Habit is a cable. — We weave a thread of it every day, and at last we cannot break it.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist
Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs one step at a time.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Habit becomes natural.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Habits are formed by the repetition of particular acts. They are strengthened by an increase in the number of repeated acts. Habits are also weakened or broken, and contrary habits are formed by the repetition of contrary acts.
—Mortimer J. Adler (1902–2001) American Philosopher, Educator, Author
The habit of looking on the best side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a year.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
I went into a McDonald’s yesterday and said, ‘I’d like some fries.’ The girl at the counter said, ‘Would you like some fries with that?’
—Jay Leno (b.1950) American Comedian, TV Personality
Laws are never as effective as habits.
—Adlai Stevenson (1900–65) American Diplomat, Politician, Orator
Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
The habit of reading is the only enjoyment in which there is no alloy; it lasts when all other pleasures fade.
—Anthony Trollope (1815–82) English Novelist
Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
—Vince Lombardi (1913–70) American Football Coach
The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. Do the important things first – because where you are headed is more important than how fast you are going.
—Stephen Covey (b.1932) American Management Consultant, Author, Motivational Speaker
Achieve success in any area of life by identifying the optimum strategies and repeating them until they become habits.
—Charles J. Givens (1941–98) American Self-Help Writer
Habit is necessary; it is the habit of having habits, of turning a trail into a rut, that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain alive.
—Edith Wharton (1862–1937) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
The beginning of pride and hatred lies in worldly desire, and the strength of your desire if from habit. When an evil tendency becomes confirmed by habit, rage is triggered when anyone restrains you.
—Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207–73) Persian Muslim Mystic
Success is a matter of understanding and religiously practicing specific, simple habits that always lead to success.
—Robert Ringer (b.1979) American Entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, Author
The law of the harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
—George Boardman (1801–31) American Baptist Minister
People do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and their habits decide their futures.
—F. Matthias Alexander (1869–1955) Australian Actor, Educationalist
Habit is a form of exercise.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Habit with its iron sinews, clasps us and leads us day by day.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
The unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are so much easier to give up than bad ones.
—W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
The only difference between a rut and a groove is their dimensions.
—Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945) American Novelist
Habits are soon assumed; but when we endeavor to strip them off, it is being flayed alive.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
A single bad habit will mar an otherwise faultless character, as an ink-drop soileth the pure white page.
—Hosea Ballou (1771–1852) American Universalist Clergyman, Writer
Sow a thought, reap an act; Sow an act, reap a habit; Sow a habit, reap a character; Sow a character, reap adestiny.
—Anonymous
To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be.
—Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) Spanish Essayist, Novelist, Poet, Playwright, Philosopher
Such as are thy habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of thy soul-for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. Dye it then, with a continuous series of such thoughts as these-that where a man can live, there if he will, he can also live well.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
An elephant can be tethered by a thread–if he believes he is captive. If we believe we are chained by habit or anxiety, we are in bondage.
—John H. Crowe
Habit strips sin of its enormity.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Genius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
In any family, measles are less contagious than bad habits.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
A man who gives his children habits of industry provides for them better than by giving them a fortune.
—Richard Whately
Thoughts lead on to purpose, purpose leads onto actions, actions form habits, habits decide character, and character fixes our destiny.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
If an idiot were to tell you the same story every day for a year, you would end by believing him.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
Your mind will be like its habitual thoughts; for the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts. Soak it then in such trains of thoughts as, for example: Where life is possible at all, a right life is possible.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
The phrases that men hear or repeat continually, end by becoming convictions and ossify the organs of intelligence.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Any act often repeated soon forms a habit; and habit allowed, steadily gains in strength. At first it may be but as the spider’s web, easily broken through, but if not resisted it soon binds us with chains of steel.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.
—Agatha Christie (1890–1976) British Novelist, Short-Story Writer, Playwright
Certes, they been lye to hounds, for an hound when he cometh by the roses, or by other bushes, though he may nat pisse, yet wole he heve up his leg and make a countenance to pisse.
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400) English Poet, Philosopher, Diplomat, Bureaucrat
Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Journalist, Historian, Academic, Novelist
To change a habit, make a conscious decision, then act out the new behavior.
—Maxwell Maltz (1899–1975) American Surgeon, Motivational Writer