Human beings, whatever their backgrounds, are more open than we think, that their behavior cannot be confidently predicted from their past, that we are all creatures vulnerable to new thoughts, new attitudes.And while such vulnerability creates all sorts of possibilities, both good and bad, its very existence is exciting. It means that no human being should be written off, no change in thinking deemed impossible.

I look at the world and I see absurdity all around me. People do strange things constantly, to the point that, for the most part, we manage not to see it.

A central administration enervates the nations in which it exists by incessantly diminishing their public spirit. If such an administration succeeds in convincing all the disposable resources of a people, it impairs at least the renewal of those resources.

Sudden shifts and changes are no bad preparation for political life.

Change is not what we expect from religious people. They tend to love the past more than the present or the future.

Set patterns, incapable of adaptability, of pliability, only offer a better cage. Truth is outside of all patterns.

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

Intelligence does not always define wisdom, but adaptability to change does.

Each person lives his life in this world according to his own times; Whether to come forth and serve, or to retire in withdrawal, is not a fortuitous decision.

We are descended from India rubber... . That's why our forefathers and the slaves who were sent to America were able to adapt themselves to a situation that was new to them.

Man's unique reward ... is that while animals survive by adjusting themselves to their background, man survives by adjusting his background to himself.

The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.

Adaptability is imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation.

My contemplation of life and human nature in that secluded place [cell 54 of Cairo Central Prison] taught me that he who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never, therefore, make any progress.