Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
Mark TwainRead
Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time. You cannot eliminate habits that no longer serve you. You can only replace them with new habits that support your goals. Moment by moment, you need to live with awareness and structure the habits that you include or exclude in your days.
Interpretation
Changing habits requires patience and a gradual approach rather than a sudden force.
Mark Twain emphasizes that habits cannot be discarded abruptly; instead, they must be replaced through a deliberate, step-by-step process. This quote highlights the importance of awareness in our daily lives and suggests that we should consciously cultivate habits that align with our goals, gradually phasing out those that do not serve us well.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal development.
Weather is a literary specialty, and no untrained hand can turn out a good article on it
The easy part of being an artist is figuring out the message that everyone else is ready to hear. The hard part is waiting for the proper lull to make the announcement.
You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws, and thumps about things which the intellect scorns.
To be good is noble; but to show others how to be good is nobler and no trouble.
Name the greatest of all inventors. Accident.
In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.
I forget who it was that recommended men for their soul's good to do each day two things they disliked: it was a wise man, and it is a precept that I have followed scrupulously; for every day I have got up and I have gone to bed.
I remember when people used to think I was smart. I remember when people used to think my brain was useful. Damaged by water, sure. And ready to seizure at any moment. But still useful, and maybe even a little bit beautiful and sacred and magical.
The only happy author in this world is he who is below the care of reputation.
No man can be a pure specialist without being in the strict sense an idiot.
Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do. Strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.
The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest--but the myth--persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.