"Our volitional habits depend, then, first, on..." - Quote by William James
Our volitional habits depend, then, first, on what the stock of ideas is which we have; and, second, on the habitual coupling of the several ideas with action or inaction respectively.
More by William James
“We have lost the power even of imagining what the ancient idealization of poverty could have meant: the liberation from material attachments, the unbribed soul, the manlier indifference, the paying our way by what we are and not by what we have, the right to fling away our life at any moment irresponsibly - the more athletic trim, in short, the moral fighting shape.”
“You do not sing because you're happy, you're happy because you sing.”
“Why may we not be in the universe, as our dogs and cats are in our drawingrooms and libraries?”
More on Habit
“I'm very much a creature of habit.”
“To go to bed after midnight is to go to bed betimes”
“All the daily routine of life, our dressing and undressing, the coming and going from our work or carrying through of its various operations, is utterly without mental reference to pleasure and pain, except under rarely realized conditions.”