--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Changes in the structure of society are…" description: "\"Changes in the structure of society are not brought about solely by massive engines of doctrine. The first flash of insight which persuades human being..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb8/kenneth-clark-9681_assumption_changes-in-the-structure-of-society-are_663628.png" --- # Changes in the structure of society are not brought about… ![“Changes in the structure of society are not brought about solely by massive engines of doctrine. The first flash of insight which persuades human beings to change their basic assumptions is usually contained in a few phrases.” quote by Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb8/kenneth-clark-9681_assumption_changes-in-the-structure-of-society-are_663628.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb8/kenneth-clark-9681_assumption_changes-in-the-structure-of-society-are_663628.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cb8/kenneth-clark-9681_assumption_changes-in-the-structure-of-society-are_663628.png) > “Changes in the structure of society are not brought about solely by massive engines of doctrine. The first flash of insight which persuades human beings to change their basic assumptions is usually contained in a few phrases.” [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Social change begins with a few powerful ideas that shift fundamental beliefs, not just large institutions. **In simple terms:** Ideas can spark societal shifts. Key Takeaway Seek and share transformative ideas. Themes ideas ideaschange ideas Mood reflective analytical Type inspirational thought‑provoking When to use this quote - policy reform - education - media campaigns - grassroots movements Key Concepts philosophy sociology cultural evolution Questions to Reflect On - What single phrase could reshape a current belief? - How can we amplify small ideas to larger impact? A Different Perspective Ideas may be resisted by entrenched interests and inertia. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Assumption](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) [Change](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/change/) [Doctrine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doctrine/) [Ethics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ethics/) [Human beings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-beings/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Structure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/structure/) ## Related quotes > [The Internet changes the structure of society all the time—this massiveness made of individuals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ai-weiwei/the-internet-changes-the-structure-of-society-all-the-time-this/) [Ai Weiwei](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ai-weiwei/) > [Changing the way you dress can make it easier to make deeper changes in the structure of your personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/changing-the-way-you-dress-can-make-it-easier-to-make-deeper-changes/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [As human beings we do change, grow, adapt, perhaps even learn and become wiser.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-carlos/as-human-beings-we-do-change-grow-adapt-perhaps-even-learn-and-become/) [Wendy Carlos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-carlos/) > [The arts, it has been said, cannot change the world, but they may change human beings who might change the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maxine-greene/the-arts-it-has-been-said-cannot-change-the-world-but-they-may-change/) [Maxine Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maxine-greene/) > [Human beings all change. Not what they are but who they are. We have the power to change what we do with our life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elie-wiesel/human-beings-all-change-not-what-they-are-but-who-they-are-we-have/) [Elie Wiesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elie-wiesel/) > [Human beings change. Sometimes we change because of our circumstances and experiences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kristofer-hivju/human-beings-change-sometimes-we-change-because-of-our-circumstances/) [Kristofer Hivju](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kristofer-hivju/) > [Human beings find change very difficult. They find change is something that can be quite an awkward thing to adjust to. It applies to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-wilson/human-beings-find-change-very-difficult-they-find-change-is-something/) [Steven Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-wilson/) > [This is mankind's destiny, the engine with fuels us as a race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-finch/this-is-mankind-s-destiny-the-engine-with-fuels-us-as-a-race/) [Janet Finch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-finch/) > [Splutter, splutter. Yes - we're off - we're rising. But why start off with an engine like that? But it smooths out now, like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/splutter-splutter-yes-we-re-off-we-re-rising-but-why-start-off-with/) [Anne Morrow Lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/) > [ Brian Mulroney, myself, \[and\] Rajiv Gandhi; I think that was the real core \[of the Commonwealth \]. That was the engine room, I reckon. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hawke/brian-mulroney-myself-and-rajiv-gandhi-i-think-that-was-the-real-core/) [Bob Hawke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hawke/) > [I look at Starbucks, Howard Schultz has made many brilliant decisions, and one of the things that they did was they invented the third…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/i-look-at-starbucks-howard-schultz-has-made-many-brilliant-decisions/) [Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/) > [As American productivity, once the exuberant engine of national wealth, has dipped to an embarrassingly uncompetitive low, Americans have shaken their heads: the country's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-morrow/as-american-productivity-once-the-exuberant-engine-of-national-wealth/) [Lance Morrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lance-morrow/) > [I never wanted to do away with my intensity because I felt it was a gift that helped put fuel in my engine, giving…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-j-meyer/i-never-wanted-to-do-away-with-my-intensity-because-i-felt-it-was-a/) [Paul J. Meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-j-meyer/) > [Honor commerce as the engine of change.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-mcdonough/honor-commerce-as-the-engine-of-change/) [William McDonough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-mcdonough/) > [I am alive. Up here with the song of the engine and the air whispering on my face as the sunlight and shadows play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-coonts/i-am-alive-up-here-with-the-song-of-the-engine-and-the-air-whispering/) [Stephen Coonts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-coonts/) ## More by Kenneth Clark > [To hurry through the rise and fall of a fine, full sentence is like defying the role of time in human life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/to-hurry-through-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-fine-full-sentence-is-like/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [All color is no color.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/all-color-is-no-color/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [The nude does not simply represent the body, but relates it, by analogy, to all structures that have become part of our imaginative experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/the-nude-does-not-simply-represent-the-body-but-relates-it-by-analogy/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Ruthless, greedy, tyrannical, disreputable they have had one principle worth all the rest, the principle of delight!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/ruthless-greedy-tyrannical-disreputable-they-have-had-one-principle/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Those who wish, in the interest of morality, to reduce Leonardo, that inexhaustible source of creative power, to a neutral or sexless agency, have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/those-who-wish-in-the-interest-of-morality-to-reduce-leonardo-that/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [It is often said that Leonardo drew so well because he knew about things; it is truer to say that he knew about things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/it-is-often-said-that-leonardo-drew-so-well-because-he-knew-about/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [A lot of people you think you know you don't know until you find out you don't know then it may be too late…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/a-lot-of-people-you-think-you-know-you-don-t-know-until-you-find-out/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [The dark ghettos are social, political, educational and-above all-economic colonies. Their inhabitants are subject peoples, victims of the greed, cruelty, insensitivity, guilt, and fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/the-dark-ghettos-are-social-political-educational-and-above-all/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Devotion to the facts will always give the pleasures of recognition; adherence to the rules of design, the pleasures of order and certainty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/devotion-to-the-facts-will-always-give-the-pleasures-of-recognition/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Over and above the political, economic, sociological, and international implications of racial prejudices, their major significance is that they place unnecessary burdens upon human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/over-and-above-the-political-economic-sociological-and-international/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Racial prejudices are indication of a disturbed and potentially unstable society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/racial-prejudices-are-indication-of-a-disturbed-and-potentially/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Fine colour implies a unified relationship, in which each part is subordinate to the whole, and the transitions between them are felt to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/fine-colour-implies-a-unified-relationship-in-which-each-part-is/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [Energy is eternal delight; and from the earliest times human beings have tried to imprison it in some durable hieroglyphic. It is perhaps the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/energy-is-eternal-delight-and-from-the-earliest-times-human-beings/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [All great civilizations, in their early stages, are based on success in war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/all-great-civilizations-in-their-early-stages-are-based-on-success-in/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) > [This became Delacroix 's theme: that the achievements of the spirit all that a great library contained were the result of a state of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-clark/this-became-delacroix-s-theme-that-the-achievements-of-the-spirit-all/) [Kenneth Clark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) [Explore all 71 Kenneth Clark quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-clark/) ## More Assumption quotes > [Next to the assumption of power was the responsibility of relinquishing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/next-to-the-assumption-of-power-was-the-responsibility-of/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [It's difficult for people to come to the understanding that only a small minority of the people ever really get the word about life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/earl-nightingale/it-s-difficult-for-people-to-come-to-the-understanding-that-only-a/) [Earl Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/earl-nightingale/) > [Much like teaching art to young art students age 10 to 15 or so on, you have to break it down into bite-sized pieces,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kehinde-wiley/much-like-teaching-art-to-young-art-students-age-10-to-15-or-so-on/) [Kehinde Wiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kehinde-wiley/) > [Neither novels or their readers benefit from any attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/neither-novels-or-their-readers-benefit-from-any-attempts-to-divine/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [The risk of developing carcinoma of the lung increases steadily as the amount smoked increases. If the risk among non-smokers is taken as unity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-doll/the-risk-of-developing-carcinoma-of-the-lung-increases-steadily-as/) Richard Doll > [Fortunately, the mind is restless; when it uncovers a layer of its own deception, gives up an illusion, exposes a lie, it does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-chernin/fortunately-the-mind-is-restless-when-it-uncovers-a-layer-of-its-own/) [Kim Chernin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-chernin/) > [The possibility of saying anything about a thing rests on the assumption that it preserves its identity, or continues to be the same thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-knight/the-possibility-of-saying-anything-about-a-thing-rests-on-the/) [Frank Knight](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-knight/) > [She spent hours drawing on her own, trying to perfect her craft. And when she got into music, she had that same diligence in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-joplin/she-spent-hours-drawing-on-her-own-trying-to-perfect-her-craft-and/) [Laura Joplin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-joplin/) > [If they are, then the only ultimate truths are the particulars of concrete experience, and no postulate or general assumption is inherent in science…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chauncey-wright/if-they-are-then-the-only-ultimate-truths-are-the-particulars-of/) [Chauncey Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chauncey-wright/) > [If he's - the inference is that somehow he thinks slavery is a - is a noble institution I would - I would strongly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/if-he-s-the-inference-is-that-somehow-he-thinks-slavery-is-a-is-a/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [Leadership, pure and simple, is the assumption of responsibility for the pursuit of excellence in group life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-selznick/leadership-pure-and-simple-is-the-assumption-of-responsibility-for/) Philip Selznick > [Humans suffer from self-centred notions as to the nature of life. Humans assume that alien life forms should conform to standards that match our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-perry/humans-suffer-from-self-centred-notions-as-to-the-nature-of-life/) [Steve Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-perry/) > [When I see a fan coming over, I can't help but make an assumption about what they want to talk about. A middle-aged American…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-dormer/when-i-see-a-fan-coming-over-i-can-t-help-but-make-an-assumption/) [Natalie Dormer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-dormer/) > [The Bell curve is a fact of life. The blacks on average score 85 per cent on IQ and it is accurate, nothing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-kuan-yew/the-bell-curve-is-a-fact-of-life-the-blacks-on-average-score-85-per/) [Lee Kuan Yew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-kuan-yew/) > [Pussy Riot have certainly changed some people's assumptions about the role of political art and the relationship between the intelligentsia and the church. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/pussy-riot-have-certainly-changed-some-people-s-assumptions-about-the/) [Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/) [Browse all 1,277 Assumption quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumption/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Changes in the structure of society are not brought about solely by massive engines of doctrine. 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