quotations about custom
A bad custom is like a good cake, better broken than kept.
JOHN RAY
English Proverbs
'Tis base,
And argues a low spirit, to be taught
By customs, and to let the vulgar grow
To our example.
ROBERT MEAD
The Combat of Love and Friendship
But to my mind, though I am native here,
And to the manner born, it is a custom
More honour'd in the breach than the observance.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Hamlet
Man is made of the wholly common, and custom is his nurse; woe then to them who lay irreverent hands on his old house-furniture, the dear inheritance from his forefathers: For time consecrates, and what is gray with age becomes religion.
FRIEDRICH SCHILLER
The Death of Wallenstein
The slaves of custom and established mode,
With pack-horse constancy we keep the road
Crooked or straight, through quags or thorny dells,
True to the jingling of our leader's bells.
WILLIAM COWPER
The Task
Custom alone regulates morals.
ANATOLE FRANCE
The Revolt of the Angels
Custom is the sovereign of mortals and of gods: with its powerful hand it regulates things the most violent.
PINDARUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
There is no greater tyranny than that of social custom.
ELIZABETH GOUGE
The Dean's Watch
Times change: it was once the custom to take a bath weekly and religion daily.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
Custom is another law.
LATIN PROVERB
The customs and practices of life in society sweep us along.
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE
The Complete Essays
Customs may not be as wise as laws, but they are always more popular.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
speech in the House of Commons, March 11, 1870