1. "It is necessary to learn the great art of adaptability. All Life, the whole Cosmos develops and exists precisely by great adaptability. Tolerance, without which there is no progress, follows from the cosmic law of adaptability." [Letters of Helena Roerich in 9 Volumes - 9. 175]
2. "The basic Plan [of evolution] remains unshakable, but its details must be mobile. After all, everything lives in Space, everything moves, everything worries. As the Buddhists say, “no object remains the same in the next two moments.” We have to adapt to the circumstances if we want to protect the main Plan. This is the great expediency that rules the Cosmos." [Letters of Helena Roerich in 9 Volumes - 2. 037]
3. "Agility of consciousness is a quality of the Higher World. …Agility teaches one to understand things from different angles. And the formula "by human hands and feet" ceases to be an abstraction.You should also understand the infallibility of the general plan. Therefore, you must continually search, and not cling to any notion. If the enemies close off one road, by that very action they leave open another." [Agni Yoga, 373]
4. "In order to put the plan into life, you need to be ready to apply mobility at any time." [Leaves of Morya’s Garden II, 185]
5. "Verily, it is necessary to have ten exit lanes for one fire. Strong is an action when there are ten solutions behind it." [New Era Community, 83]
6. ""Always at the ready,” says flexibility." [Supermundane, 926]
7. "The search for new ways is the most imperative problem. Due to the unusualness of conditions of the future, it will be impossible to proceed by the old ways. …It is dreadful when people approach new conditions with their old habits. Just as it is impossible to open a present-day lock with a mediaeval key, likewise it is impossible for men with old habits to unlock the door to the future." [Infinity II, 84]
8. "For there cannot be success with the past. Thus, the search for new ways is the first requirement. The evidence of flexibility in the search is the basis of success." [Infinity II, 86]
9. ""Habit is second nature" is a wise proverb that shows how habit overcomes a person. It is habits that make a person immobile and unresponsive. ...The belief in freedom when a person is shackled in the shackles of his habits is especially tragic." [Brotherhood, 529]
10. "It is not difficult for a yogi to cut the bonds of habit, because his state of tense alertness constantly reveals to him new approaches to problems. Inertia is the skeleton on which ignorance grows." [Agni Yoga, 198]
11. "Hearing about motion and mobility, people turn into restless runners. But can bustle be fitting for higher manifestations? Similarly, people do not distinguish outer from inner movement, yet such a distinction is quite essential; it saves one from bustle, which unavoidably leads to falsehood. ... Aimless bustling is an expression of a lack of adaptability to life." [Brotherhood, 499]
12. "...The more we admit and imagine, the less we are bound. Thus, develop your imagination on a world-wide scope. People refuse to believe that the unexpected, in other words, ignorance produces a paralysis of the nerves. Though it be ever so brief, such a reaction arrests the work of Fire. Wherever possible, one should accustom oneself to the concept of unexpectedness." [Fiery World I, 402]
13. "Adaptability is the best means for conservation of forces. Often it is asked how to develop this quality. The development of adaptability actually takes place in the current of life. …When after solemn festivities you turn to ordinary toil, you become struck with the sad everydayness. When out of the dismal cold you enter a beautiful building, it appears to be the crown of perfection. A sluggish adaptability produces a series of false concepts. This falseness makes you timid and awkward. People cringe before the mirage of an effect. They constrict their own concepts before something unexpected, whereas everything must take place in an opposite manner. Sternly accustom yourselves to the reception of contrasting sensations, to the grasping of unexpectedness. All is expected, because all is realized." [New Era Community, 245]
14. "Adaptability is a great training and sharpening of many of our abilities. If you start looking at everything as new lessons to overcome your shortcomings, then a lot of things will become easier." [Letters of Helena Roerich in 9 Volumes - 7. 044]
15. "Forward, forward, ever forward! Each moment of torpor is a loss of progressive motion. How often it has been said that motion is a shield against the hostile arrows!" [Fiery World I, 464]
16. "Overcoming life, adaptability to its conditions, victory over circumstances – all these are phenomena of the same order. Their goal is to maintain the constancy of continuous movement, and moreover to move so that nothing interferes. This forward movement is set regardless of any combination of external or internal conditions, as well as states of consciousness. …For the engine is the spirit." [Facets of Agni Yoga 1958, 936]
17. "The mobility of the Plan requires a great adaptability of consciousness. Often it is necessary to have time to apply to the circumstances without disturbing the harmony of the forward movement. This requires greater mobility of consciousness and fortitude. ...The task is not to become perfect at once, but to maintain and stand firm ... when conditions completely change, but the main direction remains the same. In this variability of time conditions, it is necessary to see the immutability of the basic Plan and the strength to find consciousness in yourself, quickly adjust it in tune with it, but in a new way. This is the subtle quality of the rapid adaptability of consciousness to the changed conditions. Thus, adaptability to certain circumstances is replaced by adaptability of consciousness to any and all conditions, when no changes and surprises are terrible." [Facets of Agni Yoga 1955, 565]
