Joseph Campbell Quotes

Emotional self-control is the result of hard work, not an inherent skill.

But since the world, which thou art to strive against, is not without thee, but within thee, it follows, that it is also to be conquered not without, but within thee.

Who is wise? He that learns from everyone. Who is powerful? He that governs his passions. Who is rich? He that is content. Who is that? Nobody.

I practice martial arts not to win over other people but to win over my own heart.

Restraint never ruins one's health. What ruins it,is not restraint but outward suppression. A really self-restrained person grows every day from strength to strength and from peace to more peace. The very first step in self-restraint is the restraint of thoughts.

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

This work somehow awakened my dormant powers of will and I began to practice self-control. At first my resolutions faded like snow in April, but in a little while I conquered my weakness and felt a pleasure I never knew before - that of doing as I willed.

Though thousand times a thousand in battle one may conquer, yet should one conquer just oneself, one is the greatest conqueror.

It is not only by one's impulses that one achieves greatness, but also by patiently filing away the steel wall that separates what one feels from what one is capable of doing.

Self-discipline, as a virtue or an acquired asset, can be invaluable to anyone.

What is needed is not the removal of the trouble but the conquest of self.

SPIRITUAL EXERCISES whereby to conquer oneself, and order one's life, without being influenced in one's decision by any inordinate affection.

The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred.

Some men, who begin by saying that the world is a hell, often end by saying that it is a heaven when they succeed in the practice of self-control.

He that would be superior to external influences must first become superior to his own passions.

Self-discipline is the golden key; without it, you cannot be happy.

The man who masters himself is delivered from the force that binds all creatures.

It is a new road to happiness, if you have strength enough to castigate a little the various impulses that sway you in turn.

Unless the man is master of his soul all other kinds of mastery amount to little.

The greatest possession is self-possession.

He that composes himself is wiser than he that composes a book.

The point is to change one's life. The point is not to give some vent to the emotions that have been destroying one; the point is so to act that one can master them now.

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

Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control; these three alone lead one to sovereign power.

The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.