Robert Bolt Quotes

I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.

We create our fate every day . . . most of the ills we suffer from are directly traceable to our own behavior.

How shall I be able to rule over others, that have not full power and command of myself?

When we, through our educational culture, through the media, through the entertainment culture, give our children the impression that human beings cannot control their passions, we are telling them, in effect, that human beings cannot be trusted with freedom.

Physical nature lies at our feet shackled with a hundred chains. What of the control of human nature? Do not point to the triumphs of psychiatry, social services or the war against crime. Domination of human nature can only mean the domination of every man by himself.

Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.

You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself.

Plato said that virtue has no master. If a person does not honor this principle and rejoice in it, but is purchasable for money, he creates many masters for himself.

I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself.

No one is free who does not lord over himself.

The more control you have over your life, the more responsible you feel for your own success - or failure.

I think the real free person in society is one that's disciplined. It's the one that can choose; that is the free one.

To be one's own master is to be the slave of self.

To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves.

Self regulation is a myth.

What man's mind can create, man's character can control.

Heaven has given to every human being the power of controlling his passions, and if he neglects or loses it, the fault is his own, and he must be answerable for it.

Be brave and take accountability for your thoughts and beliefs.

Remember, you are only committed to what you confess.

Every act of self-discipline increases your confidence, trust, and belief in yourself and your abilities.

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

Only in the crucible of self-mastery can freedom be smelted

Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self.

We must become masters of our own actions and attitudes. To let another person determine whether we will be rude or gracious, elated or depressed is to give control of ourselves. The only true possession is self possession.

Your happiness and suffering depend on your actions and not on my wishes for you.