Section 230 An Oration on the Power of Habit. — II
He enters1 into the outer circle of the whirlpool, and throws care to the winds2. There he thinks to stay, but he gets nearer and nearer to the fatal gulf, until he is swept into the vortex before he dreamed of danger. This thing, habit3, comes gradually. Many a man who has acquired4 a habit of drinking, but does not exactly proceed to excess5, is rescued simply by possessing certain physical qualities which his poor unfortunate friend had not. You say: “I am not so foolish as to become a drunkard!” So He thought once. You say: “I can leave it off6 when I like,” as if He at first had not had (App. § 33) the power to leave it off when he liked. You say: “I have too sound an intellect to become a drunkard,” as if He were born without an intellect. You say: “I have too much pride in myself, too much self-respect,” as if He were not once as proud as you. The way men acquire this habit, is by looking on those7 who proceed to excess as naturally inferior to themselves. The difference between you and the drunkard is just this, that you could leave off8 the habit, but won’t; he would9 with all his heart and soul, but cannot. I tell you, young men10, that while the power of a bad habit is stripping you of nerve [pl.], and (S. 10, N. 9) energy, and freshness of feeling11, it does not destroy your responsibility. You are accountable to God for every power, and talent, and influence with which you have been endowed.
Notes
1 = approaches.
2 to throw care to the winds, sich keine Sorgen machen.
3 = What one calls habit.
4 to acquire a habit, in eine Gewohnheit verfallen.
5 der dieselbe jedoch eigentlich nicht übertreibt.
6 to leave off, aufhören.
7 = by considering (halten) those; to proceed to excess, sich dem Übermaß ergeben; as — themselves = as (für) being worse than themselves.
8 here aufgeben.
9 = and that he would give it up.
10 Commence the period with ‘Young men’.
11 Gefühlsfrische, f.