Jonah Lehrer Quotes

There is very little point in trying to urge the world to mend its ways as long as that world is still convinced that its ways are perfectly adequate.

The reality is, some people don't want you to change or go anywhere different.

The reason men oppose progress is not that they hate progress, but that they love inertia.

People don't make changes because things are wonderful.

Our generation has an incredible amount of realism, yet at the same time it loves to complain and not really change. Because, if it does change, then it won't have anything to complain about.

You get so used to a world that you complain, but never actually want anything different. Why crave the unfamiliar?

Inertia is a powerful force in human and political affairs.

When men are easy in their circumstances, they are naturally enemies to innovations.

People are very open-minded about new things - as long as they're exactly like the old ones.

Change is terrifying for people who feel immune to it by virtue of status, divine appointment, or imagined irreplaceability.

The problem is that every single person here was elected under this system. It is not typical of human nature to change what works.

My 'if it's not broken, don't fix it' type attitude might have held me back and made me complacent.

Folks will always, always, always go back to the comfortable status quo, with its silent voices and lack of conflict, if you give them the chance.

Because we've always done it that way.' During my 12-year tenure as a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service, I heard those words all too often. The agency, in my experience, has an entrenched management culture resistant to change.

Only the drum is confident, it thinks the world has not changed

. . . escape is easier than change.

It's uncomfortable to challenge the status quo.

The most ominous of fallacies - the belief that things can be kept static by inaction

Ironically, in a changing world, playing it safe is one of the riskiest things you can do.

It is a foolish man who believes that the status quo can be maintained indefinitely.

Ninety-eight percent are boxes, which tells me that a lot of people are in denial. We live and work in boxes. People don't even notice that. Most of what's around us is banal. We live with it. We accept it as inevitable. People say, "This is the world the way it is, and don't bother me." Then when somebody does something different, real architecture, the push-back is amazing. People resist it. At first it's new and scary.

Those who don't want to change, let them sleep.

What if I told you that 10 years from now, your life would be exactly the same? I doubt you would be happy. So, why are you so afraid of change?

We mistrust anything that too strongly challenges our ideal of mediocrity.

If you're satisfied with everything you're just going to stay at one level and the world will move ahead.