Habit - the power of the Dark Side

As we saw in Habit – the way to character and Habit – using the Force habit is a power that we can either use consciously for our own benefit or ignore - in which case it may become a power with a darker nature, a power that can take our lives in directions we do not choose.

Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters. Nathaniel Emmons

Habit is the most imperious (think Darth Vader) of all masters. Goethe

Recently I took to eating a piece of chocolate with my morning coffee when at home on my days off. Then 2 pieces. Before I was aware of it, I was throwing a bar of chocolate in my shopping basket every week instead of once in a blue moon. In no time I had gained 5 pounds.

Habits are formed, not at one stroke, but gradually and insensibly; so that, unless vigilant care be employed, a great change may come over the character without our being conscious of any. Archbishop Richard Whately

And the worst thing is, eating a piece of chocolate having become a habit, it was no longer a treat. I no longer enjoyed it in the same way. And it was surprisingly boring to give the habit up. I give this simple case as an example but there are many others that I can think of, and I am sure you can too, with more far-reaching effects on our lives than a few extra inches of love handle.

Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables. Spanish Proverb

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

Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow. Yiddish Proverb

Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to waste and destroy. Henri de Lubac

Therefore, know the power of habit, its power for good and its power for evil. You can no longer say you did not know. Watch your actions, your daily routines, especially new ones. Consciously choose your habits and the end results that go with them. And may the Force be with you.

Habit is a man's sole comfort. We dislike doing without even unpleasant things to which we have become accustomed. Goethe

The habit of virtue cannot be formed in a closet. Habits are formed by acts of reason in a persevering struggle through temptation. Bernard Gilpin

To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be. Miguel de Unamuno

Could the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic state. William James

Beware of fixing habits in a child. Robert Hall

If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong. Charles F. Kettering

Habit is the nursery of errors. Victor Hugo

The second half of a man's life is made up of nothing but the habits he has acquired during the first half. Feodor Dostoevski

Centres, or centre-pieces of wood, are put by builders under an arch of stone while it is in the process of construction till the keystone is put in. Just such is the use Satan makes of pleasures to construct evil habits upon; the pleasure lasts till the habit is fully formed; but that done the habit may stand eternal. The pleasures are sent for firewood, and the hell begins in this life. Samuel Taylor Coleridge