Custom and Convention
Ways of acting established by habit or agreement rather than by nature, and their authority in law and morals.
Works to read
- Sts. Roch and Sebastian: Plague Saints by Jacobus de Voragine; Francesco Diedo tradition; later plague devotion, c. 1260; Roch tradition c. 1478
- Discourse on Voluntary Servitude by Étienne de La Boétie, c. 1548 (published 1576)
- No Cross, No Crown by William Penn, 1669
- Sartor Resartus by Thomas Carlyle, 1836
- Plessy v. Ferguson by Supreme Court of the United States, 1896
- Liberalism by Ludwig von Mises, 1927
- The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk, 1953
Passages
From the texts
Such is the influence of custom, that, where it is strongest, it not only covers our natural ignorance, but even conceals itself, and seems not to take place, merely because it is found in the highest degree.
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Verified quotations
for there is no name given to anything by nature; all is convention and habit of the users
— Plato, Cratylus
Passages are verified quotations from the library that use one of these words: custom, customs, convention, tradition. Sentences under “From the texts” are copied word for word from the full texts in this library. Read each in its context on the work's page.