The essence of statesmanship is not a rigid adherence to the past, but a prudent and probing concern for the future.
Hubert H. Humphrey

The hierarchy of class in London was rigid. It was like a religion. It still is to a certain extent.
Ben Kingsley

The liberal left can be as rigid and destructive as any force in American life.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan

The rigid cause themselves to be broken; the pliable cause themselves to be bound.
Xun Zi

The Roman legions were formed in the first instance of citizen soldiers, who yet had been made to submit to a rigid discipline, and to feel that in that submission lay their strength.
Goldwin Smith

The social system grows rigid but the productive forces continue to expand, and conflict ensues between the forces of production and the social conditions of production.
Earl Browder

Too rigid specialization is almost as bad for a historian's mind, and for his ultimate reputation, as too early an indulgence in broad generalization and synthesis.
Samuel E. Morison

Try to open up your mind a little, and move away from rigid opinions of what people should do and be - unless you have been there.
Ann Rule

Used as kites, these rigid stable aeroplanes are superior to the very best cellular kites I can make; they are lighter, pull harder per square foot, attain a greater angle of elevation, and have fewer parts.
Lawrence Hargrave

We are beginning a new era in our government. I cannot too strongly urge the necessity of a rigid economy and an inflexible determination not to enlarge the income beyond the real necessities of the government.
Andrew Jackson

When the fabric of society is so rigid that it cannot change quickly enough, adjustments are achieved by social unrest and revolutions.
John Boyd Orr

You have to protect it too, you can't let just any stupid person take it and do something demoralizing with it. At the same time, I don't believe in being so rigid about controlling what happens either.
Paul Auster