THE INCREDIBLE BEAUTY OF PROGRESS

“I'm a work in progress,” says Barbra Streisand. And, of course, so are we all. And, on an existential plane, so is everything.

Progress is a beautiful thing. Of course that is if you are considering positive growth, evolution and change. Evil can progress as well. And progress can have unintended circumstances and collateral damage. One person’s idea of progress can be another person’s idea of problem. Progress can both support and degrade heritage. So it’s complicated. But what’s simple is that progress is about some sort of forward movement.

There’s hard-won progress -- “If there is no struggle, there is no progress,” says Frederick Douglass. And there’s progress that quietly rolls along.

“Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own; and from morning to night, as from the cradle to the grave, it is but a succession of changes so gentle and easy that we can scarcely mark their progress,” says Charles Dickens.

See more beautiful ideas about progress below.

“Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.”

-- Khalil Gibran

“Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out.”

-- James Bryant Conant

“The power to question is the basis of all human progress.”

-- Indira Gandhi

“The human mind always makes progress, but it is a progress in spirals.”

-- Madame de Stael

“Equality for women is progress for all.”

-- Ban Ki-moon

“Without imagination, I don't think there's any progress.”

-- Margot Lee Shetterly

“There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”

-- Bruce Lee, attributed, “The Art of Expressing the Human Body.”

“Little by little, a little becomes a lot.”

-- Anonymous

“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.”

-- Frank Zappa

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”

-- Winston Churchill, “Thoughts & Adventures.”

Read more about Beautiful Progress in Travel Bucket Places Ahead of the Rush and  Climb Every Beautiful Mountain.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Mind/Body, Soul/Impact, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Arts/Design, and Place/Time, Daily Fix posts.

Want more stories like this? Sign up for our weekly BN Newsletter, Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr. Join our BeautifulNow Community and connect with the most beautiful things happening in the world right now!

Do you have amazing photos? Enter them in this week’s BN Photo Contest. We run new creative contest every week!

IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by twiga269 ॐ FEMEN. “Shadow of Sajama at Sunrise with Parinacota and Pomerape.” Bolivia.
2. Image: by Justin Kern. “A foggy and cold morning on the Nisqually.” Mt. Rainier WA.
3. Image: by Shawn McCready. “Western Painting Turtle.”
4. Image: by QThomas Bower. “Swirling a Mystery.”
5. Image: by R. “Color Spiral.”
6. Image: by Phil Roeder. “Women's March 2018.”
7. Image: by Bob Wick, of Bureau of Land Management California. “Carrizo Plain National Monument.” CA.
8. Image: by Philippe. “Plateau d'Emparis.” Rhone-Alpes, France.
9. Image: by Jhiro02. “Fall at Hitachi Seaside Park.”
10. Image: by pfly. “A path forked thrice in the woods.” Norse Peak Wilderness. Yakima WA.
11. Image: by Dylan Watts and Paxson Woelber. "Balancing on the Brink." Eagle Peak summit, Chugach Mountains, Alaska.
12. Image: by Ian D. Keating. “North Etiwanda Preserve.” Rancho Cucamonga, California.
13. Image: by Edward K. Boggess. “Monarch ready to emerge.” Courtesy of USFWSmidwest.
14. Image: by Eileen McFall. “Interplanetary explorers.”
15. Image: by inefekt69. “Reaching for the Stars.”