Every man is a reformer until reform tramps on his toes. – Edgar Watson Howe, Country Town Sayings, 1911

All progress has resulted from people who took unpopular positions. – Adlai Stevenson, speech, Princeton, 1954

What we call human nature in actuality is human habit. – Jewel Kilcher, Pieces of You

The eager and often inconsiderate appeals of reformers and revolutionists are indispensable to counterbalance the inertia and fossilism marking so large a part of human institutions. – Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas, 1871