A thing of custom,—'t is no other;

Only it spoils the pleasure of the time.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act iii. Sc. 4.

But, soft! methinks I scent the morning air;

Brief let me be. Sleeping within my orchard,

My custom always of the afternoon.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 5.

But to my mind, though I am native here

And to the manner born, it is a custom

More honoured in the breach than the observance.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 4.

Nature her custom holds,

Let shame say what it will.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act iv. Sc. 7.

Such is the custom of Branksome Hall.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Lay of the Last Minstrel. Canto i. Stanza 7.

The old order changeth, yielding place to new;

And God fulfils himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892): The Passing of Arthur.

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale

Her infinite variety.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Antony and Cleopatra. Act ii. Sc. 2.

Assume a virtue, if you have it not.

That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,

Of habits devil, is angel yet in this.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act iii. Sc. 4.

The tyrant custom, most grave senators,

Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war

My thrice-driven bed of down.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Othello. Act i. Sc. 3.

Only that he may conform

To tyrant custom.

Du Bartas (1544-1590): Second Week, Third Day, Part ii.