“Nature never accepts a cash payment in full for anything — this would be an injustice to the poor and to the weak. ... It is only the progressive installment plan Nature recognizes. No man can make a habit in a moment or break it in a moment. It is a matter of development, of growth. But at any moment man may *begin* to make or begin to break any habit. This view of the growth of character should be a mighty stimulus to the man who sincerely desires and determines to live nearer to the limit of his possibilities.” — William George Jordan, [The Kingship of Self-Control](https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/manly-lessons/manvotional-the-kingship-of-self-control/), in *Self-Control, Its Kingship and Majesty*, 1905.