I dig old books. ™
Est. 1998
 | ||
Home About Contact Terms Privacy |
Quotations about
Self-Control & Self-Discipline
He... made it manifest, that he is the happiest man who is happy in himself alone; and he the most powerful, who hath power over, and can command, himself. ~Seneca, translated by Thomas Morell (1703–1784)
No man is free who is not master of himself. ~Epictetus, translated by George Long
Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and apply myself to them, if they will not apply themselves to me. ~Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
I am,
indeed,
a king,
because I know how
to rule myself.
~Pietro Aretino, 1537
Would you have a great empire? Rule over yourself. ~Publilius Syrus, 1st century BCE, from the Latin by D. Lyman, 1856
I have been my own disciple and my own master. And I have been a good disciple but a bad master. ~Antonio Porchia (1886–1968), Voces, 1943–1966, translated from the Spanish by W.S. Merwin (1927–2019), c.1968
"Are you the captain of your soul?"
"Sort of a second lieutenant..."
~Manchester Evening Gazette, 1919
It will all come down to the moment that alarm goes off in the morning. Every single day you can wake up and what you decide to do, that's going to define who you are. ~Chris Powell, Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, "Krista," 2011
He wrestled with the antagonist in his own breast and emerged victorious. ~James Oppenheim, "The Millennium," Songs for the New Age, 1914
The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift of life is yours — it is an amazing journey — and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins. ~Bob Moawad, "The Gift," Whatever It Takes: A Journey into the Heart of Human Achievement, 1995
The controlled person is a powerful person. He who always keeps his head will always get ahead. Edwin Markham said, "At the heart of the cyclone tearing the sky is a place of central calm." The cyclone derives its power from a calm center. So does a person. ~Norman Vincent Peale
To try yourself for Strength and Self-Control,
Deny yourself — and do not tell a Soul!
~Arthur Guiterman, "Of Discipline," A Poet's Proverbs, 1924
Heaven is on the other side of that feeling you get when you're sitting on the couch and you get up and make a triple-decker sandwich. It's on the other side of that, when you don't make the sandwich. It's about sacrifice... It's about giving up the things that basically keep you from feeling. That's what I believe, anyway. I'm always asking, "What am I going to give up next?" Because I want to feel. ~Jim Carrey, interview, Michael Fleming, Playboy, 2004
You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage — pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically — to say "no" to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger "yes" burning inside. ~Stephen R. Covey
There is no allurement or enticement, actual or imaginary, which a well-disciplined mind may not surmount. The wish to resist more than half accomplishes the object. ~Charlotte Dacre, The Passions, 1811
And so, Reader, (for it is time to have done with guessing) would I bid you conquer in your warfare against your four great enemies, the world, the devil, the flesh, and above all, that obstinate and perverse self-will, unaided by which the other three would be comparatively powerless. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
Demands which were made of the individual in earlier periods are now considered oppressive. Self-discipline is obsolescent, self-denial unhygienic...
Self-respect is the fruit of discipline, the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself...
We prepare the pupil for employment, for holding a job. We do not teach him how to be a person... Skills are vital, but so is self-restraint... ~Abraham J. Heschel, "Essay on Youth," 1960
TEMPTATION. The banana peel in a man's brain that causes him to slip. ~Noah Lott (George V. Hobart), The Silly Syclopedia, 1905
Did you make any New Year's resolutions? No, you can't really say that you did. Did you ever know anyone who did make New Year's resolutions — regular, honest-to-George-Washington ones? I don't mean the comic supplement brand, "I'm going to swear off something or other," with the right paw raised facetiously, not that sort, but the genuine renunciation with the will power tied up in hard soulful knots and the light of spiritual abnegation in your eye! Yes; in your eye!... Well, you know why you don't make these resolutions! It's because they are difficult, and there is no sense in doing difficult things until you have done all the easy things there are to do. ~James Montgomery Flagg, "I Should Say So: Four Easy New Year's Resolutions," 1915
Renouncing present Pleasure counts for Gain,
When present Pleasure carries future Pain.
~Arthur Guiterman, "Of Discipline," A Poet's Proverbs, 1924
Discipline is money in the bank. A real friend — true strength. ~Henry Rollins, Get in the Van, 1994, HenryRollins.com
Resolve is never stronger than in the morning after the night it was never weaker. ~Mike Leigh, Naked, 1993
When glad, we owe the world our joy; when mad, we owe it our self-control. ~William Arthur Ward, Thoughts of a Christian Optimist, 1968
The first attribute that characterizes the greater man from the moron is his thicker layer of inhibition. ~Martin H. Fischer (1879–1962)
Where Self-restraint is lacking, Order ceases.
A Hoopless Barrel tumbles all to pieces.
~Arthur Guiterman, "Of Discipline," A Poet's Proverbs, 1924
Most people want to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch. ~Robert Orben, as quoted in The Reader's Digest, 1986
Not using faults does not mean that one does not have them. ~Antonio Porchia (1886–1968), Voces, 1943–1966, translated from the Spanish by W.S. Merwin (1927–2019), c.1968
Who is fit to govern others?
He who governs himself.
You might as well have said: nobody.
~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it. ~Thomas Jefferson, 1786
May I ever practice self-control,
May I learn to be patient and kind;
May I meet my problems with wisdom;
If I do, I will have peace of mind.
May I keep my temper every day;
May I be honest and fair and brave;
May calmness cover me, as a cloak,
That my own self-respect I may save.
When I give way to anger and fear,
And when to passions I am a slave,
I am harming my body and soul
That my God, in His love, to me gave.
~Gertrude Tooley Buckingham, "When I Am Master of My Soul," 1940s
There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable. ~Mark Twain
We like slipping, but not falling; our real anxiety is to be tempted enough. ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers, 1827
Gaining Strength and Self-Control,
Pay the Debt you owe your Soul!
~Arthur Guiterman, "Of Duty," A Poet's Proverbs, 1924
If Passion drives, let Reason hold the Reins. ~Benjamin Franklin
I don't rent space to anyone in my head. ~A man on Candid Camera, answering Allen Funt's question about why he had not gotten upset
No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is... You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. ~C. S. Lewis
The greatest of empires, is the empire over one's self. ~Publilius Syrus, 1st century BCE, from the Latin by D. Lyman, 1856
...it is easy to regard the mind and the body as two slaves trained to obey the imperial soul... [I]n this trinity of soul, mind, and body, it is sometimes hard to tell which of the three is at work; and the personality of each of the three parties interferes a good deal with that of each of the others. But if you who read will remember that you are an infinite child of God, and can partake of his nature, and that you have given to you the management and direction of your mind and your body, you will be saved many failures. ~Edward Everett Hale, "How to Get the Best of It," c.1892 ("...in a few words and in short metre, the notions I have gained from experience of the best way for handling one's machinery of life so as to get the best and the most of it...")
You are a puppet, but in the hands of the infinite, which may be your own. ~Antonio Porchia (1886–1968), Voces, 1943–1966, translated from the Spanish by W.S. Merwin (1927–2019), c.1968
Nothing makes it easier to resist temptation than a proper bringing-up, a sound set of values — and witnesses. ~Franklin P. Jones, in Quote, as quoted by The Reader's Digest, 1973
ABSTAINER, n. A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure. ~Ambrose Bierce
Home About Contact Terms Privacy | ||
|
www.quotegarden.com/self-control.html
Last saved 2024 Sep 07 Sat 23:22 CDT