The oldest habit in the world for resisting change is to complain that unless the remedy to the disease should be universally applied it should not be applied at all. But you must start somewhere.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit.
—Henry Adams (1838–1918) American Historian, Man of Letters
Effective people stay out of Quadrants III and IV because, urgent or not, they aren’t important. They also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II…Quadrant II is the heart of effective personal management.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Genius, in truth, means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Trust is the highest form of human motivation.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Ill habits gather by unseen degrees –
As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
A habit is only a habit until you can observe it. And then it’s a choice.
—Unknown
There is no pleasure in life equal to that of the conquest of a vicious habit.
—Unknown
In every age of well-marked transition, there is the pattern of habitual dumb practice and emotion which is passing and there is oncoming a new complex of habit.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
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
Practice in time becomes second nature.
—Indian Proverb
You have to persevere and fortify your pertinacity until the will to good becomes a disposition to good.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
To change a habit, make a conscious decision, then act out the new behavior.
—Maxwell Maltz (1899–1975) American Surgeon, Motivational Writer
A man who gives his children habits of industry provides for them better than by giving them a fortune.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
Habits, though in their commencement like the filmy line of the spider, trembling at every breeze, may, in the end, prove as links of tempered steel, binding a deathless being to eternal felicity or woe.
—Lydia H. Sigourney (1791–1865) American Poetaster, Author
A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
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
Synergy is everywhere in nature. If you plant two plants close together, the roots commingle and improve the quality of the soil so that both plants will grow better than if they were separated. If you put two pieces of wood together, they will hold much more than the total weight held by each separately. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. One plus one equals three or more.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
—Vince Lombardi (1913–70) American Football Coach
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
Habits are cobwebs at first; cables at last.
—Chinese Proverb
Each year one vicious habit rooted out, in time might make the worst man good throughout.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Successful people are simply those with success habits.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
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
Man is occasionally what he should be perpetually.
—Unknown
Wise living consists perhaps less in acquiring good habits than in acquiring as few habits as possible.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Habit, if wisely and skillfully formed, becomes truly a second nature; but unskillfully and unmethodically directed, it will be as it were the ape of nature, which imitates nothing to the life, but only clumsily and awkwardly.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Habit is a shackle for the free.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
One might call habit a moral friction: something that prevents the mind from gliding over things but connects it with them and makes it hard for it to free itself from them.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
Habits change into character.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
As a twig is bent the tree inclines.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
When you inhabit any of these three roles, you’re reacting to fear of victimhood, loss of control, or loss of purpose. You’re always looking outside yourself, to the people and circumstances of life, for a sense of safety, security, and sanity.
—David Emerald
Someone once inquired of a Far Eastern Zen master, who had a great serenity and peace about him no matter what pressures he faced, “How do you maintain that serenity and peace?” He replied, “I never leave my place of meditation”. He meditated early in the morning and for the rest of the day, he carried the peace of those moments with him in his mind and heart.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread, but every time we repeat the act we strengthen the strand, add to it another filament, until it becomes a great cable and binds us irrevocably thought and act.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
Good habits result from resisting temptation.
—Common Proverb
Habit is the deepest law of human nature.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
It’s just as easy to form the habit of succeeding as it is to succumb to the habit of failure. Habits aren’t instincts; they’re acquired reactions. They don’t just happen; they are caused. Once you determine the original cause of a habit, it is within your power either to accept or reject it.
—Unknown
The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might of the force of habit and must understand that practices are what create habits. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires.
—J. Paul Getty (1892–1976) American Business Person, Art Collector, Philanthropist
Effective people are not problem-minded; they’re opportunity-minded.
—Stephen Covey (1932–2012) American Self-help Author
How use doth breed a habit in a man! this shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, I better brook than flourishing peopled towns.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
When we have practised good actions awhile, they become easy; when they are easy, we take pleasure in them; when they please us, we do them frequently; and then, by frequency of act, they grow into a habit.
—John Tillotson
As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Things start as hopes and end up as habits.
—Lillian Hellman (1905–84) American Playwright, Dramatist, Memoirist
It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
To make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy … we must make automatic and habitual, as early as possible, as many useful actions as we can, and guard against the growing into ways that are likely to be disadvantageous to us, as we should guard against the plague.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
In a majority of things habit is a greater plague than ever afflicted Egypt.—In religious character it is a grand felicity.
—John Foster Dulles (1888–1959) American Republican Public Official, Lawyer
Feeling sorry for yourself, and your present condition, is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could possibly have.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author