Charles Henry Parkhurst Quotes

Self-control is the only possible road to character development

The discipline of desire is the background of character.

They who overcome their desires once can overcome them always.

I have to reign myself in a lot.

Strength instead of being the lusty child of passion, grows by grappling with and subduing them.

Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better.

It may almost be a question whether such wisdom as many of us have in our mature years has not come from the dying out of the power of temptation, rather than as the results of thought and resolution.

The art of living consists in knowing which impulses to obey and which must be made to obey.

Every time I say 'no' to a small temptation, I strengthen my will to say 'no' to a greater one.

I wasn't blessed with the natural ability to rein myself in.

In the supremacy of self-control consists one of the perfections of the ideal man.

The most dangerous thing you can do is to take any one impulse of your own nature and set it up as the thing you ought to follow at all costs.

Cultivate within yourselves the mighty power of self-discipline.

Courage without discipline is nearer beastliness than manhood.

Behind real freedom, there lies discipline.

Temptations, unlike opportunities, will always give you many second chances.

No evil propensity of the human heart is so powerful that it may not be subdued by discipline.

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.

My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.

Good habits, which bring our lower passions and appetites under automatic control, leave our natures free to explore the larger experiences of life. Too many of us divide and dissipate our energies in debating actions which should be taken for granted.

Little hearts, little souls give little lusts big power. Big hearts give little lusts little power.

There is something good in men that really yearn for discipline.

It is his restraint that is honorable to a person, not their liberty.

We say no to lots of things that would please us. I would like to punch people every now and then, but I don't. I would like to have something for free rather than pay for it. I would like to skip to the front of the line... I don't mean to brush aside the taste of meat, which is a powerful attraction. But its power is not without limit.

Indeed, the best way to think of willpower is not as some shapeless behavioral trait but as a sort of psychic muscle, one that can atrophy or grow stronger depending on how it's used.