John William De Forest Quotes

'Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall.

God is better served in resisting a temptation to evil than in many formal prayers.

Where there is no temptation, there is no virtue.

Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in.

The ordeal of virtue is to resist all temptation to evil.

One of the important things about temptation is, if I'm going to deal with it I'm going to have to recognize, this is an area of weakness in my life. I have been tempted here before and before and before.

He who cannot resist temptation is not a man. Whoever yields to temptation debases himself with a debasement from which he can never arise.

There isn't any virtue where there has never been any temptation.

We can all be good when we have no temptation or provocation to the contrary.

Tomorrow's character is made out of today's thoughts. Temptation may come suddenly, but sin does not.

Honesty: The ability to resist small temptations.

Avoid evil, particularly if they're attractive members of the opposite sex.

Temptation is not a sin but playing with temptation invites sin.

Refrain to-night; And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence, the next more easy; For use almost can change the stamp of nature, And either master the devil or throw him out With wondrous potency.

'Tis no sin to be tempted, but to be overcome.

Virtue is nothing without the trial of temptation, for there is no conflict without an enemy, no victory without strife.

It is easy enough to be virtuous When nothing tempts you to stray; When without or within No voice of sin Is luring your soul away. But it is only a negative virtue until it is tried by fire. For the soul that is worth the treasures of the earth is the soul that resists desire.

Blessed is he who has never been tempted; for he knows not the frailty of his rectitude.

You tempt me. I can’t be tempted. I’m not made to be tempted.

If thou wouldst conquer thy weakness, thou must never gratify it. No man is compelled to evil: his consent only makes it his. It is no sin to be tempted, but to be overcome.

You cannot tempt the hearts of men who are pure.

Urges ... every man has urges. But the true measure of man is to admit them, to learn to control them. The Shield used to refer to themselves as the most dominant force in our universe. But that ain't the way I remember it. They fell victim to the faults of men. Their lust and greed and valor for glory, it led them right down in the pit, where they belong. Tonight, they'll burn for it. For I am no man. I am reborn. Our bond can never be broken, and our urges can never be satisfied.

The best way to resist temptation is to avoid it. Prevention is far, far better than repentance.

Don't let a little sin in; all hell will break loose.

My soul, never laugh at sin's fooleries, lest thou come to smile at sin itself. It is thine enemy, and thy Lord's enemy.