Previous
Rosa Parks
Eugene Pauly was an elderly California man who suffered from lasting brain damage after a severe infection. As a result of this damage, he couldn’t remember any new information—including what day of the week it was and who his children were. But he could still act out all of his existing habits and even form new ones. For instance, he could easily walk around the block and find his way home, even though he couldn’t say which home was his. Pauly’s experience showed neuroscientists that memory and habit depend on different systems in the brain, and Duhigg uses him to emphasize that point.
Eugene Pauly Quotes in The Power of Habit
The The Power of Habit quotes below are all either spoken by Eugene Pauly or refer to Eugene Pauly . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1 Quotes
As they rounded the corner near his house, the visitor asked Eugene where he lived. “I don’t know, exactly,” he said. Then he walked up his sidewalk, opened his front door, went into the living room, and turned on the television.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
After a severe brain infection destroyed Eugene Pauly’s ability to form new memories, everyone around him—from his doctors to his wife—expected him to struggle with all of his everyday tasks. Sure enough, he couldn’t remember what day it was or hold a sustained conversation. And yet he still managed to live a relatively ordinary life: he could make himself breakfast, go on walks around the neighborhood, and—paradoxically enough—even learn to play a memory game. This is because his habits were still intact. Thus, he unconsciously knew things that he couldn’t consciously remember. This passage illustrates how Pauly managed to live Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. A
And in almost every experiment, researchers have seen echoes of Squire’s discoveries with Eugene: Habits are powerful, but delicate. They can emerge outside our consciousness, or can be deliberately designed. They often occur without our permission, but can be reshaped by fiddling with their parts. They shape our lives far more than we realize—they are so strong, in fact, that they cause our brains to cling to them at the exclusion of all else, including common sense.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Duhigg summarizes Larry Squire’s research with Eugene Pauly by concluding that “habits are powerful, but delicate.” While Pauly’s powerful habits allowed him to live a dignified life after his brain injury, they were also so delicate that they fell apart under the slightest pressure. For instance, when there was construction in his neighborhood, it disrupted his morning walks, and he couldn’t figure out how to get home. Habits’ power and delicateness isn’t necessarily good or bad—rather, these features are what make habits such excellent tools for systematically generating both good and bad behavior. For instance, habits’ power to override common Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Co
Get the entire The Power of Habit LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Eugene Pauly Character Timeline in The Power of Habit
The timeline below shows where the character Eugene Pauly appears in The Power of Habit. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: The Habit Loop: How Habits Work
In 1992, an elderly man named Eugene Pauly suddenly forgot who his son was. Then, he started vomiting and ran a fever...
(full context)
Eugene Pauly’s wife Beverly brought him to Larry Squire, a memory researcher in San Diego. Squire...
(full context)
Beverly Pauly started taking Eugene on walks around the block twice a day. One day, he left the house on...
(full context)
...implant sensors in rats’ brains. The experiments done here are the key to understanding how Eugene Pauly formed new habits. In the 1990s, MIT researchers were studying the basal ganglia, a...
(full context)
Eugene Pauly’s basal ganglia were still intact, and Larry Squire wanted to test whether Pauly could...
(full context)
Eugene Pauly could also form other habits—like his daily walks. He could also act out his...
(full context)
In the decades since Larry Squire published his research on Eugene Pauly, hundreds of scientists all around the world have started to study habits. Habits can...
(full context)
Over time, Eugene Pauly settled into new habits. He went on walks, ate what he wanted, and spent...
(full context)
When Eugene Pauly had a heart attack, he kept ripping off his chest monitors in the hospital....
(full context)
