--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We make our customs lightly; once made…" description: "\"We make our customs lightly; once made, like our sins, they grip us in bands of steel; we become the creatures of our creation.\" — Charles W. Chesnutt" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e6/charles-w-chesnutt-32761_band_we-make-our-customs-lightly-once-made-li_1755545.png" --- # We make our customs lightly; once made, like our sins… ![“We make our customs lightly; once made, like our sins, they grip us in bands of steel; we become the creatures of our creation.” quote by Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e6/charles-w-chesnutt-32761_band_we-make-our-customs-lightly-once-made-li_1755545.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e6/charles-w-chesnutt-32761_band_we-make-our-customs-lightly-once-made-li_1755545.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e6/charles-w-chesnutt-32761_band_we-make-our-customs-lightly-once-made-li_1755545.png) > “We make our customs lightly; once made, like our sins, they grip us in bands of steel; we become the creatures of our creation.” [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Customs and sins, once created, bind us tightly, shaping our identity and destiny. **In simple terms:** Our habits and wrongdoings become restrictive chains. Key Takeaway Recognize and reshape limiting traditions. Themes society ethics identity freedom Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - family traditions - legal systems - cultural rituals - personal habits Key Concepts social construct moral psychology Questions to Reflect On - Which customs feel like steel bands to you? - What steps can you take to break free from harmful traditions? A Different Perspective Changing entrenched customs can meet resistance and cause conflict. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Band](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/band/) [Bands Steel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bands-steel-1644178/) [Creation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creation/) [Creatures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Customs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/customs/) [Customs Lightly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/customs-lightly-1644180/) [Habit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habit/) [Like Sins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-sins-1644181/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) [Make Customs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/make-customs-1644177/) [Sin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sin/) [Steel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/steel/) [Steel Creatures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/steel-creatures-1644179/) ## Related quotes > [Be neither too early in the fashion, nor too long out of it, nor too precisely in it; what custom hath civilized is become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-quarles/be-neither-too-early-in-the-fashion-nor-too-long-out-of-it-nor-too/) [Francis Quarles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-quarles/) > [I believe it is essential to have English as the official language of our National Government, for the English language is the tie that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-sensenbrenner/i-believe-it-is-essential-to-have-english-as-the-official-language-of/) [Jim Sensenbrenner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-sensenbrenner/) > [There aren't any looks or customs I wish would come back. Today almost anything goes. Culture constantly devours the past so there's not much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graydon-carter/there-aren-t-any-looks-or-customs-i-wish-would-come-back-today-almost/) [Graydon Carter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graydon-carter/) > [One of the Canadian customs guards got suspicious and said 'Haven't you been coming and going across the border a lot lately?' I finally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-jackman/one-of-the-canadian-customs-guards-got-suspicious-and-said-haven-t/) [Hugh Jackman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-jackman/) > [It is necessary to obey a Pope in all things as long as he does not go against the universal customs of the Church,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-innocent-iii/it-is-necessary-to-obey-a-pope-in-all-things-as-long-as-he-does-not/) [Pope Innocent III](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-innocent-iii/) > [He that would travel for the entertainment of others, should remember that the great object of remark is human life. Every nation has something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/he-that-would-travel-for-the-entertainment-of-others-should-remember/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/society-everywhere-is-in-conspiracy-against-the-manhood-of-every-one/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities of higher education, for the full development of her faculties, forces of mind and body;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-cady-stanton/the-strongest-reason-for-giving-woman-all-the-opportunities-of-higher/) [Elizabeth Cady Stanton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-cady-stanton/) > [There will be no lasting peace either in the heart of individuals or in social customs until death is outlawed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/there-will-be-no-lasting-peace-either-in-the-heart-of-individuals-or/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [To me the female principle is, or at least historically has been, basically anarchic. It values order without constraint, rule by custom not by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/to-me-the-female-principle-is-or-at-least-historically-has-been/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Since custom is the principal magistrate of man's life, let men by all means endeavor to obtain good customs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/since-custom-is-the-principal-magistrate-of-man-s-life-let-men-by-all/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [Often a quite assified remark becomes sanctified by use and petrified by custom; it is then a permanency, its term of activity a geologic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/often-a-quite-assified-remark-becomes-sanctified-by-use-and-petrified/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [In reality no food is valued solely for its nutritive power and no garment or house solely for the protection it affords against cold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/in-reality-no-food-is-valued-solely-for-its-nutritive-power-and-no/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [What is philosophy but a continual battle against custom?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/what-is-philosophy-but-a-continual-battle-against-custom/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [In each human heart terror survives The ravin it has gorged: the loftiest fear All that they would disdain to think were true: Hypocrisy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/in-each-human-heart-terror-survives-the-ravin-it-has-gorged-the/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) ## More by Charles W. Chesnutt > [The workings of the human heart are the profoundest mystery of the universe. One moment they make us despair of our kind, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/the-workings-of-the-human-heart-are-the-profoundest-mystery-of-the/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [We are all puppets in the hands of fate and seldom see the strings...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/we-are-all-puppets-in-the-hands-of-fate-and-seldom-see-the-strings/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [Race prejudice is the devil unchained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/race-prejudice-is-the-devil-unchained/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [I think I must write a book. It has been my cherished dream and I feel an influence that I cannot resist calling me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/i-think-i-must-write-a-book-it-has-been-my-cherished-dream-and-i-feel/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [Selfishness is the most constant of human motives. Patriotism, humanity, or the love of God may lead to sporadic outbursts sweep away the heaped-up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/selfishness-is-the-most-constant-of-human-motives-patriotism-humanity/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [“When it is said that it was done to please a woman, there ought perhaps to be enough to explain anything; for what a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/when-it-is-said-that-it-was-done-to-please-a-woman-there-ought/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [Time touches all things with a destroying hand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/time-touches-all-things-with-a-destroying-hand/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [Those that set in motion the forces of evil cannot always control them afterwards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/those-that-set-in-motion-the-forces-of-evil-cannot-always-control/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [Impossibilities are merely things of which we have not learned, or which we do not wish to happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/impossibilities-are-merely-things-of-which-we-have-not-learned-or/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [Sins, like chickens, come home to roost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/sins-like-chickens-come-home-to-roost/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [The workings of the human heart are the profoundest mystery of the universe.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/the-workings-of-the-human-heart-are-the-profoundest-mystery-of-the-2/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [We sometimes underestimate the influence of little things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/we-sometimes-underestimate-the-influence-of-little-things/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [As man sows, so shall he reap. In works of fiction, such men are sometimes converted. More often, in real life, they do not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/as-man-sows-so-shall-he-reap-in-works-of-fiction-such-men-are/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) > [There are sordid souls that eat and drink and breed and die, and imagine they have lived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/there-are-sordid-souls-that-eat-and-drink-and-breed-and-die-and/) [Charles W. Chesnutt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) [Explore all 15 Charles W. Chesnutt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/) ## More Band quotes > [The reason I was drawn to the Band Perry was because they have a knack for doing rollicking country music that can sound a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-robinson/the-reason-i-was-drawn-to-the-band-perry-was-because-they-have-a/) [Phoebe Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phoebe-robinson/) > [It was an important period for us, because even though we weren't a "punk band", and what became a model for a punk band,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-mallinder/it-was-an-important-period-for-us-because-even-though-we-weren-t-a/) [Stephen Mallinder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-mallinder/) > [There is something to be said though when you have 4 or 5 guys playing with no net, there is a sense of urgency,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-mendoza/there-is-something-to-be-said-though-when-you-have-4-or-5-guys/) [Marco Mendoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-mendoza/) > [My Nirvana experience was much different than the other three guys. For me, it was really new and exciting. I was just a guy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pat-smear/my-nirvana-experience-was-much-different-than-the-other-three-guys/) [Pat Smear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pat-smear/) > [I think my music has always been a mixture, depending on whom I'm working with - what band, what musicians, what producer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matisyahu/i-think-my-music-has-always-been-a-mixture-depending-on-whom-i-m/) [Matisyahu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matisyahu/) > [As you'll never hear the thing again, my boy, why not throw in a couple of brass bands?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-beecham/as-you-ll-never-hear-the-thing-again-my-boy-why-not-throw-in-a-couple/) [Thomas Beecham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-beecham/) > [I've always made sure that I tour with bands that people aren't expecting me to tour with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mayer-hawthorne/i-ve-always-made-sure-that-i-tour-with-bands-that-people-aren-t/) [Mayer Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mayer-hawthorne/) > [There is more to me than just having been in the Runaways. And even though I'm really, really proud of what the band accomplished,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackie-fuchs/there-is-more-to-me-than-just-having-been-in-the-runaways-and-even/) [Jackie Fuchs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackie-fuchs/) > [I like the bad-boy types. Generally the guy I'm attracted to is the guy in the club with all the tattoos and nail polish.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/megan-fox/i-like-the-bad-boy-types-generally-the-guy-i-m-attracted-to-is-the/) [Megan Fox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/megan-fox/) > [Bass guitar is the engine of the band.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzi-quatro/bass-guitar-is-the-engine-of-the-band/) [Suzi Quatro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzi-quatro/) > [I just became accustomed to being all the members of the band. That was something that was really exciting to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-collier/i-just-became-accustomed-to-being-all-the-members-of-the-band-that/) [Jacob Collier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-collier/) > [I guess because we're essentially a two-man band, we're attracting Wham's crowd. But Wham! are more of a businessman's band.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curt-smith/i-guess-because-we-re-essentially-a-two-man-band-we-re-attracting/) [Curt Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curt-smith/) > [I'm about as privileged as you can get. I'm a white, male, heterosexual front man of a rock band.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-reynolds/i-m-about-as-privileged-as-you-can-get-i-m-a-white-male-heterosexual/) [Dan Reynolds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-reynolds/) > [I'd been playing in bands for something like seven years at this point. And we were always trying to get ahead, trying to rehearse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aerosmith/i-d-been-playing-in-bands-for-something-like-seven-years-at-this/) [Aerosmith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aerosmith/) > [Metallica's the only band i've ever been in. I'm not sure that when it ends in five, ten years, I'm going to put an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lars-ulrich/metallica-s-the-only-band-i-ve-ever-been-in-i-m-not-sure-that-when-it/) [Lars Ulrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lars-ulrich/) [Browse all 6,497 Band quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/band/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We make our customs lightly; once made, like our sins, they grip us in bands of steel; we become the creatures of our creation.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles W. Chesnutt" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/we-make-our-customs-lightly-once-made-like-our-sins-they-grip-us-in/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Band" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/we-make-our-customs-lightly-once-made-like-our-sins-they-grip-us-in/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e6/charles-w-chesnutt-32761_band_we-make-our-customs-lightly-once-made-li_1755545.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e6/charles-w-chesnutt-32761_band_we-make-our-customs-lightly-once-made-li_1755545.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2e6/charles-w-chesnutt-32761_band_we-make-our-customs-lightly-once-made-li_1755545.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We make our customs lightly; once made, like our sins, they grip us in bands of steel; we become the…” — Charles W. Chesnutt", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Charles W. Chesnutt", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-w-chesnutt/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We make our customs lightly; once...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/we-make-our-customs-lightly-once-made-like-our-sins-they-grip-us-in/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-w-chesnutt/we-make-our-customs-lightly-once-made-like-our-sins-they-grip-us-in/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```