“Custom is almost a second nature.”
Rules for the Preservation of Health, 18
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
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Plutarch 251
ancient Greek historian and philosopher 46–127Related quotes

“Forgive him, for he believes that the customs of his tribe are the laws of nature!”
Act II; sometimes paraphrased as: The customs of your tribe are not laws of nature.
1890s, Caesar and Cleopatra (1898)
Variant: Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
Context: THEODOTUS: Caesar: you are a stranger here, and not conversant with our laws. The kings and queens of Egypt may not marry except with their own royal blood. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are born king and consort just as they are born brother and sister.
BRITANNUS (shocked): Caesar: this is not proper.
THEODOTUS (outraged): How!
CAESAR (recovering his self-possession): Pardon him, Theodotus: he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.

“We are more sensible of what is done against custom than against Nature.”
Of Eating of Flesh, Tract 1
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Source: Out Of The Crisis (1982), p. 175

“The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from custom.”
Book I, Ch. 22. Of Custom
Essais (1595), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

The Essays Or Counsels, Civil And Moral, Of Francis Ld. Verulam Viscount St. Albans (1625), Of Nature in Men

“Almost every reality you "know" at any given second is a mere ghost held in memory.”
Source: Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century (2000), Ch.8 Reality is a Shared Hallucination

“Nature inclines to ill, through all her range,
And use is second nature, hard to change.”
Natura inchina al male, e viene a farsi
L'abito poi difficile a mutarsi.
Canto XXXVI, stanza 1 (tr. W. S. Rose)
Orlando Furioso (1532)

“We almost made it to thirty seconds without an insult. I think we set a new record.”
Source: Acheron