Quotessence
Home / Topics / Custom Quotes

Custom Quotes

Browse 37 quotes about Custom.

Custom Quotes

“customs must be introduced that require, if one is to be aware of their necessity and utility, either trusting belief or habituation from childhood on. Thus it is evident that a Volksreligion, if as the concept of religion implies its teaching is to be efficacious in active life, cannot possibly be constructed out of sheer reason. Positive religion necessarily rests on faith in the tradition by which it is handed down to us.”

ReligionTrustHabitHegelCustom
Book:The Philosophy of Art: An Introduction to the Scientific Study of Aesthetics
Create image

“The imagination serves us only when the mind is absolutely free of any prejudice. A single prejudice suffices to cool off the imagination. This whimsical part of the mind is so unbridled as to be uncontrollable. Its greatest triumphs, its most eminent delights consist in smashing all the restraints that oppose it. Imagination is the enemy of all norms, the idolater of all disorder and of all that bears the color of crime.”

ImaginationFreedomTraditionIntellectFreedom Of ThoughtSocial NormsCustom
Book:Philosophy in the Boudoir
Create image

“In proportion as men were all to resemble each other, and to have faces and manners in common, their self-love was not to be disturbed by any thing in the shape of individuality. A writer might be na tural, but he was to be natural only as far as their sense of nature would go, and this was not a great way. Besides, even when he was natural, he hardly dared to be so in language as well as idea ;- there gradually came up a kind of dress, in which a man’s mind, as well as body, was to clothe itself.”

IndividualityConformityCustomFakeness
Book:The Round Table, Vol. 1: A Collection of Essays on Literature, Men, and Manners
Create image

“Usimwabudu mungu mwingine isipokuwa Mungu. Usimwabudu mtu, mnyama, sanamu, samaki, au usiziabudu fikira zako kichwani. Usiitumikie kazi, mali, mila, anasa, siasa, wala usiyatumikie mamlaka au usiutumikie umaarufu au ufahari, kuliko Mungu. Ukiithamini kazi, mali, mila, anasa, siasa au ukiyathamini mamlaka, au ukiuthamini umaarufu au ufahari zaidi kuliko Mungu, au ukiyapa majukumu yako muda mwingi zaidi kuliko Mungu umeabudu miungu; wakati ulipaswa kumwabudu Mungu peke yake. Usiwe na vipaumbele vingine vyovyote vile katika maisha yako zaidi ya Mungu, kwani Mungu ni Mungu mwenye wivu.”

IdeasGodTimePoliticsAnimalFameAuthorityPropertyPrioritiesLuxuryManJobGodsYour LifePrestigeFishWorship GodMunguResponsibilitiesMtuMaliCustomStatueKaziMudaMaisha YakoMamlakaMnyamaMiunguSiasaMilaSanamuAnasaFikiraJealous GodSamakiUmaarufuKumwabudu MunguMajukumuMungu Mwenye WivuUfahariVipaumbele
Author:Enock Maregesi
Create image

“The ground for morality can only be prepared when a greater individual or collective-individual, as, for example, society or state, subjects the individuals in it, that is, when it draws them out of their isolatedness and integrates them into a union. Force precedes morality; indeed, for a time morality itself is a force, to which others acquiesce to avoid unpleasere. Later it becomes custom, and still later free obedience and finally almost instinct: then it is coupled to pleasure, like all habitual and natural things, and is now called virtue.”

EvilForcePowerVirtueMoralityEthicsGoodMoralsCustom
Book:Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits
Create image

“I find that our greatest vices derive their first propensity from our most tender infancy, and that our principal education depends upon the nurse. Mothers are mightily pleased to see a child writhe off the neck of a chicken, or to please itself with hurting a dog or a cat; and such wise fathers there are in the world, who look upon it as a notable mark of a martial spirit, when they hear a son miscall, or see him domineer over a poor peasant, or a lackey, that dares not reply, nor turn again; and a great sign of wit, when they see him cheat and overreach his playfellow by some malicious treachery and deceit. Yet these are the true seeds and roots of cruelty, tyranny, and treason; they bud and put out there, and afterwards shoot up vigorously, and grow to prodigious bulk, cultivated by custom. And it is a very dangerous mistake to excuse these vile inclinations upon the tenderness of their age, and the triviality of the subject: first, it is nature that speaks, whose declaration is then more sincere, and inward thoughts more undisguised, as it is more weak and young.”

Human NatureHabitVicesCustom
Book:The Complete Essays
Create image

“History is continuous. It flows through us, sometimes fast, sometimes slow. In a society with little history, in the sense of movements, events, inventions struggles and newnesses, when movement seems to be slow, the elderly are respected and useful, the keepers of custom: their children want to be like them. This is a conservative society, often a happy one because it is not fragmented, but it is no fun for the innovators, those with new ideas, In a society where historical events crowd in so fast that people cannot keep up with them - which is what most societies are like at present - the old are comparatively useless and only likely to be respected for certain kinds of success, not for qualities of wisdom. Family continuity is no longer sought after. The one thing children don't want is to be like their parents.”

ChildrenWisdomHistoryInnovationParentsSocial ChangeFamily RelationshipsCustomThe Elderly
Author:Naomi Mitchison
Create image

“We must also remember that in every little village-god and every little superstitious custom is that which we are accustomed to call our religious faith. But local customs are infinite and contradictory. Which are we to obey, and which not to obey? The Brāhmin of Southern India, for instance, would shrink in horror at the sight of another Brahmin eating meat; a Brahmin in the North thinks it a most glorious and holy thing to do—he kills goats by the hundred in sacrifice. If you put forward your custom, they are equally ready with theirs. Various are the customs all over India, but they are local. The greatest mistake made is that ignorant people always think that this local custom is the essence of our religion.”

ReligionIndiaCustom1897Madura
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 3
Create image

“Badilisha tabia. Badilisha mazingira ya maisha yako. Haijalishi una umri kiasi gani au wewe ni mwanamke au mwanamume, bado hujachelewa kubadili maisha yako kutoka duni kuwa bora – kuwa na amani, furaha na kuridhika. Kama desturi yako ni kuamka saa 12:00 asubuhi kila siku ili ufike kazini saa 2:00 asubuhi ambao ni muda wa serikali wa kuanza kazi, amka saa 11:30 asubuhi ili ufike kazini saa 1:30 asubuhi – nusu saa kabla ya kuanza kazi. Kama unafanya kazi ya taaluma uliyosomea lakini maisha hayaendi, fikiria kubadili mwelekeo wa maisha ikiwemo taaluma kufikia malengo uliyojiwekea.”

LifeGovernmentAgeHappinessPeacePoorAttitudeEnvironmentProfessionGoalsManWomanBetterMaishaAmaniCustomMwanamkeSerikaliFurahaMwanamumeTabiaMalengoMazingiraBoraUmri05 30 Hrs06 00 Hrs07 30 Hrs08 00 HrsDesturiDuniHalf An HourNusu SaaSaa 1 30 AsubuhiSaa 11 30 AsubuhiSaa 12 00 AsubuhiSaa 2 00 AsubuhiTaaluma
Author:Enock Maregesi
Create image

“Wegens de krapte zijn de meeste kinderen en jongeren geneigd om veel, talrijk en langdurig op straat te hangen, anders kibbelen ze met de divisie thuis, ledigheid is immers des duivels oorkussen, of ondervinden ze hinder van de ouders die ongevraagd je kamer binnenstormen (kloppen doen we niet aan bij ons, privacy evenmin) en vervolgens jou voor klaagmuur aanzien en beginnen te raaskallen over alles waar ze hun ei of zaad over kwijt moeten, meestal familiaire aangelegenheden, financieel noodweer, huwelijks gesodemieter, en anders over eventuele rommel in je kamer. Ze komen je vragen om de post voor ze te vertalen en allerlei formulieren in te vullen en worden ook nog boos en verwijtend als je dat niet kunt, zelfs al ben je nog kind. Ze eisen dat je naar de moskee gaat op vrijdag, vragen waarom je niet bidt, vragen wat je kijkt op de telefoon, vragen waarom je lacht als je op je beeldscherm kijkt, vragen met wie je belt en waarom dat klinkt als de stem van iemand van het andere geslacht of ze produceren gewoon heel veel geluid terwijl ze videobellen met familieleden, zowel uit het buiten- als binnenland, terwijl jij je moet concentreren op je huiswerk of gewoon niet blootgesteld wilt worden aan dat oeverloze gezwatel. Het ergste van alles is als er mensen onthaald worden en de visite zo lang blijft zetelen dat je je afvraagt of ze van plan zijn te blijven tukken. En dat gebeurt nogal frequent; op elk moment van de week kunnen ze ongegeneerd komen aankloppen en blijven tot je ze afwimpelt door opzichtig te gapen. Men zegt dat bezoek en vis drie dagen fris blijven, daar hadden ze bij de Turken nog geen notie van genomen. Of ze namen die drie dagen letterlijk.”

YouthMentalDutchClaustrophobiaCustomTurksWay Of Living
Book:Ik ga leven
Create image

“Believe me, Eugenie, the words "vice" and "virtue" supply us only with local meanings. There is no action, however bizarre you may picture it, that is truly criminal; or one that can really be called virtuous. Everything depends on our customs and on the climates we live in. What is considered a crime here is often a virtue a few hundred leagues away; and the virtues of another hemisphere might, quite conversely, be regarded as crimes among us. There is no atrocity that hasn't been deified, no virtue that hasn't been stigmatized.”

VirtueMoralityViceMoral RelativismCustom
Book:Philosophy in the Boudoir
Create image

“The greater part of the world has, properly speaking, no history, because the despotism of Custom is complete. This is the case over the whole East. Custom is there, in all things, the final appeal; justice and right mean conformity to custom; the argument of custom no one, unless some tyrant intoxicated with power, thinks of resisting. And we see the result. Those nations must once have had originality; they did not start out of the ground populous, lettered, and versed in many of the arts of life; they made themselves all this, and were then the greatest and most powerful nations in the world. What are they now? The subjects or dependants of tribes whose forefathers wandered in the forests when theirs had magnificent palaces and gorgeous temples, but over whom custom exercised only a divided rule with liberty and progress.”

LibertyConformityCustomEastern Civilization
Book:On Liberty
Create image

“Stenham had always taken it for granted that the dichotomy of belief and behavior was the cornerstone of the Moslem world. It was too deep to be called hypocrisy; it was merely custom. They said one thing and they did something else. They affirmed their adherence to Islam in formulated phrases, but they behaved as though they believed, and actually did believe, something quite different. Still, the unchanging profession of faith was there, and to him it was this eternal contradiction which made them Moslems. But Amar’s relationship to his religion was far more robust: he believed it possible to practice literally what the Koran enjoined him to profess. He kept the precepts constantly in his hand, and applied them on every occasion, at every moment. The fact that such a person as Amar could be produced by this society rather upset Stenham’s calculations. For Stenham, the exception invalidated the rule instead of proving it: if there were one Amar, there could be others. Then the Moroccans were not the known quantity he had thought they were, inexorably conditioned by the pressure of their own rigid society; his entire construction was false in consequence, because it was too simple and did not make allowances for individual variations.”

SocietyTraditionIslamColonialismVariationStereotypesIndividuationMoroccoArchetypesCustomFrench MoroccoIndividual Variation
Book:The Spider's House
Create image

“In truth, the crossing from nature to culture and vice versa has always stood wide open. It leads across an easily accessible bridge: the practising life. People have committed themselves to its construction since they came into existence - or rather, people only came into existence by applying themselves to the building of said bridge. The human being is the pontifical creature that, from its earliest evolutionary stages, has created tradition-compatible connections between the bridgeheads in the bodily realm and those in cultural programes. From the start, nature and culture are linked by a broad middle ground of embodied practices - containing languages, rituals and technical skills, in so far as these factors constitute the universal forms of automatized artificialities. This intermediate zone forms a morphologically rich, variable and stable region that can, for the time being, be referred to sufficiently clearly with such conventional categories as education, etiquette, custom, habit formation, training and exercise - without needing to wait for the purveyors of the 'human sciences', who, with all their bluster about culture, create the confusion for whose resolution they subsequently offer their services.”

CultureNatureEducationHabitExerciseTrainingEtiquetteCustomPractisingHuman Sciences
Book:Du mußt dein Leben ändern
Create image

“Curiously, among the few survivors from this culinary onslaught is one that is most difficult to understand: the fish knife. Though it remains the standard instrument for dealing with fish of all kinds, no one has ever identified a single advantage conferred by its odd scalloped shape or worked out the original thinking behind it. There isn't a single kind of fish that it cuts better or bones more delicately than a conventional knife does.”

DiningCustomEttiquetteSilverware
Book:At Home: A Short History of Private Life
Create image

“[T]he institution that human cultures build up upon the hints presented by the environment or by man's physical necessities do not keep as close to the original impulse as we easily imagine. These hints are, in reality, mere rough sketches, a list of bare facts. [...] Warfare is not the expression of the instinct of pugnacity. Man's pugnacity is so small a hint in the human equipment that it may not be given any expression in inter-tribal relation. [...] Pugnacity is no more than the touch to the ball of custom, a touch also that may be withheld.”

WarCulturePsychologyInstinctImpulseWarfareCustomHuman InstinctEvo Psych Is Wrong
Book:PATTERNS OF CULTURE
Create image

“On one occasion, an ancient great-aunt of mine, hieratically assuming a head-dress of feather and globules of jet, required me to accompany her to the beehives. ‘But you surely don't need a hat, Aunt Jane! They're only at the end of the garden.’ ‘It is the custom,’ she said, grandly. ‘Put a scarf over your head.’ Arrived, she stood in silence for a moment. Then — ‘I have to tell you,’ she said, formally, ‘that King George V is dead. You may be sorry, but I am not. He was not an interesting man. Besides,’ she added — as though the bees needed the telling! — ‘everyone has to die’.”

DeathTraditionEnglandMeaning Of LifeBeesCeremonyCustomBeekeepingP L TraversTelling The Bees
Book:What the Bee Knows: Reflections on Myth, Symbol and Story
Create image

“They agree with the current customs. They consent with an impure age. Their principles have a semblance of right-heartedness and truth. Their conduct has a semblance of disinterestedness and purity. All men are pleased with them, and they think themselves right, but you cannot enter into the Way of Yao and Shun with them. For this reason they are called “The thieves of virtue.”

TruthVirtueAppearancePurityPopularityTheftPrincipleImpurityCustomRight Hearted
Author:Mencius
Create image

“I saw cities, and roads of marvelous construction. I saw cruelty and greed, but I've seen them here too. I saw a people live a life that was strange in many ways, but also much the same as anywhere else." "Then why are they so cruel?" There was an earnestness to the girl's face, an honest desire to know. "Cruelty is in all of us," he said. "But they made it a virtue.”

DifferentCountryPainDesireValuesHurtSinCitiesVirtueHonestYouthStrangeTravelEssenceGreedArchitectureGoodLifestyleCrueltyInnocenceConstructionBadCityDifferenceQuestionRoadMeannessWhyCruelSameVoyageWay Of LifeTripCustomForeignForeignerSightsee
Book:Queen of Fire
Create image