Niki Lauda Quotes

We are like a rider on top of a gigantic elephant. We can steer the elephant, and if he's not busy, he'll go where we want, but if he has other desires, he'll often go where he wants. How can one control the elephant? In part, this comes with maturity. In part, this comes with the development of your frontal cortex, so the frontal areas of the brain are especially involved in self-control, in suppressing your initial instinct to act. This is why teenagers are so impulsive. So it's terrible to allow the death penalty for teenagers, because they really don't have working brains yet.

There's still the part of me that wants to leap at every opportunity, but now there's the other side that says, 'Let's just wait a minute and see what happens.' That's intuition, and it comes with age and experience.

I found with this record I had to really be strong-willed, because in the past I've tended to tinker and add a thing or take a thing away, and nearly always been wrong.

I feel I should be doing stupid stuff, but I'm not going to.

When you're a young boy, you don't think; you just go for it. When you have more experience, you have to play more with your head.

If desire did not dim the brain, nobody would ever get married, drunk, or fat. ~Val

If I've learned anything in my 30s, it's about holding back a little bit.

Good habits, which bring our lower passions and appetites under automatic control, leave our natures free to explore the larger experiences of life. Too many of us divide and dissipate our energies in debating actions which should be taken for granted.

I was always the kid at school who thought it was a good idea to set off the fire alarm. And much as I'm aware that that's a trait which also propels other things which are good, I wish I could just pause and go, 'Is this really what you want to do?'

When I was a kid, I was one of those really obnoxious 'oooh oooh' girls, with my hand up in the air constantly. I've learned over the years that that's not so attractive, so I've censored that.

From time to time I might push a little bit too hard and I have got to be a bit more careful.

Don't let your will roar when your power only whispers.

I will count to 10 before tweeting.

If the impulse to daring and bravery is too fierce and violent, stay it with guidance and instruction.

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it.

An impatient person plays differently than a more patient person.

Never do anything when you are in a temper, for you will do everything wrong.

When you doubt, abstain.

It's easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.

I'm smart enough to know, 'Don't try and make any headlines.'

As a child, I was hyper, I was a clown and I was sensitive. Today I'm all of the above, except I've refrained from bouncing off the walls.

Self-control is one mark of a mature person; it applies to control of language, physical treatment of others, and the appetites of the body.

To know your limitations is the hallmark of a wise person.

We should not, however, proceed with the adventure simply because we are wound up and cannot stop.

If we lose track when it comes to deciding when to stop, that should be a sign.