Status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social or political issues..

Quotes

Quotes are arranged by author.
  • Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. (Weil die Dinge sind, wie sie sind, werden die Dinge nicht so bleiben wie sie sind.)
    • As quoted in Dictionary of Contemporary Quotations (1976) by John Gordon Burke and Ned Kehde, p. 224, also in The Book of Positive Quotations (2007) by John Cook, p. 390
  • As the generalization goes about the art industry, people can be really challenging and thought-provoking in their thinking and questioning the status quo, and it's really important that the status quo can be questioned and that there are people doing that.
  • Habit with him was all the test of truth,
    It must be right: I’ve done it from my youth.
    • George Crabbe, The Borough (1810), Letter iii, "The Vicar", line 138.
  • Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, "We've always done it this way." I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise.
    • Grace Hopper, The Wit and Wisdom of Grace Hopper (1987)
    • Unsourced variant: The most dangerous phrase in the language is, "We've always done it this way."
  • Change tends to fill people with this incredible fear.
  • This literature, although diverse, paints a picture of a social animal who acts not like a dispassionate observer and judge of her or his governmental systems, or one who relies on the government and other institutional systems solely for the provision of tangible, physical goods (e.g., safety, roads, water), but of someone who also leans on the government and other organizations to cope with various psychological needs — needs traditionally thought to be handled by the individual alone or, at the very most, via the individual’s connections to others... It has become clear that people turn to their external systems to regulate a number of relational, existential, and epistemic threats... We leveraged this past research to develop a novel explanation for how people’s tendency to trust in their social systems, and outsource their worries and fears to these systems, can lead to the propagation of ignorance in the context of important social issues.
  • Satisfied powers are those that have reached the top of the pecking order, are happy with their lot, and are primarily interested in preserving the status quo. In contrast, rising powers are states on the move. They are not satisfied with their lot, are usually struggling for recognition and influence, and are therefore looking for ways to overturn the status quo.
  • Certainly none of the advances made in civilization has been due to counterrevolutionaries and advocates of the status quo.
  • New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.
    • John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689).

See also

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