Walkup's Way Home Habits - quotable
Writing and Discussion Prompts
  • Which is your favorite quote and why?

  • What does the quote mean to you?

  • How does the quotation tie in to what we've studied and discussed?

  • [How] can you apply this quote to your life, so that your life becomes a little richer?

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We first make our habits, and then our habits make us. John Dryden

Character is simply habit long continued. — Plutarch, Greek biographer (47-120 A.D.)

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
Jim Ryun
  Olympic medalist and politician

To learn new habits is everything, for it is to reach the substance of life. Life is but a tissue of habits. anon

Good habits are as addictive as bad habits, and a lot more rewarding. -- Harvey Mackay

Good habits form the basis of a healthy and productive life. In short, we are what we continuously do. inyouremail.com

We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, therefore, is not an act; it is a habit.  Aristotle

The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. -- Samuel Johnson

It is a matter of no little importance what sort of habits we form from the earliest age - it makes a vast difference, or rather all the difference in the world.  Aristotle

The habits of life form the soul, and the soul forms the countenance. Honore De Balzac (1799-1850), French novelist

:Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits. Mark Twain  (1835-1910)

The power of a movement lies in the fact that it can indeed change the habits of people. This change is not the result of force but of dedication, of moral persuasion. Stephen Biko (1946–1977), South African political leader. Interview, July 1976.

Education is the formation of habits. Thomas Huxley

The strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts. — Blaise Pascal

Character is simply habit long continued. — Plutarch

Men are not concealed under habits, but are revealed by them; they are their true clothes. Henry David Thoreau

The nature of man is always the same; it is their habits that separate them. — Confucius

Habit is the most imperious of all masters. -- Goethe.

Out of our beliefs are born deeds; out of our deeds we form habits; out of our habits grows our character; and on our character we build our destiny. Henry Hancock, Dean, St Mark’s Cathedral, Minneapolis MN

Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.  Samuel Smiles

The law of the harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character, sow a character, and you reap a destiny. -- G. D. Boardman.

Out of my discomforts, which were small enough, grew one thing for which I have all my life been grateful—the formation of fixed habits of work. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911), U.S. novelist

Practice hope. As hopefulness becomes a habit, you can  achieve a permanently happy spirit.  
-- Norman Vincent Peale  

Good thinking produced more good thinking if...you make it a habit. John Maxwell

The will that yields the first time with some reluctance does so the second time with less hesitation, and the third time with none at all, until presently the habit is adopted. -- Henry Giles

Be care of your thoughts
          For your thoughts become your words.
Be careful of your words
          For your words become your actions
Be careful of your actions
          For your actions become your habits.
Be careful of your habits
          For your habits become your character
Be careful of your character
          For your character becomes your destiny.     Anon

Character is simply habit long continued. — Plutarch

Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wing,
and only character endures.
--HORACE GREELEY (1811-1872), New York newspaper editor

Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test.   Rick Warren

Our character...is an omen of our destiny, and the more  
integrity we have and keep, the simpler and nobler that  
destiny is likely to be.  
--George Santayana, "The German Mind: A Philosophical Diagnosis"

Personality can open doors, but only character can keep  
them open.   --Elmer G. Letterman  
                   
People grow through experience if they meet life honestly  
and courageously. This is how character is built.  
--Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962)

You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer  and forge yourself one. 
 --James A. Froude (1818 - 1894)

Nothing needs reforming so much as other people's habits. -- Mark Twain

Good habits are as addictive as bad habits, and a lot more rewarding. -- Harvey Mackay

Like the weeds in the garden, bad habits can take over your life. Make a decision today to pull those weeds. Mac Anderson

In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded life in the difference of their habits. Og Mandino

We first make our habits and then our habits make us.  John Dryden

 Habits are the key to all success. Hal Urban

 The kind of life we want depends on the kind of people we are – on our character.  Robert  Bellah, “Habits of the Heart”


Sean Covey poses the following riddle in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
The author of the poem is unknown & is also quoted by Mac Anderson

              Who am I?
I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command....

I am the servant of all great individuals and, alas
of all failures as well.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures...

Take me, train me, be firm with me,
and I will place the world at your feet.
Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.

Who am I


Alternate Lesson Plans

Guessing Game

  • Read Who am I and  have students guess  the answer.
    Read the quotes on habits and students will realize that HABIT is the answer.
    (Covey's book has a one-page description of habit. It's worth reading in its entirety)

Journal Work

  •  Invite students to quietly read the habits quotations and comment  upon one quote in particular that is moving to the student.  Invite students to describe an incident related to the quote.   If time permits, students may write about the quotes in general.

  • After students have journaled, discuss the quotations: which quotes did students prefer and why.....

  • Once all quotes have been discussed, invite students to reread the quotes to see if they grasp the concept of habits at a deeper level. They may further develop their thoughts in their journal.

  • Students may want to reflect upon habits which have contributed to their success.

  • Students may want to journal about a habit that has held them back in life.

  • Students can journal about habits they would love to have and  think about the best means to acquire these habits...

Commitment Exercise

  • Invite students to write a one -sentence commitment (on the commitment page of their journal) regarding developing one healthy habit during the semester.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quotations on Habits  (note to me - week out the duplicates  11/06

Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.  Aristotle

We first make our habits, and then our habits make us. John Dryden ..

Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.  Samuel Smiles

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
Jim Ryun  Olympic medalist and politician

To learn new habits is everything, for it is to reach the substance of life. Life is but a tissue of habits. anon

Good habits are as addictive as bad habits, and a lot more rewarding. -- Harvey Mackay

Good habits form the basis of a healthy and productive life. In short, we are what we continuously do. inyouremail.com

We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, therefore, is not an act; it is a habit.  Aristotle

The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. -- Samuel Johnson

It is a matter of no little importance what sort of habits we form from the earliest age - it makes a vast difference, or rather all the difference in the world.  Aristotle

The habits of life form the soul, and the soul forms the countenance. Honore De Balzac (1799-1850), French novelist

:Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits. Mark Twain  (1835-1910)

The power of a movement lies in the fact that it can indeed change the habits of people. This change is not the result of force but of dedication, of moral persuasion. Stephen Biko (1946–1977), South African political leader. Interview, July 1976.

Education is the formation of habits. Thomas Huxley

Excellence is a habit. Aristotle

 Men are not concealed under habits, but are revealed by them; they are their true clothes. Henry David Thoreau

The nature of man is always the same; it is their habits that separate them.— Confucius

Habit is the most imperious of all masters. -- Goethe.

Out of our beliefs are born deeds; out of our deeds we form habits; out of our habits grows our character; and on our character we build our destiny. Henry Hancock, Dean, St Mark’s Cathedral, Minneapolis MN

Out of my discomforts, which were small enough, grew one thing for which I have all my life been grateful—the formation of fixed habits of work. Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911), U.S. novelist

Nothing needs reforming so much as other people's habits. -- Mark Twain

Good habits are as addictive as bad habits, and a lot more rewarding. -- Harvey Mackay

Like the weeds in the garden, bad habits can take over your life. Make a decision today to pull those weeds. Mac Anderson

In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded life in the difference of their habits. Og Mandino

We first make our habits and then our habits make us.  John Dryden

Habits are the key to all success. Hal Urban

Practice hope. As hopefulness becomes a habit, you can   achieve a permanently happy spirit.  
-- Norman Vincent Peale  

 Character is simply habit long continued.
— Plutarch, Greek biographer (47-120 A.D.)

Good thinking produced more good thinking if...you make it a habit. John Maxwell

The will that yields the first time with some reluctance does so the second time with less hesitation, and the third time with none at all, until presently the habit is adopted. -- Henry Giles

The law of the harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character, sow a character, and you reap a destiny. -- G. D. Boardman.

Moral education is impossible apart from the habitual vision of greatness. Alfred North Whitehead

Be care of your thoughts
          For your thoughts become your words.
Be careful of your words
          For your words become your actions
Be careful of your actions
          For your actions become your habits.
Be careful of your habits
          For your habits become your character
Be careful of your character
          For your character becomes your destiny.     Anon

Character is simply habit long continued. — Plutarch

Sean Covey poses the following riddle in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens
The author of the poem is unknown & is also quoted by Mac Anderson

              Who am I?
I am your constant companion.
I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.
I will push you onward or drag you down to failure.
I am completely at your command....

I am the servant of all great individuals and , alas,

 


Take me, train me, be firm with me,
and I will place the world at your feet.
Be easy with me, and I will destroy you.

 


 

 

Who Am I - an alternate version

Your best friend or greatest enemy, I am your greatest companion. I am your greatest helper or your heaviest burden. I will push you onwards or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command.

Half the things you do, you might as well turn over to me and I'll do them quickly and correctly. I'm easily managed, but you must be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done and, after a few lessons, I'll do it automatically. I'm the servant of all great men and, alas, of all failures as well.

Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I work with the precision of a scientist and the passion of a patriot. You many run me for profit or run me for ruin; it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me and I will put the world at your feet. But be easy with me and I'll destroy you.

Who am I? I am Habit!