Robert E. Lee Quotes

First, Resolve upon, and daily endeavour to practise, a life of seriousness and strict sobriety.

For self is the lord of self, self is the refuge of self; therefore curb thyself as the merchant curbs a good horse.

Start the practice of self-control with some penance; begin with fasting.

The whole point of a sacrifice is that you give up something you never really wanted in the first place. People are doing it around you all the time. They give up their careers, say - or their beliefs - or sex.

Fortunate indeed, is the man who takes exactly the right measure of himself, and holds a just balance between what he can acquire and what he can use.

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

The worst education which teaches self-denial, is better than the best which teaches everything else, and not that.

Do not follow vain desires; for verily he who prospers is preserved from lust, greed and anger.

I didn't want to be greedy. It's a mark of bad character and I always believed that pigs go the slaughterhouse.

They who overcome their desires once can overcome them always.

Ambition is best tempered with self-knowledge!

A prince must, above all things, accustom himself to moderate his desires. For as he has the power of gratifying them, if he once gives way to them, he will run to the greatest excess, and, by destroying his subjects, will at last complete his own ruin. In order to form himself to this moderation, nothing is more proper, than to accustom himself to patience. This is the most necessary of all virtues for those, who are to command. A man must be patient to become master of himself and others.

We all have to recognize, no matter how great our strength, we must deny ourselves the license to do always as we please.

One of my worst fears is being a self-indulgent person.

For the more a man limits himself, the nearer he is on the other hand to what is limitless.

I am sensible that my keenness of temper, and a vanity to be distinguished for the day, make me too often splash in life.... I amresolved to restrain myself and attend more to decorum.

As a kid, I often figured it was good to be patient to a fault.

Protect me from what I want.

Everybody wants to be good, but not many are prepared to make the sacrifices it takes to be great. To many people, being nice in order to be liked is more important. There's equal merit in that, but you must not confuse being good with being liked.

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

I am incredibly, incredibly fortunate about the opportunities I've had. But at the same time, I've had plenty of opportunities to screw it up, too. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can say is 'No...' and not feel the need to do everything. It's about doing what rings true to me.

Moderation has been called a virtue to limit the ambition of great men, and to console undistinguished people for their want of fortune and their lack of merit.

My ego every day is more and more polite. I tame it.

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.