Quotes about Habits

Will Durant

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

This quote is often misattributed to Aristotle. Durant was summarizing some connected statements by Aristotle as follows: “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation: we not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather have these because we have acted rightly; these virtues are formed in man by doing his actions; we are we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” See related Aristotle quote for additional context.

Thomas Jefferson

Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible lines of distinction between them.

The first sentence is inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC. The last two sentences are rarely quoted.

Marcus Luttrell

You play like you practice and practice how you play.

Kate Beckinsale

I try and take lots of vitamins and I don't drink. I do smoke, though, I'd be insufferable if I didn't smoke, you'd have to push me off a balcony I'd be so boring.

George Santayana

Most men's conscience, habits, and opinions are borrowed from convention and gather continually comforting assurances from the same social consensus that originally suggested them.

Zig Ziglar

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.

Robert G. Ingersoll

For the most part we inherit our opinions. We are the heirs of habits and mental customs. Our beliefs, like the fashion of our garments, depend on where we were born. We are molded and fashioned by our surroundings.

Ingersoll was considered to be the greatest orator and political thinker of his day, but his overt atheistic views curtailed his elected political career.

William Halsey

I never trust a fighting man who doesn’t smoke or drink.

Payal Kadakia

I travel pretty frequently, but a few things that are routine are going for a run, getting my green tea in the morning, and checking email... well, all the time!

Arthur Schopenhauer

A man shows his character just in the way in which he deals with trifles, for then he is off his guard.

Dinesh Paliwal

I don't like to get too caught up in habits because too much structure can stifle creativity. But there are a few habits that make us more productive and are healthy to work into every workweek, if not every day. I love to start the day with a workout - even just a run on the treadmill while catching up on the morning headlines.

Jack Canfield

Your habits will determine your future.

Marcus Mariota

I'm pretty OCD. I like to fine-tune every single detail. I think that's a habit built maybe from me being OCD.

Peter O'Toole

If I'd known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.

Miriam Shor

I went to the gym 4 days in a row in January of 2016. That's the last time I went.

Charles Bukowski

we sat there smoking cigarettes at 5 in the morning.

Martha Beck

The way we do anything is the way we do everything.

Dave Ramsey

Money is 80% behavior, 20% head knowledge. It's what you do, not what you know.

Jayma Mays

The other day, I noticed I'd arranged my spices in alphabetical order when I was on the phone, without even realizing, and when I was a kid I was constantly cleaning and organizing things - my toys, my sister's cosmetics.