Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes

I have a very busy head. I have inside voices that I have learned to contain.

Man's great misfortune is that he has no organ, no kind of eyelid or brake, to mask or block a thought, or all thought, when he wants to.

Emotions are products of our mind, and we can actually train ourselves to choose whether we banish or embrace them.

Almost all our suffering is the product of our thoughts. We spend nearly every moment of our lives lost in thought, and hostage to the character of those thoughts. You can break this spell, but it takes training just like it takes training to defend yourself against a physical assault.

As an adult, I've learned to cope and pull the plug on the worst what-ifs before my mind takes me to a place from which I can't return.

Only allow yourself to think negative thoughts and/or complain about anything for three minutes, three times a day.

If you can't control what you think, you will not be able to control what you do.

I should never be left alone with my mind for too long.

You don't have to control your thoughts; you just have to stop letting them control you.

You either control your mind or it controls you.

A thought is a hard thing to control.

I'm an extremist, I have to deal with my own extreme personality, and I walk the fine line of wanting to die and wanting to be the ruler of it all.

I've spent a lot of time and money trying to keep my anger in control.

By far the most difficult skill I learned as a C.E.O. was the ability to manage my own psychology. Organizational design, process design, metrics, hiring and firing were all relatively straightforward skills to master compared with keeping my mind in check.

And if thought and emotion can persist in this way so long after the brain that sent them forth has crumpled into dust, how vitally important it must be to control their very birth in the heart, and guard them with the keenest possible restraint.

I let my personal feelings take care of themselves. I find that works better.

It is important to remember that a thought is harmless unless we believe them and act on them. As the subject, since thoughts are an object of your awareness, you have the power to challenge every thought. You can decide if you want to make that thought real.

I don't torture myself.

The worst bullies you will ever encounter in your life are your own thoughts.

I don't mess around with my subconscious.

Sometimes I have to shut off the omnipresent disco ball and flashing lights that are always in my head. It's a part of maturing, I guess - just learning that it's not just always about a quick, easy fix of getting people to dance.

When the negative thoughts come - and they will; they come to all of us - it's not enough to just not dwell on it... You've got to replace it with a positive thought.

I do have a self-censor; everybody does, or at least most who are not pathological do.

You might think that shifting your thoughts is as easy as setting your mind to it. But stressful thoughts aren't held in place through choice or will power. They're held in place through perceived truth value.

I'm constantly having to be vigilant with a depressive tendency, an addictive tendency.