Theme

Philosophy quotes about habit

Habit appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat habit as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.

Why this theme matters

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Aristotle and Marcus Aurelius), habit is framed through Peripatetic School and Stoicism. Some passages define habit; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language.

In the history of philosophy

Discussions of habit travel through Greek and European modern traditions. Compare the quotations below with their school labels rather than forcing a single definition.

Thinkers in this collection

Aristotle , Marcus Aurelius , William James , Wang Fuzhi , Al-Farabi

Frequently asked questions

What did philosophers say about habit?

They disagreed in productive ways. In this archive, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, and related voices treat habit as something to clarify, cultivate, or critique—not merely to celebrate.

Where can I find philosophy quotes about habit?

This theme page gathers 8 verified English quotations tagged Habit, with links to thinkers and sources.

How should I read quotes about habit?

Read the sentence, then check school and source. A compact line is an entry point into an argument about habit, not a substitute for the surrounding text.

  1. Virtues arise in us neither by nature nor contrary to nature; we are fitted by nature to receive them, and are brought to completion by habit.
  2. Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought, for the soul is dyed by its impressions.
  3. Habit is the enormous fly-wheel of society, its most precious conservative agent.
  4. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts.
  5. So too, by doing just acts we become just, by doing temperate acts temperate, and by doing brave acts brave.
  6. Habit and nature come to completion together and transform with each other.
  7. States of character arise out of like activities.
  8. The health of the soul is for its traits to be traits by which it does good, fine, and noble actions.