Quotes & Sayings About Adaptability

This first theft marked Buck as fit to survive in the hostile Northland environment. It marked his adaptability, his capacity to adjust himself to changing conditions, the lack of which would have meant swift and terrible death. It marked, further, the decay or going to pieces of his moral nature, a vain thing and a handicap in the ruthless struggle for existence. It was all well enough in the Southland, under the law of love and fellowship, to respect private property and personal feelings; but in the Northland, under the law of club and fang, whoso took such things into account was a fool, and in so far as he observed them he would fail to prosper. — Jack London

The most important factor in survival is neither intelligence nor strength but adaptability. — Charles Darwin

I am very fond of the oyster shell. It is humble and awkward and ugly. It is slate-colored and unsymmetrical. Its form is not primarily beautiful but functional. I make fun of its knobbiness. Sometimes I resent its burdens and excrescences. But its tireless adaptability and tenacity draw my astonished admiration and sometimes even my tears. And it is comfortable in its familiarity, its homeliness, like old garden gloves when have molded themselves perfectly to the shape of the hand. I do not like to put it down. I will not want to leave it. — Anne Morrow Lindbergh

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

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

Intelligence is ongoing, individual adaptability. Adaptations that an intelligent species may make in a single generation, other species make over many generations of selective breeding and selective dying. Yet intelligence is demanding. It is misdirected by accident or by intent, it can foster its own orgies of breeding and dying. — Octavia E. Butler

Go ahead, and fear not. You will have a full library at your service. — Doris Kearns Goodwin

Looking back over nearly a quarter of a century, she saw that that had been the characteristic of her life -passivity, adaptability to others. — Doris Lessing

Language is changing constantly; printing and modern education have slowed it but have not stopped it. Given all this change, when, exactly, was language PERFECT, in the language pundit's mind? One has the feeling that the decline-mongers would feel rather sheepish has reading any answer. The 1950s? The Edwardian era? The real answer, however rarely expressed, seems to be when Island it as a young person. — Robert Lane Greene

The author says one of the sources of resilience is the ability to measure and perceive early warning signs so as to adapt. — Andrew Zolli

Adaptability is not imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation. — Mahatma Gandhi

Williams had a very shrewd sense of how much heat the organism could take at any given time; — David Halberstam

Doing agile is a set of activities, but being agile is the state of mind, the ongoing capability, and the cultural adaptability. — Pearl Zhu

The more you adapt, the more interesting you are. — Martha Stewart

Maximizing the ability to handle variety is central to improving service and reducing costs. The systems approach employs the ingenuity of workers in managing and improving the system. It is intelligent use of intelligent people; it is adaptability designed in, enabling the organization to respond effectively to customer demands. Workers — John Seddon

Intelligence, adaptability and talent. And by talent I mean the capacity for hard work. Lots of girls come here with little but good looks. Beauty is a valuable asset, but it is not the whole cheese. — Ginger Rogers

The genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems and current needs. — William J. Brennan

An adaptive mind has better learning capability. — Pearl Zhu

Adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win. — Max McKeown

A 21st century poet is a woman who can speak her mind and stand upright like a mountain with her convictions, but can adapt like water in an ever changing season without losing her genuine elements. — Roseville Nidea

It's a lot easier to get your way if you have more than one way. — Jennifer James

. . . what matters in combat is adaptability, boldness and maintaining A cool exterior, whilst penetrating your enemy's soul with An icy cold stare
- Diary of A Combat Fiend — Soke Behzad Ahmadi

Most of us are only willing to call 5% of our present information into question any one point. — Ken Wilber

Creating new products and services differs from making minor enhancements to existing ones. The first must focus on innovation and adaptability, whereas the second usually focuses on efficiency and optimization. Efficiency delivers products and services that we can think of. Innovation delivers products that we can barely imagine. Efficiency and optimization are appropriate drivers for a production project, whereas innovation and creativity should drive an exploration-type project. A production mindset can restrict our vision to what appears doable. An exploration mindset helps us explore what seems impossible. — Jim Highsmith

Author says change emphasizes what is happening TO us while transition emphasizes opportunity for growth within. — William Bridges

The more adaptability exists for a given kind of decision, the less risky it is to make plans for the future, and therefore the more likely it is that more people will make more plans in such areas. — Thomas Sowell

Certainly sand was not suitable for life. Yet, was a stationary condition absolutely indispensable for existence? Didn't unpleasant competition arise precisely because one tried to cling to a fixed position? If one were to give up a fixed position and abandon oneself to the movement of the sands, competition would soon stop. Actually, in the deserts flowers bloomed and insects and other animals lived their lives. These creatures were able to escape competition through their great ability to adjust
for example, the man's beetle family.
While he mused on the effect of the flowing sands, he was seized from time to time by hallucinations in which he himself began to move with the flow. — Kobo Abe

When you tire of living, change itself seems evil, does it not? for then any change at all disturbs the deathlike peace of the life-weary. — Walter M. Miller Jr.

Distributed print is arguably our biggest challenge as a machinery supplier, as more publishers find efficiencies in transferring print production to remote printers and supersites. But our signature Goss flexibility and adaptability allow us to meet that challenge head-on with relevant technologies, services and expertise that continue to provide customers with an edge. — Eric Bell

The forces of Hannibal, Drake and Napoleon moved at best with the horses' gallop or the speed of wind on sail. Now, aviation brings a new concept of time and distance to the affairs of men. It demands adaptability to change, places a premium on quickness of thought and speed of action. — Charles Lindbergh

Some of us are born more than once. Some of us recreate ourselves many times. Ryodan says adaptability is survivability. Ryodan says a lot of stuff. Sometimes I listen, All I know is, every time I open my eyes, my brian kicks on. Something wakes up deep in my belly, and I know I'll do anything it takes ... To. Just. Keep. Breathing. — Karen Marie Moning

Action and adaptability create opportunity. — Garrison Wynn

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

The new measure takes for granted having enough intellectual ability and technical know-how to do our jobs; it focuses instead on personal qualities, such as initiative and empathy, adaptability and persuasiveness. — Daniel Goleman

Dinosaurs were huge and powerful; they could not adapt and they died out. And so the big difference between dinosaurs and cockroaches is adaptability: one is able to adjust, while the other, apparently, couldn't ... The same analogy applies to fighting, and probably any other sport. It's not always the strong that survive. It takes brains, guts, tolerance and forward thinking. We've seen this since the beginning of mixed martial arts. — Georges St-Pierre

If I can't get what I want - well, I'll want what I can get. — Lucy Maud Montgomery

Allen (1997: 17) says: 'The capacity to adapt and respond to external and internal variation, although requiring some "instability" can be the origin of the system's resilience. This is an example of the complexity of some of these issues in which adaptability may allow stasis in a broader sense, and rigidity may lead to collapse.' He is saying that it is being not entirely stable, being able to wobble about, that allows the system to be resilient and almost stable! — Jean G. Boulton

Complexity, therefore, results in flexibility. Increasing complexity always increases capability and adaptability. — Jacob Lund Fisker

All failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation. — Max McKeown

Men are in fact, quite unable to control their own inventions; they at best develop adaptability to the new conditions those inventions create. — John Galsworthy

It's not the strongest or the most intelligent who survive, but those most adaptive to change. Over the past 10 years, the need for, and focus on, adaptability has accelerated. — Kenneth I. Chenault

The life-efficiency and adaptability of the computer must be questioned. Its judicious use depends upon the availability of its human employers quite literally to keep their own heads, not merely to scrutinize the programming but to reserve for themselves the right of ultimate decision. No automatic system can be intelligently run byautomatonsor by people who dare not assert human intuition, human autonomy, human purpose. — Lewis Mumford

Life is a mess. And theology must be lived out in the midst of that mess. — Charles W. Colson

The fastest thing computers do is go obsolete. — Andy Rooney

Fascinating, Doidge's book is a remarkable and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the human brain. — Oliver Sacks

Adaptability is crucial to working on Glee because every day is adapting to something. Because we're doing a different genre of music, doing a different type of scene with a different scene partner, recording and dance rehearsals ... no day is like another. — Kevin McHale

Nothing that remains static is truly ever alive. Nature does not abide idleness. All energy sources of the natural world and the cosmos are in a constant motion, they are in a perpetual state of fluctuation. All forms of living must make allowances for the seasons of change. The Earth itself is twirling through space, spinning on its axis analogous to a child's top. The unpredictable forces of instability brought about by a combination of motion, change, and flux propels the miraculous dynamism of existence. — Kilroy J. Oldster

Show some fucking adaptability! — Neal Stephenson

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

Creative leadership can be described as "adaptability meets agility," and "innovation meets principles. — Pearl Zhu

Evolution is more about adaptivity than adaptability. — Raheel Farooq

The most amazing thing about little children ... was their fantastic adaptability. — Kristin Hunter

The principal role of a logo is to identify, and simplicity is its means ... Its effectiveness depends on distinctiveness, visibility, adaptability, memorability, universality, and timelessness. — Paul Rand

The creativity and adaptability of life expresses itself through the spontaneous emergence of novelty at critical points of instability. Every human organization contains both designed and emergent structures. The challenge is to find the right balance between the creativity of emergence and the stability of design. — Fritjof Capra

Our saving grace! Um, as a species [humans] we can be pretty warm and fuzzy. But maybe for this, it's the adaptability, or the heart and soul. We're not all that bad. I don't really know! — Keanu Reeves

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

He knew more of my intended career than I knew myself. I should be well enough educated for my destiny if I could "hold my own" with average young man in prosperous circumstances. — Charles Dickens

lot of agility, adaptability, a natural propensity toward curiosity, an insatiable appetite for that and this and this and that! — Margaret Lobenstine

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

When someone's life fascinates, makes you jealous; don't wish for his life, wish for his attitude, strong mentality, adaptability. Because, Life is too complicated than you think, you never know what his sacrifice, hard work, and skills in handling situation, made his life more appealing for others. — Vivek Thangaswamy

By the time Rosie came back, I had performed a brain reboot, an exercise requiring a considerable effort of will. But I was now configured for adaptability. — Graeme Simsion

One learns to adapt to the land in which one lives. — Louis L'Amour

It appears that a simple rule, of something adhering to another similar idea, repeated, leads to stabilities. This seems to be a function of relational data sets, linked to rules, like in DNA chains that have infinite adaptability for sequencing proteins. Out of only four bases, which in turn are further limited by two rules of complimentarity, a myriad of forms arise. — Cecil Balmond

In any problem where an opposing force exists and cannot be regulated, one must foresee and provide for alternative courses. Adaptability is the law which governs survival in war as in life ... To be practical, any plan must take account of the enemy's power to frustrate it; the best chance of overcoming such obstruction is to have a plan that can be easily varied to fit the circumstances met. — B.H. Liddell Hart

The supernova is enabling a deeper revolution that is just beginning, spurred by learning platforms such as Udacity, edX, and Coursera, that will change the very metabolism and shape of higher education and, one hopes, lift the adaptability line in the way that — Thomas L. Friedman

Let us learn to skillfully draw good out of what would otherwise cause us harm. — Mary Euphrasia Pelletier

Business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,
if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life. — Hortense Odlum

Many or few alternatives can be at hand. A wise and skilful choice acts from a sincere effort. Solutions and results come from cooperation, hard work and efficiency. With high intention matched with a flexible, patient heart and proficient action gets best quality and value. As for the restless grumbles raving from unconsciousness of complexity of matters, best be brushed off ducking out wisely from discourtesies. — Angelica Hopes

In terms of adaptability, humans are pretty amazingly useless. — Bill Bryson

Adaptability is the simple secret of survival. — Jessica Hagedorn

I am ever more intrigued by the correspondence between mathematics and physical facts. The adaptability of mathematics to the description of physical phenomena is uncanny. — Nicolaas Bloembergen

People tend to be more tofu-like, able to absorb whatever environment they're dropped into. But where does the adaptability end and your actual personality begin? — Sloane Crosley

One of the formulas to build a successful business is to nurture an "adaptability trait" in an organization's culture. — Pearl Zhu

I've been thinking about what this would be like, too. Ever since that night I almost kissed you on the beach back in June. Say you're right. Say I can have any woman I want. The woman I want is you. Because you're perky and fun. Because you're adorable and you make me laugh all the time. And because you're far more beautiful than you give yourself credit for. I want you, Trina. You've got adaptability and smarts that can't be measured by essays and bubbled answer sheets. I don't want a distraction. I don't want a random hook-up. I want you. — Christi Barth

As anywhere else, political instability provided an opportunity for local scores to be settled, for personal grievances to be aired, for heroes to be acclaimed and discarded, giving full reign to the fickle fortunes of war. — Charles Emmerson

There can be no life without change, and to be afraid of what is different or unfamiliar is to be afraid of life. — Theodore Roosevelt

But such consummate skill, such ability, such adaptability, such numbing ruthlessness, such a use of weapons when anything could become weapon . . . — Iain M. Banks

My hope is that we can navigate through this world and our lives with the grace and integrity of those who need our protection. May we have the sense of humor and liveliness of the goats; may we have the maternal instincts and protective nature of the hens and the sassiness of the roosters. May we have the gentleness and strength of the cattle, and the wisdom, humility, and serenity of the donkeys. May we appreciate the need for community as do the sheep and choose our companion as carefully as do the rabbits. May we have the faithfulness and commitment to family as the geese, and adaptability and affability of the ducks. May we have the intelligence, loyalty, and affection of the pigs and the inquisitiveness, sensitivity, and playfulness of the turkeys.
My hope is that we learn from the animals what it is we need to become better people. — Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

I will become the greatest, because all travellers have to be able to adapt. That quality, adaptability, is essential to that way of life. Not many boxers have it but I can adapt before a fight to the opponent, during the fight if necessary. — Tyson Fury

Adaptability is one of the strengths that vaults a person into adulthood. — Henry Cloud

The strongest will is the will that knows how to bend. — Alice Duer Miller

It is not balance you need but adaptability. — Erwin Raphael McManus

We must picture Oxford, during World War I, not as the neomedieval paradise it would like to be, but as the military compound it was obliged to become. — Philip Zaleski

Our fine arts were developed, their types and uses were established, in times very different from the present, by men whose power of action upon things was insignificant in comparison with ours. But the amazing growth of our techniques, the adaptability and precision they have attained, the ideas and habits they are creating, make it a certainty that profound changes are impending in the ancient craft of the Beautiful. In all the arts there is a physical component which can no longer be considered or treated as it used to be, which cannot remain unaffected by our modern knowledge and power. For the last twenty years neither matter nor space nor time has been what it was from time immemorial. We must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art. — Paul Valery

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

Inquiry into the neuroscience of aesthetics can give us insight into, and lead to new questions about, emotion, the adaptability of neural structures in different individuals, and the relations between complex neural systems ranging from those underpinning imagery to those supporting memory and identity. — G. Gabrielle Starr

In our lives, change is unavoidable, loss is unavoidable. In the adaptability and ease with which we experience change, lies our happiness and freedom. — Gautama Buddha

Adaptability is being able to adjust to any situation at any given time. — John Wooden

Learning to practise mindfulness greatly enhances our ability to manifest emotional intelligence and equanimity under pressure and to display calmness, empathy and adaptability when communicating with others, whether it be with co-workers, clients or the board of directors. Learning to apply mindfulness on a daily basis will significantly encourage a positive, creative and enthusiastic attitude at all levels in companies large and small. — Christopher Dines

A society which is mobile, which is full of channels for the distribution of a change occurring anywhere, must see to it that its members are educated to personal initiative and adaptability. — John Dewey

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

First, adaptability and resilience require diversity, variation, and fluctuations. Allen (2001) describes the need for this redundancy (that is, having more options or pathways that are necessary to function like a machine) as the law of excess diversity. He is saying that unless there are more pathways or options (called degrees of freedom by mathematicians) than are required to operate efficiently, there is no resilience to changing circumstances. However much diversity seems requisite (Ashby, 1956) for a system to function at a given time, more than this will be required to cope with what is likely to happen in the future. — Jean G. Boulton

The shrewd, like chameleons, embrace change when it is to their advantage. — Matshona Dhliwayo

Superficially so like them all, and so eager to outdo them in detachment and adaptability, ridiculing the prejudices he had shaken off, and the people to whom he belonged, he still kept, under his easy pliancy, the skeleton of old faiths and old fashions. "He talks every language as well as the rest of us," Susy had once said of him, "but at least he talks one language better than the others. — Edith Wharton

Its evolutionary adaptability is largely gone. Ecologically, it has become moribund. Sheer chance, among other factors, is working against it. The toilet of its destiny has been flushed. — David Quammen

Adaptability is the name of the game; if you understand that you must now be adaptable and flexible, you will find a way to succeed in your career. If not, you will succumb to job market pressures. — Miles Anthony Smith

Vaillant's study and numerous others on happiness, success, failure, and motivation all confirm the same thing: health comes first, happiness is love and connection, and success requires adaptability. To be "happy-well," we must tame the imbalanced tiger in us and instead embrace our inner, balanced dolphin. — Shimi Kang

All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns. — Bruce Lee

As any jazz musician knows, it takes flexibility and adaptability for improvisation to create beauty. — Doc Childre

Gently eliminating all obstacles to his own understanding, he constantly maintains his unconditional sincerity. His humility, perseverance, and adaptability evoke the response of the universe and fill him with divine light. — Lao-Tzu