Theodore E. Burton Quotes

In our view, successful reform is not an event. It is a sustainable process that will build on its own successes - a virtuous cycle of change.

Societies either roll on blindly to disaster or they find the inner strength to stop themselves long enough to find ways for reform from within.

The evils which are complained of can not be eradicated at once; the work must be gradual.

When the object is to raise the permanent condition of a people, small means do not merely produce small effects; they produce no effect at all.

To do what you imply would require nothing short of divine intervention. You must change man, not systems.

This call for a new culture is not a new idea.

In America nothing dies easier than tradition.

You're never able to please everybody, especially when you're transforming a country like Russia.

Reform is not a one-night stand.

In politics one should not expect big jumps. Everything takes time.

Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.

Most people don't realize, I really have no faith in politics. I'm not a politician. If I thought you could change human hearts by laws, I would, but I don't.

For politics to change … culture must change too --- and that takes much more than dispatching troops, holding elections, and writing constitutions.

Man is as the Lord made him. But we can change our institutions.

Reforms are less to be dreaded than revolutions, for they cause less reaction.

Correcting what has been for centuries a condition of absolute chaos is not the work of short-winded people.

Human society cannot, be changed in a year.

Incremental change will not solve this nation’s problems.

Not only are there no free lunches, but there are no free systemic changes either.

America is a conservative country with a small “c” - they want change, but they don’t want too much change too fast.

… many think that changes and reforms can take place in a short time. I believe that we always need time to lay the foundations for real, effective change.

It has taken us centuries of thought and mockery to shake the medieval system. -- With this in view I have taken as impulses, instincts, or needs certain driving forces in the human species as we know it at present, and argued for such social and economic changes as will give them new, free, and varied expression. To take even this first step towards a happy society is a herculean task. After it has been accomplished, generations to come will see what the creature [us] will do next. We none of us know; and we should be thoroughly on our guard against all those who pretend that they do

… it is not sufficient to change laws, institutions and customs. It is essential that women acquire ‘a new skin’. This can occur only through a collective effort while women suffer and loathe the oppression of men; it does not follow that her ovaries condemn her to be on her knees for eternity.

Creating deep and meaningful change in this country takes time - years and sometimes decades.

It takes time to change a system and to change a mindset.