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Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their
reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform.
Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or
nothing in the world's estimation.
Author: Susan B. Anthony
Source: on the campaign for divorce law reform
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Grant that the old Adam in these persons may be so buried, that
the new man may be raised up in them.
Author: Book of Common Prayer
Source: Baptism of those of Riper Years
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The oyster-women lock'd their fish up,
And trudged away to cry, No Bishop.
Author: Samuel Butler (1)
Source: Hudibras (pt. I, canto II, l. 537)
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All zeal for a reform, that gives offence
To peace and charity, is mere pretence.
Author: William Cowper
Source: Charity (l. 533)
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The Bolshevists would blow up the fabric with high explosive,
with horror. Others would pull down with the crowbars and with
cranks--especially with cranks. . . . Sweating, slums, the sense
of semi-slavery in labour, must go. We must cultivate a sense of
manhood by treating men as men.
Author: David Lloyd George
Source: in a speech, Dec. 6, 1919
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All reformers are bachelors.
Author: George A. Moore
Source: The Bending of the Bough (act I)
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My desolation does begin to make
A better life.
Author: William Shakespeare
Source: Antony and Cleopatra (Cleopatra at V, ii)
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I do not mean to be disrespectful, but the attempt of the Lords
to stop the progress of reform, reminds me very forcibly of the
great storm of Sidmouth, and of the conduct of the excellent Mrs.
Partington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824, there set in
a great flood upon that town--the tide rose to an incredible
height: the waves rushed in upon the houses, and everything was
threatened with destruction. In the midst of this sublime and
terrible storm, Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was
seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her
mop, squeezing out the sea water, and vigorously pushing away the
Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused. Mrs. Partington's
spirit was up; but I need not tell you that the contest was
unequal. The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was
excellent at a slop or a puddle, but she should not have meddled
with a tempest.
Author: Sydney Smith
Source: in a speech at Tuunton, Oct. 1831
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Every reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to an excess which will itself need reforming.
Author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Source: None
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A conservative is someone who believes in reform. But not now.
Author: Mort Sahl
Source: None
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Reform is born of need, not pity. No vital movement of the people has worked down, for good or evil; fermented, instead, carried up the heaving, cloggy mass.
Author: Rebecca Harding Davis
Source: None
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One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation.
Author: Thomas Brackett Reed
Source: None
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At twenty a man is full of fight and hope. He wants to reform the world. When he is seventy he still wants to reform the world, but he knows he can't.
Author: Clarence Darrow
Source: None
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Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations . . . can never effect a reform.
Author: Susan B. Anthony
Source: None
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Every reform was once a private opinion, and when it shall be a private opinion again, it will solve the problem of the age.
Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Source: None
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Every reformation must have its victims. You can't expect the fatted calf to share the enthusiasm of the angels over the prodigal's return.
Author: Saki
Source: None
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Every abuse ought to be reformed, unless the reform is more dangerous than the abuse itself.
Author: Voltaire
Source: None
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Reform must come from within, not from without. You cannot legislate for virtue.
Author: James Cardinal Gibbons
Source: None
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The hole and the patch should be commensurate.
Author: Thomas Jefferson
Source: None
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Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.
Author: Mark Twain
Source: None
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A reformer is a man who rides through a sewer in a glass-bottomed boat.
Author: James J. Walker
Source: None
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The race could save one-half its wasted labor Would each reform himself and spare his neighbor.
Author: Frank Putnam
Source: None
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The church is always trying to get other people to reform; it might not be a bad idea to reform itself.
Author: Mark Twain
Source: None
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To reform a man, you must begin with his grandmother.
Author: Victor Hugo
Source: None
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What is a man born for but to be a reformer, a remaker of what has been made, a denouncer of lies, a restorer of truth and good?
Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Source: None
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