Remain calm, serene, always in command of yourself. You will then find out how easy it is to get along.
—Paramahansa Yogananda (1893–1952) Indian Hindu Mystic, Religious Leader, Philosopher, Teacher
The maintenance man is moving the thermostat in our office today. I started talking with him about the
—Scott Adams (b.1957) American Cartoonist
A really good detective never gets married.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
O, it is excellent to have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Nobody controls me. I’m uncontrollable. The only one who can control me is me, and that’s just barely possible. And that’s the lesson I’m learning. If someone’s going to impress me, whether it be a Maharishi or a Yoko, then there comes a point where the emperor has no clothes ’cause I’m naive, but I’m not stupid. For all you folks out there who think I’m having the wool pulled over my eyes, well, that’s an insult to me. But if you think you know me, or you have some part of me because of the music, and then you think I’m being controlled like a dog on a leash because I do things with her, then screw you, brother or sister, you don’t know what’s happening. I’m not here for you, I’m here for me and her, and now the baby.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
Don’t take the bull by the horns, take him by the tail; then you can let go when you want to.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.
—Robert A. Heinlein (1907–88) American Science Fiction Writer
Everyone’s got it in him, if he’ll only make up his mind and stick at it. None of us is born with a stop-valve on his powers or with a set limit to his capacities, There’s no limit possible to the expansion of each one of us.
—Charles M. Schwab (1862–1939) American Businessperson
Oh while I live, to be the ruler of life, not a slave, to meet life as a powerful conqueror, and nothing exterior to me will ever take command of me.
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
Don’t put limitations on yourself. Other people will do that for you. Don’t do that to yourself. Don’t bet against yourself. And take risk.
—James Cameron (b.1954) Canadian Film Director, Environmentalist
If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Everybody has a hot button. Who is pushing yours? While you probably cannot control that person, you CAN control the way you react to them.
—Unknown
Defend your limitations and you own them!
—Unknown
Does it follow that I reject all authority? Perish the thought. In the matter of boots, I defer to the authority of the boot-maker.
—Mikhail Bakunin (1814–76) Russian Anarchist Philosopher
Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
Self mastery comes through denial of the little things.
—Unknown
He who reins within himself and rules passions, desires, and fears is more than a king.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
THE TRUTH IS THAT YOU REALLY ARE IN CONTROL—IN TOTAL CONTROL.
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
You want to change your life? Control the only thing you can control: the meaning you give something.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
When you do the wrong thing, knowing it is wrong, you do so because you haven’t developed the habit of effectively controlling or neutralizing strong inner urges that tempt you, or because you have established the wrong habit and don’t know how to eliminate them effectively.
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
Don’t let the negativity given to you by the world disempower you. Instead give to yourself that which empowers you.
—Les Brown
The drive to resist compulsion is more important in wild animals than sex, food, or water. He found that captive white-footed mice spent inordinate time and energy just resisting experimental manipulation. If the experimenters turned the lights up, the mouse spent his time turning them down. If the experimenter turned the lights down, the mouse turned them up. The drive for competence or to resist compulsion is a drive to avoid helplessness.
—Martin Seligman (b.1942) American Psychologist, Author
I have only one counsel for you—be master.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; the hardest victory is over self.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
If one benefits tangibly from the exploitation of others who are weak, is one morally implicated in their predicament? Or are basic rights of human existence confined to the civilized societies that are wealthy enough to afford them? Our values are defined by what we will tolerate when it is done to others.
—William Greider (1936–2019) American Political Journalist
If it were possible to make an accurate calculation of the evils which police regulations occasion, and of those which they prevent, the number of the former would, in all cases, exceed that of the latter.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) German Philosopher, Linguist, Statesman
He who has the pepper may season as he lists.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman