Mortimer Adler Quotes

Freedom or prison--what's the difference? A man must develop unwavering will power subject only to his reason.

If you set out to seek freedom, then learn above all things to govern your soul and your senses . . . only through discipline may a man learn to be free.

All mental discipline and symmetrical growth are from activity of the mind under the yoke of the will or personal power.

The disciplined are free.

Terrible is the fight put up by the senses. Fight bravely! Conquer them you must.

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

Those who have succeeded in attaching or detaching their minds at will have succeeded in Pratyahara, which means gathering towards, checking the outgoing powers of the mind, freeing it from the thralldom of the senses. When we can do this, we shall really possess character; then alone we shall have taken a long step towards freedom. Before that, we are mere machines.

You have two choices: to control your mind or to let your mind control you.

If you fail to control your own mind, you may be sure you will control nothing else.

You either control your mind or it controls you.

In that power of self-control lies the seed of eternal freedom.

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

As far as your self-control goes, as far goes your freedom.

My third maxim was to try always to conquer myself rather than fortune, and to change my desires rather than the order of the world, and generally to accustom myself to believing that there is nothing entirely in our power except our thoughts, so that after we have done our best regarding things external to us, everything in which we do not succeed is for us absolutely impossible.

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

Self-discipline is crucial to a simpler, more contented life.

Don't wait for a more convenient day to discipline your mind!

The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions

self-control, in every station and to every individual, is indispensable, if people would retain that equanimity of mind, which, depending on self-respect, is the essential of contentment and happiness.

If thou wouldst conquer thy weakness, thou must never gratify it.

Indeed, the best way to think of willpower is not as some shapeless behavioral trait but as a sort of psychic muscle, one that can atrophy or grow stronger depending on how it's used.

Patience means restraining one's inclinations.

There is little that can withstand a man who can conquer himself.

You can learn not to want what you want, to recognize desires but not be controlled by them.

They who overcome their desires once can overcome them always.