quotations about habit
The Hindu bows down to wood and stone, mostly from "force of habit;" the Parsee worships the sun from the "force of habit;" the Roman Catholic crosses himself at numerous times and places from force of habit; the thoughtless man swears from the "force of habit;" the carpenter cuts his finger, and binds shavings on the wound from the "force of habit;" the shoemaker cuts his, spits, and binds leather on it from the "force of habit;" the post office employee swears by the gummed edgings of postage stamps, as the best of all sticking plasters, from the "force of habit;" the tavern-waiter advices salt to be put on a wound from the "force of habit;" the sailor "hitches up" his trousers from the "force of habit;" the soldier walks erect from the "force of habit;" many a boy says his prayers, but does not pray, from the "force of habit;" and many a girl tells lies, from the "force of habit." Many a hypocritical tradesman, after preparing to swindle his customers on the morrow, goes to prayers, from the "force of habit." The drunkard takes his morning dram, and the good man reads his Bible, much from the "force of habit." The betting man is ready to bet on anything, from the "force of habit." The doctor feels your pulse, and the thief will pick your pocket, from the "force of habit." The savage scalps his victim, and the Frenchman takes his hat off, from the "force of habit," and so strong is this force of habit, that if you will only accustom yourself every night for three months to stand on your head before getting into bed, at the end of that time you will not get in comfortably without first doing so (for some time to come). Then ye of bad habits, strive like men, for habit is overcome with habit. And yet guardians of the young, ye cannot too early teach them good habits, that they may cling to them through their earthly pilgrimage, and be a bulwark against bad ones.
T. AUGUSTUS FORBES LEITH
"On the Force of Habit", Short Essays
We become what we repeatedly do.
SEAN COVEY
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
A habit is a choice that we deliberately make at some point and then stop thinking about, but continue doing, often every day.
CHARLES DUHIGG
The Power of Habit
Habit is a past (as result), but this past makes possible a future.
CATHERINE MALABOU
preface, Of Habit
When habit clutches a man he becomes a limp mass of nerveless meat.
ABRAHAM MILLER
Unmoral Maxims
All our "most sacred affections" are merely prosaic habit.
CESARE PAVESE
This Business of Living, Jun. 12, 1938
Youth everywhere is forming habits either good or bad, and the future is largely determined by the habits acquired in early life. The idle, careless youth becomes the profligate, worthless man. The careful, temperate, industrious youth becomes the strong, reliable and trusty man. As a rule, men do not become truly great when bound down by evil habits.
HENRY F. KLETZING & ELMER L. KLETZING
"Habits", Traits of Character Illustrated in Bible Light
Habit is thus the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent. It alone is what keeps us all within the bounds of ordinance.
WILLIAM JAMES
Habit
Man is a bundle of habits in action, speech and thought.
WALTER MATTHEWS
"Habit", Human Life from Many Angles
Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
SAMUEL SMILES
Happy Homes and the Hearts That Make Them
Bad habits are overcome by good habits.
LUCAS REMMERSWAAL
The A-Z of 13 Habits
Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life. Each lapse is like the letting fall of a ball of string which one is carefully winding up; a single slip undoes more than a great many turns will wind again.
WILLIAM JAMES
The Principles of Psychology
H is for Habit, winners make a habit of doing the things losers don't want to do.
LUCAS REMMERSWAAL
The A-Z of 13 Habits
Habit is the cement of society, the comfort of life, and, alas! the root of error.
FULKE GREVILLE
Maxims
If you are unfortunate enough to have acquired bad habits, break them at once before they gain a greater hold on you. You may think them absolutely under your control, but thousands have made the same assumption and have found themselves woefully mistaken. You may not be able to overcome and subdue these habits in your own strength, but there is a power stronger than any earthly power that can help you to conquer. God's almightiness has in many cases broken these. Cast yourself upon Him. Trust Him to break these bonds and He will do it.
HENRY F. KLETZING & ELMER L. KLETZING
"Habits", Traits of Character Illustrated in Bible Light
Whatever you would make habitual, practice it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practice it, but accustom yourself to something else.
EPICTETUS
Discourses
We talk of acquiring a habit; we should rather say being acquired by it.
ELIZA COOK
Diamond Dust
Habit is, of all the plants of human growth, the one that has the least need of nutritious soil in order to live, and is the first to appear on the most seemingly barren rock.
MARCEL PROUST
The Guermantes Way
The habits of a young man are, like his coat, removable; the habits of an old man are like the drapery of a statue.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
Most men are prisoners at best,
Who some strong habit every drag about
Like chain and ball.
HENRY ABBEY
"The Galley Slave"