"People are always telling me that change is good. But all that means is that something you didn't want to happen has happened"
About this Quote
The intent isn’t to argue that change is always bad; it’s to expose how the slogan gets deployed socially. The anonymous “People” matters. It suggests a chorus of friends, co-workers, maybe the culture at large, offering consolation that doubles as dismissal. The subtext is: your discomfort is inconvenient, so here’s a motivational poster to smooth it over.
What makes the line sharp is its grammar of inevitability. “All that means” narrows the definition with mock certainty, like a comedian cornering an overconfident premise. It’s funny because it’s slightly unfair and recognizably true. It also carries a particular early-2000s rom-com sensibility: characters who are supposed to be “relatable” but are really negotiating adulthood’s quiet humiliations - jobs shifting, relationships dissolving, identities rebranded as “growth.”
Coming from Ryan, an actress synonymous with buoyant optimism onscreen, the cynicism reads as earned rather than bitter. The cultural context is an America fluent in upbeat therapy-speak and corporate resilience training, where “change” is praised most loudly when someone else has to absorb it. The quote offers permission to name that gap: between the story we’re told and the thing we’re actually living.
Quote Details
| Topic | Change |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Ryan, Meg. (2026, January 15). People are always telling me that change is good. But all that means is that something you didn't want to happen has happened. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/people-are-always-telling-me-that-change-is-good-169214/
Chicago Style
Ryan, Meg. "People are always telling me that change is good. But all that means is that something you didn't want to happen has happened." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/people-are-always-telling-me-that-change-is-good-169214/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"People are always telling me that change is good. But all that means is that something you didn't want to happen has happened." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/people-are-always-telling-me-that-change-is-good-169214/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.











