Just the Quotes...

There was an old TV show from the 1950s or 1960s about a police detective called Dragnet. The main character, Detective Joe Friday, was known for his famous line: "Just the facts, ma'am." He used this phrase to steer his interviewees away from speculation or personal opinions and back to the point. Today, I will share "just the quotes," even though it’s Tuesday and not Friday.

Quotes

"the idea of shifting from one attractor to another. When we talk about participation in this way we are describing a social process by which people take action and others either reject it or move towards it. If it is resonant enough – which means that it must be appropriate, work, and be meaningful to people's lives – then it will act as an attractor. As we discovered in the last chapter, in order to change the dynamics of system, it is necessary to create alternative attractors – deeper underlying shifts in perceptions, relationships, and attitudes, to provide foundations for new points of convergence to emerge. Once these reach a critical mass, tipping points occur which allow a shift in the pattern of social relationships to a new attractor." (Danny Burns and Stuart Worsley, Navigating Complexity in International Development)

"In Frederick Douglass’ 1869 speech “The Composite Nation,” he defends Chinese immigrants and says that he believes we're going to become a multiracial, multiethnic democracy one day. For a former slave to be saying that is what makes America unique, and is equally part of America's story." (Anand Giridharadas, Ro Khanna Wants Progressives to Embrace Patriotism, Aspiration, and Experimentation)

"The spiritual journey involves going beyond hope and fear, stepping into unknown territory, continually moving forward. The most important aspect of being on the spiritual path may be to just keep moving." (Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart)

“If you do not understand your role in the problem, it is difficult to be part of the solution.”
– David Peter Stroh

“Addiction is finding a quick and dirty solution to the symptom of the problem, which prevents or distracts one from the harder and longer-term task of solving the real problem.”
– Donella H. Meadows

We have created trouble for ourselves in organizations by confusing control with order.”
– Margaret J. Wheatley

“Yet we act as if simple cause and effect is at work. We push to find the one simple reason things have gone wrong. We look for the one action, or the one person, that created this mess. As soon as we find someone to blame, we act as if we’ve solved the problem.”
– Margaret J. Wheatley

“There are no separate systems. The world is a continuum. Where to draw a boundary around a system depends on the purpose of the discussion.”
― Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems

“We can't impose our will on a system. We can listen to what the system tells us, and discover how its properties and our values can work together to bring forth something much better than could ever be produced by our will alone.”
― Donella H. Meadows, Thinking In Systems: A Primer

“Let's face it, the universe is messy. It is nonlinear, turbulent, and chaotic. It is dynamic. It spends its time in transient behavior on its way to somewhere else, not in mathematically neat equilibria. It self-organizes and evolves. It creates diversity, not uniformity. That's what makes the world interesting, that's what makes it beautiful, and that's what makes it work.”
― Donella H. Meadows, Thinking In Systems: A Primer

“a system must consist of three kinds of things: elements, interconnections, and a function or purpose.”
― Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems: A Primer