In a higher world it is otherwise, but here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.

John Henry Newman wrote this line amid Victorian-era controversies over religious authority and doctrinal development. Having moved from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism in 1845, Newman spent decades defending the idea that Christian doctrine can legitimately “develop” over time without betraying its original deposit. The sentence comes from his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, where he contrasts the changeless perfection attributed to God or heaven with the lived reality of history: human understanding, institutions, and theological formulations unfold through time. The remark also reflects Newman’s own intellectual and spiritual journey, often cited in discussions of conversion, maturation, and the evolution of belief.

Newman distinguishes between an imagined realm of static perfection (“a higher world”) and the human condition, where growth necessarily involves alteration. To live is to undergo experience, revision, and deepening insight; therefore, “perfection” in earthly terms is not immobility but a repeated willingness to be corrected and enlarged. In Newman’s theological frame, this supports the legitimacy of doctrinal development: continuity of identity can coexist with real change in expression and understanding. More broadly, the aphorism commends humility and openness—treating change not as betrayal but as a sign of vitality and maturation.

“To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”