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Habit Quotes

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Habit Quotes

“Writers who get written about become self-conscious. They develop a regrettable habit of looking at themselves through the eyes of other people. They are no longer alone, they have an investment in critical praise, and they think they must protect it. This leads to a diffusion of effort. The writer watches himself as he works. He grows more subtle and he pays for it by loss of organic dash.”

Source: Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler

“Write every day, just to keep in the habit, and remember that whatever you have written is neither as good nor as bad as you think it is. Just keep going, and tell yourself that you will fix it later.”

Thinking Writing Remember Written Habit Keep Going

Author:Jane Smiley

“So we have a choice to make. We can once again let Washington's bad habits stand in the way of progress. Or we can pull together and say that in America, our destiny isn't written for us but by us. We can place good ideas ahead of old ideological battles, and a sense of purpose above the same narrow partisanship. We can act boldly to turn crisis into opportunity and, together, write the next great chapter in our history and meet the test of our time.”

“There is a lot of amiable fantasy written about trout fishing, but the truth is that few men know much if anything about the habits of trout and little more about the manner of taking them.”

Ifs Knows Men Littles Fantasy Written Sea Habit Truth Is Rivers Fishes Boat Lakes Fishing Trout Amiable Trout Fishing

Author:John D. Voelker

“I think that if I get into the habit of writing a bit about what happens, or rather doesn't happen, I may lose a little of the sense of isolation and desolation which abides with me. My circumstances allowing of nothing but the ejaculation of one-syllabled reflections, a written monologue by that most interesting being, myself, may have its yet to be discovered consolations.”

“Muscles are in a most intimate and peculiar sense the organs of the will. They have built all the roads, cities and machines in the world, written all the books, spoken all the words, and, in fact done everything that man has accomplished with matter. Character might be a sense defined as a plexus of motor habits.”

Source: Adolescence - Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, and Religion (1931)

“Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional [or scholarly] writers.”

Source: A Collection of Essays

“Try to develop actual work habits, and even though you have a busy life, try to reserve an hour, say - or more - a day to write. Some very good things have been written on an hour a day.”

Writing Trying Has Beens Hours Written Habit Good Things Busy Very Good Reserves Busy Life Work Habits

Author:John Updike

“Make a habit of reading what is being written today and what has been written before. Writing is learned by imitation.”

Writing Has Beens Today Reading Written Habit Imitation

Author:William Zinsser

“People in general know not what wickedness there is in this pretended word of God. Brought up in habits of superstition, they take it for granted that the Bible is true, and that it is good; they permit themselves not to doubt of it, and they carry the ideas they form of the benevolence of the Almighty to the book which they have been taught to believe was written by his authority. Good heavens! It is quite another thing; it is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy.”

Source: Citizen Paine: Thomas Paine's Thoughts on Man, Government, Society, and Religion

“Some leaders expect the team to read their minds on priorities, so they never provide the written and verbal guidance that we all need to feel we are contributing. Others can be heard shouting new priorities on an hourly basis. Both habits are very demotivating.”

Needs Feels Mind Leader Written Heard Team Habit Bases Priorities Guidance Shouting Contributing

Author:Martin Zwilling

“The vital difference between dreamers and achievers boils down to some very basic, simple habits. People with clear, 'written-out' goals who consistently honor their defined priorities tend to get results faster than others, and enjoy a greater level of happiness and long-term success in all areas of life.”

Source: Push (Enhanced Edition): 30 Days to Turbocharged Habits, a Bangin' Body, and the Life You Deserve!

“Inspiration can show up almost any time, though I have yet to see anyone scratching out melodic ideas on a restaurant napkin as legend would have us believe. I think inspiration comes from concentration, and early on I learned about Mark Twain's habit of leaving for his study after breakfast and not reappearing until the end of the day, ready to read to his family what he had just written. That set a good example for me, although I didn't copy his habit of taking twelve cigars along.”

“For a while there, I was a stringer. The expression comes from the old habit of stringing together the column inches that you had written. They'd measure it and pay you 10 cents an inch for your printed copy.”

Together Pay Written Expression Habit Copies Inches Cents Printed Columns Old Habits

Author:Charles Kuralt

“I am no fan of books. And chances are, if you're reading this, you and I share a healthy skepticism about the printed word. Well, I want you to know that this is the first book I've ever written, and I hope it's the first book you've ever read. Don't make a habit of it.”

Ifs Knows Want Firsts Wells Book Reading Chance Written Share Fans Habit Healthy Skepticism I Want You Printed Chances Are Printed Word

Author:Stephen Colbert

“I'd written Smashed not because I was ambitious and not because writing down my feelings was cathartic (it felt more like playing one's own neurosurgeon sans anesthesia). No. I'd made a habit--and eventually a profession--of memoir because I hail from one of those families where shows of emotions are discouraged.”

Writing Made Shows Feelings Felt Emotion Written Habit Profession Memoir Ambitious Discouraged Hail Cathartic Anesthesia Neurosurgeons

Author:Koren Zailckas