Status quo

"Young entrepreneurs tend to be fearless and have no respect for the status quo, and that’s exactly what you need in an environment where the status quo is going to put you out of business."

"Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. (Weil die Dinge sind, wie sie sind, werden die Dinge nicht so bleiben wie sie sind.)"

"When a new idea is advanced, it necessarily challenges the previous idea. This disturbs the holders of the previous idea and threatens their security. The normal reaction is anger. The new idea is then attacked, and support of it is required to be of a high order of certainty. The greater the departure from the previous idea, the greater the degree of certainty required, so it is said. I have never been able to accept this. It assumes that the old order was established on high orders of proof, and on examination this is seldom found to be true."

"As the generalization goes about the art industry, people can be really challenging and thought-provoking in their thinking and questioning the status quo, and it's really important that the status quo can be questioned and that there are people doing that."

"Habit with him was all the test of truth, It must be right: I’ve done it from my youth."

"I omit from consideration here the fact that people who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral, but in favor of the status quo."

"I would rather sit with the rural poor, the desperate children of urban blight, the victims of racism, and working people seeking a better life than with those whose religion is the status quo, whose goal is profit and whose hearts are cold."

"Remember that almost every new concept was ridiculed, rejected, and laughed at when first presented, especially by the experts of the time. That’s what happened to the first scientists who said the earth was round, the first who said it went around the sun, and the first who thought people could learn to fly. You could write a whole book, and many have, just on things that people thought were impossible up until the time they happened."

"Many forward-thinking people have been locked up and even executed for saying such things as the earth wasn’t the center of the universe. Those who fought for social justice and change had even greater difficulties."

"Any number of volumes could be written on the hardships endured by those who sought change that threatened the status quo."

"Although we accept the inevitability of change, humans meet it with a lot of resistance. In most cases, change threatens those in positions of advantage and for the most part they are there in the first place to keep things the way they are."

"Yet at every turn, vested interests (those who have the most to gain in keeping things the way they are) oppose even technological changes."

"This is true for any society, whether the power structure is religious, military, socialist, capitalist, communist, fascist, or tribal. The leaders will attempt to hold back change. Sometimes, even when conditions are terrible for the majority of people, the people themselves may resist change because there is comfort in the familiar."

"People raised in a monetary system where the bottom line is profit are likely to outsource portions of their business rather than be concerned with the well-being of their country and employees. The nature of our social institutions perpetuates this behavior. For example, if a moderate sized company were concerned with the well-being of employees and provided medical care, playgrounds for children, and a higher wage scale, it would not attract as many investors."

"This is not human nature but a byproduct of the culture. What is considered appropriate behavior today may be considered un-sane in the future."

"Better values, ideals, and behavior cannot be fully realized while there is still hunger, unemployment, deprivation, war, and poverty."

"It is revolting to have no better reasons for a law than that it was laid down in the time of Henry IV. It is still more revolting if the grounds upon which it was laid down have vanished long since, and the rule simply persists from blind imitation of the past."

"Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, "We've always done it this way." I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise."

"There are two kinds of fool. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, "This is new, and therefore better.""

"Change tends to fill people with this incredible fear."

"Ignorance — as a function of the system justifying tendencies it may activate—may, ironically, breed more ignorance. In the contexts of energy, environmental, and economic issues, the authors present 5 studies that (a) provide evidence for this... and... illustrate the unfortunate consequences of this process for individual action in those contexts that may need it most."

"The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds."

"Satisfied powers are those that have reached the top of the pecking order, are happy with their lot, and are primarily interested in preserving the status quo. In contrast, rising powers are states on the move. They are not satisfied with their lot, are usually struggling for recognition and influence, and are therefore looking for ways to overturn the status quo."

"Isn’t it generally quite easy to identify your short-term interests when the status quo is to your benefit? In such circumstances, you favor the status quo!"

"Certainly none of the advances made in civilization has been due to counter-revolutionaries and advocates of the status quo."

"New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common."

"Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status."

"Every advance in civilization has been denounced as unnatural while it was recent."

"All great truths begin as blasphemies."

"The past is to be respected and acknowledged, but not to be worshipped. It is our future in which we will find our greatness."

"It seems that all my life I have been fighting against the status quo, against the tyranny of fossilized majority rule."