Carlos Castaneda Quotes

When you're actually boxing, unless it's a proper grudge match, it's less about beating the person up and more about being better within yourself. Being patient, timing things, like chess, so really, it's as much down to you as what the other person does - and that's life.

Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.

The controlled person is a powerful person. He who always keeps his head will get ahead.

Learn to self-conquest, persevere thus for a time, and you will perceive very clearly the advantage which you gain from it.

He [the golfer] must have the courage to keep trying in the face of ill luck or disappointment, and timidity to appreciate and appraise the dangers of each stroke, and to curb the desire to take chances beyond reasonable hope of success.

The most effective way to live is as a warrior. A warrior may worry and think before making any decision, but once he makes it, he goes his way, free from worries or thoughts; there will be a million other decisions still awaiting him. That's the warrior's way.

A warrior, on the other hand, is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. But once his calculations are over he acts. He lets go. That's abandon.

Magic is a matter of focusing the disciplined will. But sometimes the will must be abandoned. The secret lies in knowing when to exercise control, and when to let go.

Nothing happens to any man which he is not formed by nature to bear. The same things happen to another, and either because he does not see that they have happened or because he would show a great spirit he is firm and remains unharmed. It is a shame then that ignorance and conceit should be stronger than wisdom.

Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do something you don't necessarily want to do, to get a result you would really like to have.

Washington was a man of exceptional, almost excessive self-command, rarely permitting himself any show of discouragement or despair.

Self-command is the main elegance.

Personal, spiritual symmetry emerges only from the shaping of prolonged obedience. Twigs are bent, not snapped into shape.

Self-discipline is crucial to a simpler, more contented life.

I use memories but I will not allow memories to use me.

Light will blind us in time, but what we learn in the dark can see us through.

No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself.

I think willpower is very valuable.

Restraint does not mean weakness. It does not mean giving in.

To say no at the right time, and then stand by it, is the first element of success. He is the wise man who, for all his life, can keep mind and soul and body clean.

The important thing is not to retreat; you have to master yourself.

It's just a matter of willpower. The day you decide it's over, it's over. You never get over it.

In the end what you don't surrender, well, the world just strips away.

If you can wait and not be tired of waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies. Or being hated, don't give way to hating, and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise.

I'm learning new levels of patience, perseverance and desire.