Progress quotes
2.2K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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"Existence of an excited state is not a prerequisite for the production of inhibition; inhibition can exist apart from excitation no less than, when called forth against an excitation already in progress, it can suppress or moderate it."
"In 2007 and 2008, it was impossible to get American and British policy makers, or Pakistani politicians, to acknowledge that the Taliban leadership was in Pakistan. This is the great virtue of the early statements of the Obama administration, when Obama himself, Richard Holbrooke and others, said that the threat to both countries comes principally from western Pakistan, in Balujistan and Waziristan. So there has been some progress, but probably the hardest part is yet to come."
"You see continuous movement is the important thing here. Those who remain in one position and then lie to themselves about their progress are the ones in real trouble."
"Unlike other countries, it was founded on written proclamations. America is an ideal as well as a republic. Its documents are open to revisions. They're works in progress. There's an invitation to participate."
"The amazing fact is that America is founded on a document. It's a work in progress. It can be tested by each generation."
"Progress is achieved by exchanging our theories for new ones which go further than the old, until we find one based on a larger number of facts. ... Theories are only hypotheses, verified by more or less numerous facts. Those verified by the most facts are the best, but even then they are never final, never to be absolutely believed."
"The free intellect is the chief engine of human progress."
"Moral progress has consisted in the main of protest against cruel customs, and of attempts to enlarge human sympathy."
"I cannot escape from the conclusion that the great ages of progress have depended upon a small number of individuals of transcendent ability."
"One who believes, as I do, that the free intellect is the chief engine of human progress, cannot but be fundamentally opposed to Bolshevism, as much as to the Church of Rome."
"I'll get to see many disease eradications. and we're seeing a lot of progress."
"The mind naturally makes progress, and the will naturally clings to objects; so that for want of right objects, it will attach itself to wrong ones."
"God himself is increasing and progressing in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without end."
"When we observe contemporary society one thing strikes us. We debate but make no progress. Why? Because as peoples we do not yet trust each other."
"Every notable advance in technique or organization has to be paid for, and in most cases the debit is more or less equivalent to the credit. Except of course when it's more than equivalent, as it has been with universal education, for example, or wireless, or these damned aeroplanes. In which case, of course, your progress is a step backwards and downwards."
"But most Canadians have recognized to a greater or lesser extent that despite much of the so-called progress of the affluent society, essential ingredients to a meaningful life seem to be either entirely lacking, or at best, difficult to grasp."
"As a consequence, progress has come to mean simply more power, more profit, more productivity, more paper prosperity, all of which are convertible into standards concerned only with size or magnitude rather than quality or excellence."
"Error is the price we pay for progress."
"There is no greater hindrance to the progress of thought than an attitude of irritated party-spirit."
"Perfection is static, And I am in full progress."
