From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Habit
habitude
Habitude names an acquired disposition or recurring way of acting.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordHabitude names an acquired disposition or recurring way of acting.
- In JoubertThe habit of virtue makes sacrifice become taste, instinct and moral habits.
- In this editionThe English translation distinguishes habits from acts and retains the parenthetic pairings mœurs/habitudes and vertu/principes.
- A place to beginPracticed virtue comes to feel like instinct.
- English renderings
- habit
Meaning
Habitude names an acquired disposition or recurring way of acting. Its relation to virtue is productive in one passage and limited in another.
Use in the book
The habit of virtue makes sacrifice become taste, instinct and moral habits. Yet another early reflection says even the best habits guide only a limited range of circumstances, whereas virtue or principles give life unity. This is a useful tension between acquisition and adaptability, not a contradiction the lexicon should silently remove. Novels can exercise ascendancy over habits, and faith can require habits as well as acts. The word therefore crosses moral, cultural and religious practice.
Places to read
- I, p. 44, entry 1, ¶2Practiced virtue comes to feel like instinct.
- I, p. 47, entry 1, ¶13Habit’s finite coverage is contrasted with principled unity.
- II, p. 549, entry 5, ¶1Novels influence morals and habits.
- II, p. 860, entry 7, ¶1Faith is considered through habits as well as acts.
Translation in this edition
The English translation distinguishes habits from acts and retains the parenthetic pairings mœurs/habitudes and vertu/principes. In the first witness it renders mœurs as moral habits, reflecting conduct rather than etiquette. No universal opposition between habit and principle is imposed on every occurrence.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 44, 47; II, pp. 549, 860.
From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Habit
habit; habits; acquired disposition
Habit is a settled disposition formed or maintained by repeated thought and action.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordHabit is a settled disposition formed or maintained by repeated thought and action.
- In TraherneBad habits make the naturally sweet activity of good thinking seem difficult.
- In this editionDistinguish a habit from nature even when repetition has made it feel spontaneous.
- A place to beginEvil habit and custom explain the acquired difficulty of thinking well.
Meaning
Habit is a settled disposition formed or maintained by repeated thought and action. In the relevant uses it means an inward tendency, not a garment or religious costume.
Use in the book
Bad habits make the naturally sweet activity of good thinking seem difficult. They can also colour perception so thoroughly that the soul must be imaginatively unclothed to see clearly again. Traherne’s medical and visual comparisons show the problem: a jaundiced or obstructed eye alters what it receives. The restoration of childhood does not call for the abandonment of every developed power, but for the removal of distortions that acquired practice has made familiar. Habit belongs among the objects a comprehensive philosophy should examine.
Places to read
In this edition
Distinguish a habit from nature even when repetition has made it feel spontaneous. The text’s clothing imagery at III.5 is figurative; it does not turn the noun into a literal costume.