ADAPTATION QUOTES

quotations about adaptability

Identity was a liquid state, ever interchangeable, and adaptable to its surroundings... It was better to not have favourites -- a snake didn't mourn when it had to shed its skin.

LEONARDO DONOFRIO

Old Country


He was capable of adapting himself to place, time and person, and of playing his part appropriately under whatever circumstances.

DIOGENES LAERTIUS

Aristippus


It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.

LEON C. MEGGINSON

speech at Louisiana State University, 1963


Adapt thyself to the estate which is thy portion.

MARCUS AURELIUS

Meditations


Adapt or perish, now as ever, is Nature's inexorable imperative.

H.G. WELLS

Mind at the End of Its Tether


One of the most remarkable of man's characteristics is his capacity for becoming used to conditions of almost any kind, whether good or bad, both in the self and in the environment, and once he has become used to such conditions they seem to him both right and natural. This capacity is a boon when it enables him to adapt himself to conditions which are desirable, but it may prove a great danger when the conditions are undesirable. When his sensory appreciation is untrustworthy, it is possible for him to become so familiar with seriously harmful conditions of misuse of himself that these malconditions will feel right and comfortable.

F. MATTHIAS ALEXANDER

The Use of the Self


The fear it yearns
The years they burn
Until the hour we adapt
Until the hour we collapse

PARADISE LOST

"An Eternity of Lies"


Adapted to a myriad of ends...
Adaptability, the way we bend...
Covered in glittering, connecting sparks;
Caught in the cogwheel jitterbug.

UNCLE HO

"Show Them What You Are Made Of"


Adaptability is a mindset; it is a belief that what "is" does not necessarily have to be a permanent state.

SAMUEL T. FOUST

Sixteen Steps to Six Figures


Life requires of man spiritual elasticity, so that he may temper his efforts to the chances that are offered.

VIKTOR E. FRANKL

The Doctor and the Soul


The oak is the strongest tree in the forest, but the willow bends and adapts. When the fires and storms hit, it is the willow that survives.

KARA BARBIERI

White Stag


The measure of a person's strength is not his muscular power or strength, but it is his flexibility and adaptability.

DEBASISH MRIDHA

attributed, Manage Your Mindset


They must shape their coats, good men, according to their cloth.

THOMAS NASHE

Unfortunate Traveller


All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive.

YANN MARTEL

Life of Pi


Human beings can get used to virtually anything, given plenty of time and no choice in the matter whatsoever.

TOM HOLT

Open Sesame


People seem to get used to anything, and it is a short step from adaptation to attachment.

LIONEL SHRIVER

We Need to Talk About Kevin


You pulled up your socks and got on with things. Your heart adapted to changing times. Your body did. Or it did not and you passed your days in a muffler of regret.

WARD JUST

Forgetfulness


I'm an emotional chamelon, see how I adapt to pain
Before we enjoy the sun we must first get past the rain

CORMEGA

"Aint' Gone Change"


People weighed down by a system and inflexible ways of doing things cannot move fast, cannot sense or adapt to change. They lumber around more and more slowly until they go the way of the brontosaurus. Learn to move fast and adapt or you will be eaten.

ROBERT GREENE

The 48 Laws of Power


All failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation.

MAX MCKEOWN

Adaptability: The Art of Winning in an Age of Uncertainty