Such dupes are men to custom, and so prone To revrence what is ancient, and can plead A course of long observance for its use, That even servitude, the worst of ills, Because deliverd down from sire to son, Is kept and guarded as a sacred thing! CowperTask. Bk. V. L. 298.
The slaves of custom and established mode, With pack-horse constancy we keep the road Crooked or straight, through quags or thorny dells, True to the jingling of our leaders bells. CowperTirocinium. L. 251.
Man yields to custom, as he bows to fate, In all things ruledmind, body, and estate; In pain, in sickness, we for cure apply To them we know not, and we know not why. CrabbeTale III. The Gentleman Farmer. L. 86.
Che luso dei mortali è come fronda. In ramo, che sen va, ed altra viene. The customs and fashions of men change like leaves on the bough, some of which go and others come. DanteParadiso. XXVI. 137.
Great things astonish us, and small dishearten us. Custom makes both familiar. La BruyèreThe Characters or Manners of the Present Age. Vol. II. Ch. I. On Judgments.
Choose always the way that seems the best, however rough it may be. Custom will render it easy and agreeable. PythagorasEthical Sentences from Stobæus.
Custom calls me to t: What custom wills, in all things should we dot, The dust on antique time would lie unswept, And mountainous error be too highly heapt For truth to oerpeer. Coriolanus. Act II. Sc. 3. L. 124.
But to my mind, though I am native here, And to the manner born, it is a custom More honord in the breach than the observance. Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 15.
That monster, custom, * * * is angel yet in this, That to the use of actions fair and good He likewise gives a frock or livery, That aptly is put on. Hamlet. Act III. Sc. 4. L. 161.
The old order changeth, yielding place to new; And God fulfils himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. TennysonPassing of Arthur. L. 408. First line also in Coming of Arthur. L. 508.