Hudibras, Part III (1678)
Context: We idly sit, like stupid blockheads,
Our hands committed to our pockets,
And nothing but our tongues at large,
To get the wretches a discharge:
Like men condemn'd to thunder-bolts,
Who, ere the blow, become mere dolts;
Or fools besotted with their crimes,
That know not how to shift betimes,
And neither have the hearts to stay,
Nor wit enough to run away.
“Small habits well pursued betimes
May reach the dignity of crimes.”
Florio, Part i.
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Hannah More 9
English religious writer and philanthropist 1745–1833Related quotes
Journal Intime (1882), Journal entries
Context: In the conduct of life, habits count for more than maxims, because habit is a living maxim, becomes flesh and instinct. To reform one's maxims is nothing: it is but to change the title of the book. To learn new habits is everything, for it is to reach the substance of life. Life is but a tissue of habits.
The Analects, The Doctrine of the Mean
Context: The way which the superior man pursues, reaches wide and far, and yet is secret. Common men and women, however ignorant, may intermeddle with the knowledge of it; yet in its utmost reaches, there is that which even the sage does not know. Common men and women, however much below the ordinary standard of character, can carry it into practice; yet in its utmost reaches, there is that which even the sage is not able to carry into practice. Great as heaven and earth are, men still find some things in them with which to be dissatisfied. Thus it is that, were the superior man to speak of his way in all its greatness, nothing in the world would be found able to embrace it, and were he to speak of it in its minuteness, nothing in the world would be found able to split it.
“Look round the habitable world: how few
Know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.”
Juvenal, Satire X (1693), lines 1–2.
Olivia Ward (September 23, 2006) "Keep U.S., British forces in Iraq, says Talabani", The Toronto Star, p. A12.
“Make it your habit not to be critical about small things.”
“Love is the infinite placed within the reach of poodles. I have my dignity!”
Source: Journey to the End of the Night
“Nothing but the most exemplary morals can give dignity to a man of small fortune.”
Source: (1776), Book V, Chapter I, Part III, Article III, p. 874.