What’s the big deal about habits, anyway?
Well, for one, the things we do repeatedly and consistently end up shaping our future. Whether we’ll be successful or not often depends on the quality of our habits.
Our belief that habits form the crux of every person’s success led to the development of this blog called Develop Good Habits. Its main goal is to help you develop applicable habits that allow you live a better and more successful life.
To that end, today’s post is a collection of quotes about habits that will direct the course of your life towards happiness and success. We’ve featured motivational quotes about habits, quotes about breaking bad habits, quotes about the power of routine, and quotes about habits for success.
First, let the following quotes serve as your daily motivation while you hustle and face everyday hurdles. Your good daily habits will serve you well over time. You’ve got this!
Motivational Quotes About Habits
- “I have learned that champions aren’t just born; champions can be made when they embrace and commit to life-changing positive habits.” – Lewis Howes
- “Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.” – Stephen R. Covey
(Check out this post for more destiny quotes.)
- “Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not.” – Octavia Butler
- “Good habits, once established are just as hard to break as are bad habits.” – Robert Puller
- “If you want to change your world, you need to start cultivating good habits.” – Mina Tadros
- “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle
- “Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” – Lao Tzu
Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” – Lao Tzu
(Here are the best Lao Tzu quotes to inspire you to greatness.)
- “If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” – Colin Powell
- “If you pick the right small behavior and sequence it right, then you won’t have to motivate yourself to have it grow. It will just happen naturally, like a good seed planted in a good spot.” – BJ Fogg
- “Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.” – Aristotle
Have you ever wondered why it’s easy to form bad habits, but so difficult to break them?
Habits are formed through a structure called a habit loop. According to Charles Duhigg, author of the book The Power of Habits, this habit loop consists of the cue, the routine, and the reward. They all work together to form our habits.
The cue is a signal that that shuts down or momentarily numbs your reasoning in order for a routine to be established. A cue can be anything—a person, object, or even your emotional state.
The routine is what you do when triggered by the cue. This is what turns an action into a habit.
The reward part makes doing the routine seem worthwhile, at least to your subconscious. It tells your brain that the routine is something worth doing again and again.
Unfortunately, our brains cannot distinguish between good and bad habits.
For example, stressed out individuals going to a bar for a drink and feeling their muscles relax after the first shot of alcohol get a reward—they feel better.
In this way, most unhealthy and bad habits act on the pleasure centers of our brains. That’s why it’s often difficult (but not impossible) to break these negative habits.
Not sure if it’s really a bad habit? Head over to this ultimate list of bad habits and see if your habit is one of the 283 items on the list. And if you are looking for ways to break those negative habits, you might want to check out this post that lists 27 proven steps for breaking them.
The following quotes about breaking bad habits can serve as a motivation to keep you on track to break those negative habits and creating positive ones.
Breaking Bad Habits Quotes
- “You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, ‘I release the need for this in my life’.” – Wayne W. Dyer
- “It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.” – Benjamin Franklin
It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “A man who can't bear to share his habits is a man who needs to quit them.” – Stephen King
- “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” – Samuel Johnson
- “The secret to permanently breaking any bad habit is to love something greater than the habit.” – Bryant McGill
The secret to permanently breaking any bad habit is to love something greater than the habit.” – Bryant McGill
- “Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow.” – Anonymous
- “We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” – John Dryden
- “There are two types of habits: ones which comfort us, and ones which would be a comfort if we stopped.” – Catherine Pulsifer
- “The best way to break a bad habit is to drop it.” – Leo Aikman
- “Today, many will choose to free themselves from the personal imprisonment of their bad habits. Why not you?” – Steve Maraboli
As mentioned earlier, routine is what turns an action into a habit.
It is essential to create routines that transform actions into positive habits. This is the secret of many successful people.
Here are some specific reasons why routine is important:
With that said, here are some quotes about the power of routine to help you become more mindful of the actions you do repeatedly.
The Power of Routine Quotes
- “The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.” – Mike Murdock
- “You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” – John C. Maxwell
- “To change a habit, you must keep the old cue and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine.” – Charles Duhigg
- “Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to waste and destroy.” – Henri De Lubac
- “In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.” – Tony Robbins
- “Habit allows us to go from ‘before’ to ‘after,’ to make life easier and better. Habit is notorious – and rightly so – for its ability to direct even against our will; but by mindfully shaping our habits, we can harness the power of mindlessness as a sweeping force for serenity, energy, and growth.” – Gretchen Rubin
- “Most people can't handle a structureless life.” – Dough Coupland
- “Out of routine comes inspiration.” – Mike Kostabi
- “Get on a daily routine… Working is a process not a product. Success comes from the word, succeed: Latin: ‘to under go.' You must keep moving.” – Nicoletta Baumeister
- “Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition.” – W. H. Auden
Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition.” – W. H. Auden
When you have good habits, success is never far behind.
Good study habits help you get better grades.
Good workplace habits help you become more productive, with higher chances of progressing in your career.
Good personal habits make you healthier and help you live longer.
The benefits of good habits are virtually endless.
These quotes about habits for success serve as a reminder of what we receive when we practice good habits.
Quotes About Habits for Success
- “Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing. You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” – Steve Lombardi
- “Successful people are simply those with successful habits.” – Brian Tracy
- “Champions don’t do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react. They follow the habits they’ve learned.” – Charles Duhigg
Champions don’t do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react. They follow the habits they’ve learned.” – Charles Duhigg
- “Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in day out.” – Robert Collier
- “Good habits are the key to all success.” – Og Mandino
- “Successful people aren’t born that way. They become successful by establishing the habit of doing things unsuccessful people don’t like to do.” – William Makepeace Thackeray
- “Humans are imperfect creatures. You don't ‘succeed' because you have no weaknesses; you succeed because you find your unique strengths and focus on developing habits around them.” – Tim Ferriss
- “The trick to success is to choose the right habit and bring just enough discipline to establish it.” – Gary Keller & Jay Papasan
The trick to success is to choose the right habit and bring just enough discipline to establish it.” – Gary Keller & Jay Papasan
- “I can predict the long-term outcome of your success if you show me your daily habits.” – John Maxwell
- “I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.” – Charles Dickens
- “Energy is usually at its peak during the first part of your day, which means you should be completing habits that inspire or excite you about the day ahead.” – S. J. Scott
- “Definiteness of purpose is the starting point from which one must begin.” – Napoleon Hill
- “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.” – Gretchen Rubin
- “Let go of your old tired habits and plant new habits in fertile soil.” – Harley King
- “You cannot change your future, but you can change your habits, and surely your habits will change your future.” – Abdul Kalam
- “The man who makes it the habit of his life to go to bed at nine o'clock, usually gets rich and is always reliable. Of course, going to bed does not make him rich I merely mean that such a man will in all probability be up early in the morning and do a big day's work, so his weary bones put him to bed early.” – Elbert Hubbard
- “Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.” – Stephen Covey
- “The best way to stop a bad habit is to never begin it.” – J. C. Penney
The best way to stop a bad habit is to never begin it.” – J. C. Penney
- “I realized that success is not a one-time act or a moment of luck and that “Overnight Success” is never true. Success is created through and by creating a habit caused by proper self-discipline.” – Jan McKingley Hilado
- “Nothing is stronger than habit.” – Ovid
- “By developing and practising good habits each day, you affirm that you do have control over the very core of your life in the midst of the chaos.” – Stephen Guise
- “The truth is, you don’t break a bad habit; you replace it with a good one.” – Denis Waitley
- “An unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are much easier to give up than the bad ones.” – Errol Flynn
- “And once you understand that habits can change, you have the freedom and the responsibility to remake them.” – Charles Duhigg
- “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
- “Commit to stop making excuses. When we make excuses, we lie to ourselves and continue bad habits.” – Joyce Meyer
- “In a nutshell, your health, wealth, happiness, fitness, and success depend on your habits.” – Joanna Jast
- “By simply breaking some of your more ingrained habits you will help dissolve away your suffering.” – Vidyamala Burch
- “All people are the same; only their habits differ.” – Confucius
- “A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time.” – Mark Twain
- “Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
- “You are what you do repeatedly every day. If excellence is something you’re striving for, then it’s not an accident. It’s a habit.” – Greg Plitt
- “Choices are at the root of every one of your results. Each choice starts a behavior that over time becomes a habit.” – Darren Hardy
- “Not only is procrastination bad because it makes us less efficient, it can also ruin the entire notion of building a habit in the first place.” – J. J. Thomas
- “Habits are difficult to break, but they’re not impossible. Learning how to rework your vocabulary and train yourself to stop saying, ‘I can’t,’ will take time, but you can do it.” – Alex Fitel
- “The common denominator of success – the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful – lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.” – Albert Gray
- “Success is hastened or delayed by one’s habits.” – Paramahansa Yogananda
- “You shouldn't be challenging yourself to change a habit for just a short period of time. The point of habits is change behavior over the long term.” – Richard D. Rawlings
- “Habits are never-ending goals, if you think about it. They have no deadline and no endpoint. They are casual daily activities like brushing your teeth or combing your hair.” – Zoe McKey
- “Good habits are worth being fanatical about.” – John Irving
- “Successful people form habits that feed their success, instead of habits that feed their failure.” – Jeff Olson
Successful people form habits that feed their success, instead of habits that feed their failure.” – Jeff Olson
- “Changing the cluttering habit is the same as changing any other bad habit: You must want to change. You have to understand and learn how to avoid and stop bad habits.” – K. Collins
- “It's not the big things that add up in the end; it's the hundreds, thousands, or millions of little things that separate the ordinary from the extraordinary.” – Darren Hardy
- “Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” – Aristotle
- “Motivation gets you going and habit gets you there. Make motivation a habit and you will get there more quickly and have more fun on the trip.” – Zig Ziglar
- “Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity.” – St. Augustine
Final Thoughts on Quotes About Habits
Habits will always be a part of our lives, but they don’t define who we are. We are still in control. It’s up to you whether you decide to cultivate bad or good habits.
If you want to learn more about the impact of habits on our lives, how to build good habits, or how to break bad habits, check out the following posts:
All the best in your quest for a better life!
Finally, if you need help with building habits, then check out this nine-step blueprint that walks you through the entire process of creating lifelong habits.)
