Habit: In Praise of Subtitles

At the HD broadcast of Eugene Onegin this afternoon, subtitles have given me more insight into the characters and action than I've ever had before. I was struck by the similarity of this line in the first scene

God sends us habit instead of happiness

To the conclusion of Pater's The Renaissance

Our failure is to form habits

In the second scene the Nanny is speaking of growing old, but her words could apply to the stroke experience as well.

...My brain is getting dark.
What I once knew I've forgotten.