“By 'nationalism' I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions and tens of millions of people can be confidently labeled 'good' or 'bad'...By 'patriotism' I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power.” PeopleWorldWayFirstsBelieveHumansMeanWholeHandsDesireForceWishHuman BeingsMillionsParticularHabitEthicsAssumingDevotionBlockNationalismInsectsInseparableDesire For Power Author:George Orwell
“It is believed that physiognomy is only a simple development of the features already marked out by nature. It is my opinion, however, that in addition to this development, the features come insensibly to be formed and assume their shape from the frequent and habitual expression of certain affections of the soul. These affections are marked on the countenance; nothing is more certain than this; and when they turn into habits, they must leave on it durable impressions.” SoulCertainTurnsSimpleOpinionExpressionDevelopmentHabitShapesAssumingAffectionImpressionFeaturesHabitualCountenancePhysiognomy Author:Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“It is so much easier to rest contented with what we have already acquired than to change ever so slightly those routine but profound habits of thought and feeling which govern our life, and by which we live so blissfully. This mental inertia is, perhaps, our greatest enemy. Insidiously it leads us to assume that we can renew our lives without renewing our habits.” FeelingsEnemyOur LivesHabitEasierAssumingProfoundRoutineInertiaThoughts And Feelings Author:Nadia Boulanger
“But you go to a great school, not for knowledge so much as for arts and habits; for the habit of attention, for the art of expression, for the art of assuming at a moment's notice a new intellectual posture, for the art of entering quickly into another person's thoughts, for the habit of submitting to censure and refutation, for the art of indicating assent or dissent in graduated terms, for the habit of regarding minute points of accuracy, for the habit of working out what is possible in a given time, for taste, for discrimination, for mental courage and mental soberness.” PersonsArtMomentsSchoolGivenTermAttentionMinutesExpressionHabitTasteIntellectualAssumingWork OutDiscriminationEnteringDissentAccuracyPostureCensureRefutationGreat Schools Author:William Johnson Cory
“Assume a virtue, if you have it not. That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat, Of habits devil, is angel yet in this, That to the use of actions fair and good He likewise gives a frock or livery That aptly is put on. Refrain tonight, And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence; the next more easy; For use almost can change the stamp of nature.” IfsGivingKindUseActionNextEasyVirtueHabitDevilAngelFairsAssumingMonstersTonightCustomsStampsRefrainAbstinenceEasinessHamlet Love Author:William Shakespeare
“..Such practices and beliefs, which interfere with happiness, are neither inevitable nor necessary; they evolved by chance, as a result of random responses to accidental conditions. But once they become part of the norms and habits of a culture, people assume that this is how things must be; they come to believe they have no other options.” PeopleBelieveCultureBeliefChanceResultsPracticeConditionsHabitAssumingResponseInevitableInterfereNorm Book:Flow: the psychology of optimal experience Source: Flow: the psychology of optimal experience