Adlai Stevenson II Quotes
All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions. All change is the result of a change in the contemporary state of mind.
Stevenson, Adlai E. Address at the Senior Class Banquet, Princeton University, 22 Mar. 1954. The Papers of Adlai E. Stevenson, edited by Walter Johnson, vol. 4, Little, Brown, 1974.
1st Earl of Beaconsfield
There had been a major labor strike in the textile mills of Lawrence. Ettor was one of the major strike leaders and strategists. The city authorities sided totally with the mill owners and used police and militia to try and break the strike. When one of the strikers was shot and killed (historians generally agree that the police had fired the shot), the authorities used the death to incapacitate the leadership of Ettor and two other “socialist” leaders who were professional strike organizers and leaders. The 3 were arrested and charged with murder, firing the shot that killed the striker. Ettor and the others were miles away at the time giving speeches to the strikers at another mill. None-the-less, they were arrested, jailed, and not even tried until after the strike was ended. The three were quickly acquitted. The jailing of the strike leaders backfired and made the strikers even more resolute. The laborers finally won the concessions, not to have their pay cut. The defendants went on to lead other strikes.
He was referring to the institutions in the particular fields. An established institution in education like a university might develop an innovation in astronomy or language translation, but not likely develop significant innovations in education. An established computer programming company might innovate the method of warehousing and shipping merchandise, but they are not likely to develop an innovative way of computer programming. That is typically done by a programming non-established firm or individual. There are a number of exceptions and this is not put forth as a general principle, but as a statistical observation. Established institutions are working harder and smarter to find ways of innovating regularly, and may succeed more frequently than the present.
Zhou, more than any other Chinese official, was responsible for the dramatic change in the Chinese economic shift from a classical socialist model to a modern market driven competitive economy.
The impication is that small changes are just as hard often and might be easier than large changes.
Adlai Ewing Stevenson II was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. Raised in Bloomington, Illinois, Stevenson was a member of the Democratic Party. He served in numerous positions in the federal government during the 1930s and 1940s, including the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Federal Alcohol Administration, Department of the Navy, and the State Department. In 1945, he served on the committee that created the United Nations, and he was a member of the initial U.S. delegations to the UN. He was the 31st governor of Illinois from 1949 to 1953, and he won the Democratic Party's nomination for president in the 1952 and 1956 presidential elections.
