John Mortimer Quotes

Stretch the bow to the very full, and you will wish you had stopped in time.

Learning when 'enough is enough' is the discipline of a lifetime.

Too much of anything, even a good thing, may prove to be our undoing...[We] need ...to set definite boundaries on our appetites.

You must confine yourself within the modest limits of order.

Good isn't my thing but Sawyer's important to me. Please remember I've got my limits and you studying my mouth like you want a taste is pushing me dangerously close to the edge of those limits.

If temperance prevails, then education can prevail; if temperance fails, then education must fail.

It is profitable wisdom to know when we have done enough: Much time and pains are spared in not flattering ourselves against probabilities.

Comfort, however, easily merges into license.

The power of saying no is so much more than the power of saying yes.

Don't milk the cow too hard. She will kick you.

He is a pandit (man of knowledge) who speaks what is suitable to the occasion, who renders loving service according to his ability, and who knows the limits of his anger.

We miss a lot in life because we don't know when to quit, what to leave out.

In life... we need to find a balance. You have to set rules and limitations - that is called discipline. And you have to practice that in all your worlds.

I never, with important air, In conversation overbear. . . . . My tongue within my lips I rein; For who talks much must talk in vain.

As soon as rules were made, names were given. There are already many names. One must know when it is enough.

Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough

Learn to say no; it will be of more use to you than to be able to read Latin.

One must not permit oneself excesses, except with persons whom one wishes soon to leave.

There are levels of outrage, and there's a point at which you can't be trespassed upon anymore.

You’ve gotta keep control of your time, and you can’t unless you say no. You can’t let people set your agenda in life.

I can hardly bring myself to caution you against drinking, because I am persuaded that I am writing to a rational creature, a gentleman, and not to a swine. However, that you may not be insensibly drawn into that beastly custom of even sober drinking and sipping, as the sots call it, I advise you to be of no club whatsoever.

It seems obvious that there comes period in your life when you have to learn to say no to things you don't want to do. But the biggest trickiest lesson in holding on the stalwart committment to your creativity is learning how to say no to the things you do want to do.

Freedom comes when you learn to let go, creation comes when you learn to say 'no'

No one ever went broke by saying no too often.

The best time to leave a party is when the party’s just beginning. There’s no drink that kills except the drink that you didn’t want to take, as the saying goes, and there’s no hour that kills except the hour you stayed after you wanted to go home.