"It is extremely dangerous to mistake change for progress."Another way of looking at it:"All progress is change, but not all change is progress."Sam's quote is usually attributed to Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the USA - and probably a pointless answer as no-one remembers him apart for his mediocrity and wish to please all people all of the time.For the context, his speech in 1850:It is not strange, however much it may be regretted, that such an exuberance of enterprise should cause some individuals to mistake change for progress and the invasion of the rights of others for national prowess and glory. The former are constantly agitating for some change in the organic law, or urging new and untried theories of human rights. The speech was just before the civil war, so those untried theories may well refer to giving black people the right to vote or the right not to be enslaved.As comfortable and familiar as the status quo is for some and whatever the risk that some change may not be progress, it is usually better to have a dynamic society to a stagnating one that entrenches unfairness.
Ed Saper ● 1962d