transitions — not in the middle where everything is the same.” ― Neal Stephenson, “Snow Crash”
- “Transition isn’t pretty, but stagnation is hideous.” ― Nikki Rowe, source unknown
- “Everything teaches transition, transference, metamorphosis: therein is human power, in transference, not in creation; & therein is human destiny, not in longevity but in removal. We dive & reappear in new places.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson”
- “It takes love to hold on when you want to let go. It takes love to let go when you want to hold on.” ― Kate McGahan, source unknown
- “Given that we all have a finite time on earth, we need to make our metaphoric transition from caterpillar to butterfly sooner rather than later.” ― Kelly Markey, “Don’t Just Fly, SOAR”
“The best part of your story is when it changes.”
― Bella Bloom, source unknown
- The best part of your story is when it changes.” ― Bella Bloom, source unknown
- “In transitions, we must learn to be still. Being still is, in part, about learning to be comfortable with ambiguity.” ― Janet Rebhan, “Learn To Be Still: Select Essays on the Spiritual Life”
- “We resist transition not because we can’t accept the change, but because we can’t accept letting go of that piece of ourselves that we have to give up when and because the situation has changed.” ― William Bridges, “The Way Of Transition”
- “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” — Winston Churchill, source unknown
- “It’s strange,’ he said, ‘that you always changed everything and I changed nothing and yet we’ve both ended up in the same place.” ― Rachel Cusk, “Transit”
“In order to design a future of positive change, we must first become experts at changing our minds.”
— Jacque Fresco, source unknown
- “There is nothing permanent except change.” — Heraclitus, source unknown
- “We hardly dare trust that this is a process of transformation – that out of the ashes will rise the phoenix of humanity.” ― Lucy H. Pearce, “Burning Woman”
- “Change before you have to.” — Jack Welch, source unknown
- “One child, one teacher, one pen, and one book can change the world.” — Malala Yousafzai, “I Am Malala”
- “In order to design a future of positive change, we must first become experts at changing our minds.” — Jacque Fresco, source unknown
- “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” — Leo Tolstoy, “Pamphlets: Translated from the Russian”
Natalie Gale is a Contributing Editor at The Good Trade. She is a Boston-based freelance journalist. When she’s not writing about art, food, or sustainability, you can find her biking to the farmers’ market, baking, sewing, or planning her next Halloween costume. Say hi on Instagram!
