"Remember," said Lord Collingwood to a young man whom he loved,
"before you are five-and-twenty you must establish a character that
will serve you all your life." As habit strengthens with age, and
character becomes formed, any turning into a new path becomes more
and more difficult. Hence, it is often harder to unlearn than to
learn; and for this reason the Grecian flute-player was justified
who charged double fees to those pupils who had been taught by an
inferior master. To uproot an old habit is sometimes a more
painful thing, and vastly more difficult, than to wrench out a
tooth. Try and reform a habitually indolent, or improvident, or
drunken person, and in a large majority of cases you will fail.
For the habit in each case has wound itself in and through the life
until it has become an integral part of it, and cannot be uprooted.
Hence, as Mr. Lynch observes, "the wisest habit of all is the habit
of care in the formation of good habits."
Even happiness itself may become habitual. There is a habit of
looking at the bright side of things, and also of looking at the
dark side. Dr. Johnson has said that the habit of looking at the
best side of a thing is worth more to a man than a thousand pounds
a year. And we possess the power, to a great extent, of so
exercising the will as to direct the thoughts upon objects
calculated to yield happiness and improvement rather than their
opposites.
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