Georg Simmel Quotes

It's very hard for all of us, when we've committed ourselves to a particular interpretation, to change our minds.

Liberalism is the philosophy for our time, because it does not try to conserve every tradition of the past, because it does not apply to new problems the old doctrinaire solutions, because it is prepared to experiment and innovate and because it knows that the past is less important than the future.

I am of tradition, but that doesn't mean I have an old outlook on life.

I just think it's ridiculous to be dogmatic and be caught in the past. You have to be open, aware, nimble and flexible about changes in the world.

Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.

I'd left Hawaii twice in my life, so I'd been on an island my whole life. I had no clue. I didn't know how to live in a city.

He who does not move with the times is a dead man

You have to listen a lot, and you have to be open and ready to adjust to anything. It kind of provides a framework that you use all the time. You never really shut off that part of your brain when you're doing something. It's invaluable to have.

Some people do not become thinkers simply because their memories are too good.

will anything but fanaticism make for change? Wisdom and compromise come later.

All things change. Cultivate flexibility rather than perfection.

Have no rigid system in you, and you'll be flexible to change with the ever changing.

Don't be afraid to change the model.

Of all the things we are wrong about, error might well top the list ... We are wrong about what it means to be wrong. Far from being a sign of intellectual inferiority, the capacity to err is crucial to human cognition. Far from being a moral flaw, it is inextricable from some of our most humane and honourable qualities: empathy, optimism, imagination, conviction, and courage. And far from being a mark of indifference or intolerance, wrongness is a vital part of how we learn and change. Thanks to error, we can revise our understanding of ourselves and amend our ideas about the world.

l have no fear of change as such and, on the other hand, no liking for it merely for its own sake.

Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.

The mental flexibility of the wise man permits him to keep an open mind and enables him to readjust himself whenever it becomes necessary for a change.

The definition of flexibility is being constantly open to the fact that you might be on the wrong track.

The core of a scientific lifestyle is to change your mind when faced with information that disagrees with your views, avoiding intellectual inertia, yet many of us praise leaders who stubbornly stick to their views as "strong."

I'm open to everything. When you start to criticize the times you live in, your time is over.

People who are right most of the time are people who change their minds often

I try to leave some space in my mind for things to surprise me or change my mind, I think that's important.

The only phrase I've ever disliked is, 'Why, we've always done it that way.' I always tell young people, 'Go ahead and do it. You can always apologize later.'

We must have strong minds, ready to accept facts as they are.

A human being can spend only so much time outside her comfort zone before she realizes she is still tethered to it.