Change Quotes

“persistence and change need to be considered together, in spite of their apparently opposite nature.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“A population of four million is not quantitatively but qualitatively different from an individual, because it involves systems of interaction among the individuals.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“that in a universe in which everything is blue, the concept of blueness cannot be developed for lack of contrasting colors.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“what is problematic is not absolute and somehow inherent in the nature of things, but depends on the particular case and point of view involved.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“it follows that there are two different types of change: one that occurs within a given system which itself remains unchanged, and one whose occurrence changes the system itself.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“all perception and thought is relative, operating by comparison and contrast.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“in order to be solved, a problem first of all has to be a problem. What we mean by this is that the translation of a vaguely stated problem into concrete terms permits the crucial separation of problems from pseudo-problems.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“In psychotherapy it is the myth of knowing this why as precondition for change which defeats its own purpose.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“Gear-shifting is thus a phenomenon of a higher logical type than giving gas, and it would be patently nonsensical to talk about the mechanics of complex gears in the language of the thermodynamics of fuel supply.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“Another property of a group is that one may combine its members in varying sequence, yet the outcome of the combination remains the same.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“When Paul announced himself in a rather formal way to the secretary, he said simply, “I am Watzlawick.” She suspected he was a new psychiatric patient showing up for an appointment at the wrong time, and she interpreted his introduction as, “I am not Slavic.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“Unfortunately, natural language often makes a clear distinction between member and class difficult.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“there is changeability in process, but invariance in outcome.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution

“and as long as the outcome of any combination of two or more members is itself a member of the group.”
― Paul Watzlawick, Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution