To understand a new idea, break an old habit.

The aphorism links intellectual openness to behavioral change: genuinely grasping a “new idea” often requires dismantling the routines, assumptions, and reflexes that keep older ways of thinking in place. It suggests that understanding is not purely mental assent but a reorientation of practice—habits shape perception, so entrenched patterns can make novel concepts seem unintelligible or threatening. The line also implies a discipline of self-renewal: learning demands unlearning, and insight is purchased by relinquishing comforts of familiarity. Read this way, the quote functions as advice for creative, moral, or spiritual growth—progress comes when one interrupts automatic living long enough to make room for a different framework.