Harry S. Truman Quotes

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.

Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces.

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

Only actions give life strength; only moderation gives it charm.

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.

Teach him to deny himself.

I have to think of moderation, which is not a word that's in my vocabulary. But I try.

Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.

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.

It is after all the greatest art to limit and isolate oneself.

Patience means restraining one's inclinations.

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

I am pretty controlled I have to say.

A person in my position has to restrain himself.

No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after eating one peanut.

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

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

The surest test of discipline is its absence.

Instinct must be thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better.

The hardest thing for me is restraint.

As important as having strength is knowing how to use it.

A well-governed appetite is the greater part of liberty.

Just because you can do something, it doesn't mean you need to - restraint is something I admire.

I rarely indulge in sweet things but when I do I do not like to share.

The disciplined are free.