But couldn't quitting bring about some massive mistakes?
Since quitting brings enormous potential benefits to body, mind and bankbook, what explains the persistence of cigarette smoking?
Check out a podcast with Eoin Colfer and Oliver Jeffers on Imaginary Fred This sequel to the prize-winning bestseller The Day the Crayons Quit! brings new surprises for Duncan when he receives a set of postcards from crayons that he has lost, forgotten, broken and melted in a clothes dryer.
The report card, issued annually, covers the period since 2002, during which, according to the health department, 364,000 more New Yorkers reported having a primary doctor (for a total of 4.8 million), and 300,000 quit smoking, bringing the percentage of city residents who smoke to 16.9percentt from 21.5percentt.
American Idol, which he quit to bring The X Factor to the US, has been surprisingly resilient.
Women who smoke are at much higher risk for bleeding strokes, but those who have quit can bring their risk back to normal, researchers have found.
Her father ran a furniture store; her mother, an obituary writer for the local paper, quit to bring up four children.
His handling of the failed bid for the Asian life assurance arm of AIG in 2010 prompted calls for him to quit and brought personal censure from the City regulator three years later.
The euphoria that accompanied Silvio Berlusconi's agreement last week to quit – and brought bond yields back towards the all-important 6% level – evaporated within hours of his departure on Saturday as it became obvious it would take time for Monti to win over rival factions to form a new coalition.
That would likely lead several of his allies to quit the government, bringing its downfall.
