Section 230. An Oration on the Power of Habit. II

He enters⁠ into the outer circle of the whirlpool, and throws care to the winds⁠. 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, habit⁠, comes gradually. Many a man who has acquired⁠ a habit of drinking, but does not exactly proceed to excess⁠, 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 off⁠ 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 those⁠ who proceed to excess as naturally inferior to themselves. The difference between you and the drunkard is just this, that you could leave off⁠ the habit, but won’t; he would⁠ with all his heart and soul, but cannot. I tell you, young men⁠, that while the power of a bad habit is stripping you of nerve [pl.], and (S. 10, N. 9) energy, and freshness of feeling⁠, it does not destroy your responsibility. You are accountable to God for every power, and talent, and influence with which you have been endowed.

= approaches.

to throw care to the winds, sich keine Sorgen machen.

= What one calls habit.

to acquire a habit, in eine Gewohnheit verfallen.

der dieselbe jedoch eigentlich nicht übertreibt.

to leave off, aufhören.

= by considering (halten) those; to proceed to excess, sich dem Übermaß ergeben; as — themselves = as (für) being worse than themselves.

here aufgeben.

= and that he would give it up.

Commence the period with ‘Young men’.

Gefühlsfrische, f.