66 Inspiring Quotes on Getting Rid of Bad Habits

By Jacqueline Walker

Experienced Leader, CPTC, and Inspirational Writer

Published February 3, 2023

Over the course of our lives, we’ve all developed behaviors or routines that have not served us well in our quest for happiness or success.

Although these habits have kept us from achieving our goals, we often find it difficult to break free of them.

Sometimes, these negative behaviors become so routine that we perform them without thinking.

But over time, bad habits are bound to become obstacles, weighing us down and forcing us to acknowledge that they are not good for us.

We will soon feel an urgency to break free.

Warren Buffett summed this up quite well:

“Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.”

When we begin to feel the burden of our bad habits, we look around for a quick fix.

We turn to others for direction or answers on how to get rid of them.

But the truth is that breaking bad habits is highly dependent on “the man in the mirror.”

We must first have the desire or motivation to make a change.

Then, we must change our mindset and our attitude.

This drives us to make the decision to do things differently: to break the habit or change it.

Of course, we must effect a change by doing things in a new manner or using a new method.

This quote from former U.S. President Barack Obama not only applies to the broad scope of society and culture but it applies to the needs of our individual selves:

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

The mechanism to break bad habits or to change must come from within us and not from others.

Inspiring Quotes on Getting Rid of Bad Habits

1. “You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, ‘I release the need for this in my life’.” – Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

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2. “Saying NO to the wrong things creates space to say YES to the right things.” – Mack Story

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3. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

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4. “To change habits, we must study the habits of successful role models.” – Jack Canfield

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5. “Nothing happens until the pain of remaining the same outweighs the pain of change.” – Arthur Burt

6. “The secret of change is to focus all your energy NOT on fighting the old but on BUILDING the new.” – Socrates

7. “One bad habit often spoils a dozen good ones.” – Napoleon Hill

8. “Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure.” – Og Mandino

9. “Bad habits are our enemies because they hinder us from being the person we want to be.” – Joyce Meyer

10. “REAL TRANSFORMATION requires real honesty. If you want to move forward – get real with yourself.” – Bryant McGill

11.”There are no shortcuts for nurturing the movement toward wholeness other than drinking from the well of self-love.” – Don Stapleton

12. “You cannot change your future; but, you can change your habits, and surely your habits…will change your future.” – Dr. Abdul Kalam

13. “TRANSFORMATION is much more than using skills, resources and technology. It’s all about HABITS of mind.” – Malcolm Gladwell

14. “Ultimately, your state of mind determines your circumstances. To realize the outcomes you want, it is critical to recognize and experience the transition from our present thoughts, habits, and actions to new thoughts, habits, and actions.” – Darren L. Johnson

15. If you’re gonna make a change, you’re gonna have to operate from a new belief that says life happens not to me but for me.” – Tony Robbins

16. “Starting something new or making a big change requires effort, persistence and motivation…Doubt, fear and worry will only slow you down. Focus on doing your best now and celebrate every step of the way.” – Doe Zantamata

17. “Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant.” – Tony Robbins

18. “How does one become a butterfly? You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.” – Unknown

Thought-provoking quotes on getting rid of bad habits

19. “Make no mistake about it. Bad habits are called ‘bad’ for a reason. They kill our productivity and creativity. They slow us down. They hold us back from achieving our goals. And they’re detrimental to our health.” – John Rampton

20. “Bad habits are easy to slip into and good habits are very easy to build. Don’t allow yourself to do something that can destroy you.” – Milind Soman

21. “First, we form habits; then they form us. Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you.” – Rob Gilbert

22. “Good habits are hard to develop but easy to live with; bad habits are easy to develop but hard to live with. The habits you have and the habits that have you will determine almost everything you achieve or fail to achieve.” – Brian Tracy

23. “Bad habits are like chains that are too light to feel until they are too heavy to carry.” – Warren Buffet

24. “While ignoring your bad habits may help you feel good initially, that avoidance will eventually catch up to you. When you don’t address the unproductive and unhealthy things you’re doing alongside your good habits, you’ll stagnate.” – Amy Morin

25. “Our character is a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconscious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.” – Stephen Covey

26. “We need to make sure we’re all working together to change mindsets, to change attitudes, and to fight against the bad habits that we have as a society.” – Justin Trudeau

Insightful Quotes about giving up bad habits

27. “Although it may not be realistic to do something every day for the rest of your life, it helps to set it up this way while you’re breaking a habit.” – Szymon Pelechowicz

28. “By simply breaking some of your more ingrained habits you will help dissolve away your suffering.” – Vidyamala

29. “A good deal of education consists of the unlearning-the breaking of bad habits as with a tennis serve.” – Mary McCarthy

30. “The more severe the pain or illness, the more severe will be the necessary changes. These may involve breaking bad habits or acquiring some new and better ones.” – Peter McWilliams

31. “Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure.” – Og Mandino

32. “The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits. We can never free ourselves from habit. But we can replace bad habits with good ones.” – Steven Pressfield

33. “With its onslaught of never-ending choices, never-ending supply of relationships and obligations, the attention economy bulldozes the natural shape of our physical and psychological limits and turns impulses into bad habits.” – Tristan Harris

34. “Most people don’t have that willingness to break bad habits. They have a lot of excuses, and they talk like victims.” – Carlos Santana

35. “Not managing your time and making excuses are two bad habits. Don’t put them both together by claiming you don’t have the time.” – Bo Bennett

36. “It is extremely hard to break bad habits and takes a long time to start new, healthy ones.” – Denise Austin

37. “Once you replace your bad habits with good habits, you can also eliminate the stress and anxiety that those bad habits cause in your life.” – Sarah Devil

38. “If you do not pour water on your plant, what will happen? It will slowly wither and die. Our habits will also slowly wither and die away if we do not allow them to manifest. You need not fight to stop a habit. Just don’t allow it to repeat itself.” – Sri S. Satchidananda

39. “I know I’m not perfect at giving my body what it needs to refuel after a run. Recognizing my bad habits has helped me pay more attention to what I eat. I have been known to rush through my day without making nutrition a priority, so I work hard to prepare healthy snacks in advance of my runs and while the kids are at school.” – Summer Sanders

40.”Adolescence is the period in life when kids need to develop healthy habits that’ll help them to be more energetic and happy.” – Clarke Williams

41. “I have learned that champions aren’t just born; champions can be made when they embrace and commit to life-changing positive habits.” – Lewis Howes

42. “If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.” – Colin Powell

43. “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” – Samuel Johnson

44. “And once you understand that habits can change, you have the freedom and the responsibility to remake them.” – Charles Duhigg

45. “Feeling sorry for yourself and your present condition is not only a waste of energy but the worst habit you could have.” – Dale Carnegie

46. “Once we’re thrown off our habitual paths, we think all is lost, but it’s only here that the new and the good begins.” – Leo Tolstoy

Quotes On Getting Rid Of Bad Habits & Bring Change In Your Life

47. “The only proper way to eliminate bad habits is to replace them with good ones.” ― Jerome Hines

48. “A bad habit never disappears miraculously. It’s an undo-it-yourself project.” ― Abigail Van Buren

49. “Lookin’ back is a bad habit.” ― Charles Portis

50. “It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.” ― Benjamin Franklin

51. “Bad choices evolve into bad habits.” ― Emmanuel Apes

52. “At some point, being angry is just another bad habit, like smoking, and you keep poisoning yourself without thinking about it.” ― Jonathan Tropper

53. “I think if you stop bad habits, and you stop long enough, you develop good habits.” ― Jordan Knight

54. “Knowledge is learning something new every day. Wisdom is letting go of some bad habits every day.” ― Farshad Asl

55. “A change in bad habits leads to a change in life.” ― Jenny Craig

56. “Tension is a habit. Relaxing is a habit. Bad habits can be broken, good habits formed.” ― William James

Quotes on Getting Rid of Bad Habits to Break Free

57. “Good habits are worth being fanatical about.” ― John Irving

58. Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.” ― Stephen Covey

59. “Successful people are simply those with successful habits.” ― Brian Tracy

60. “You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” ― John C. Maxwell

61. The only way to change your habits is to change the way you think.” ― Steve Maraboli

62. “The only way to make a habit stick is to practice it every day.” ― Shannon L. Alder

63. “Habits are formed by the repetition of particular acts. They are strengthened by an increase in the number of repeated acts.” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero

64. “The best way to break a bad habit is to replace it with a good one.” ― Joan Jensen

65. “The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.” ― Warren Buffett

66. Breaking a habit requires creating a new routine, not just breaking an old one.” ― James Clear