Self Discipline Quotes

“Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being cocky. Class has nothing to do with money. Class never runs scared. It is self-discipline and self-knowledge. It's the sure-footedness that comes with having proved you can meet life. ”
― Ann Landers

“Most people can motivate themselves to do things simply by knowing that those things need to be done. But not me. For me, motivation is this horrible, scary game where I try to make myself do something while I actively avoid doing it. If I win, I have to do something I don't want to do. And if I lose, I'm one step closer to ruining my entire life. And I never know whether I'm going to win or lose until the last second.”
― Allie Brosh, Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened

“‎Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself-and be lenient to everybody else.”
― Henry Ward Beecher

“Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.”
― René Descartes

“No one is going to come help you. No one's coming to save you.”
― David Goggins, Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds

“It's a lot more than mind over matter. It takes relentless self discipline to schedule suffering into your day, every day.”
― David Goggins, Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds

“The greatest win is walking away and choosing not to engage in drama and toxic energy at all.”
― Lalah Delia

“Remember how far you’ve come, and you won’t have to rely on a destiny for your future. It will come on your own.”
― Shannon A. Thompson, Seconds Before Sunrise

“Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end.”
― Christina Rossetti

“Self-discipline is often disguised as short-term pain, which often leads to long-term gains. The mistake many of us make is the need and want for short-term gains (immediate gratification), which often leads to long-term pain.”
― Charles F. Glassman, Brain Drain - The Breakthrough That Will Change Your Life

“No person is free who is not master of himself.”
― Epictetus

“Isn’t it funny how we make rational excuses for being out of alignment?

We say, “Well, this ____ and that ____ happened, so it makes perfect sense for me to be feeling like this ____ and wanting to do this ____.”

Yet, to this day, I have never met a happy person who adheres to those excuses. In fact, each time I – or anyone else – decide to give in to “rational excuses” that justify feeling bad – it’s interesting that only further suffering is the result.

There is never a good enough reason for us to be out of alignment with peace. Sure, we can go there and make choices that dim our lights… and that is fine; there certainly is purpose for it and the contrast gives us lessons to learn… yet if we’re aware of what we are doing and we’re ready to let go of the suffering – then why go there at all? It’s like beating a dead horse. Been there, done that… so why do we keep repeating it?

Pain is going to happen; it’s inevitable in this human experience, yet it is often so brief. When we make those excuses, what happens is: we pick up that pain and begin to carry it with us into the next day… and the next day… into next week… maybe next month… and some of us even carry it for years or to our graves!

Forgive, let it go! It is NOT worth it! It is NEVER worth it. There is never a good enough reason for us to pick up that pain and carry it with us. There is never a good enough reason for us to be out of alignment with peace. Unforgiveness hurts you; it hurts others, so why even go there? Why even promote pain? Why say painful things to yourself or others? Why think pain? Just let it go!

Whenever I look back on painful things or feel pain today, I know it is my EGO that drives me to “go there.” The EGO likes to have the last word, it likes to feel superior, it likes to make others feel less than in hopes that it will make itself (me) feel better about my insecurities. Maybe if I hurt them enough, they will feel the pain I felt over what they did to me. It’s only fair! It’s never my fault; it’s always someone else’s. There is a twisted sense of pleasure I get from feeling this way, and my EGO eats it right up. YET! With awareness that continues to grow and expand each day, I choose to not feed my pain (EGO) or even go there. I still feel it at times, of course, so I simply acknowledge it and then release it.

I HAVE power and choice over my speech and actions. I do not need to ever “go there” again. It’s my choice; it’s your choice. So it’s about damn time we start realizing this. We are not victims of our impulses or emotions; we have the power to control them, and so it’s time to stop acting like we don’t. It’s time to relinquish the excuses.”
― Alaric Hutchinson, Living Peace: Essential Teachings For Enriching Life

“If you wouldn't follow yourself, why should anyone else?”
― John C. Maxwell, The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization

“The bottom line in managing your emotions is that you should put others – not yourself – first in how you handle and process them. Whether you delay or display your emotions should not be for your own gratification. You should ask yourself, What does the team need? Not, What will make me feel better?”
― John C. Maxwell, The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization

“It was a little thing, but on top of the other little things, it broke something in me.”
― John Howard Griffin, Black Like Me

“He who has conquered his own coward spirit has conquered the whole outward world;”
― Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays

“Good manners are not merely snobbish ornaments, as Mrs. Lippett's regime appeared to believe. They mean self-discipline and thought for others, and my children have got to learn them.”
― Jean Webster, Dear Enemy

“What was it St. Augustine said? "The mind commands the body and it obeys. The mind orders itself and meets resistance.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

“Let hunger sharpen your awareness. Abstain liquor and frivolous recreation, which dull the mind and weaken the body.”
― Laura Joh Rowland, The Concubine's Tattoo

“A man never lies with more delicious languor under the influence of a passion than when he has persuaded himself that he shall subdue it to-morrow.”
― George Eliot, Adam Bede

“No matter how sweet is smells, if you know it will give you a discomfort later, don't even attempt to taste it. Discipline yourself to stay out of sin!”
― Israelmore Ayivor, The Great Hand Book of Quotes

“The anarch's study of the history of the caesars has more of a theoretical significance for him - it offers a sampling of how far rulers can go. In practice, self-discipline is the only kind of rule that suits the anarch. He, too, can kill anyone (this is deeply immured in the crypt of his consciousness) and, above all, extinguish himself if he finds himself inadequate.”
― Ernst Jünger, Eumeswil

“The warrior has awareness...we are aware that we are at war , and the war in our minds requires discipline. Not the discipline of a soldier but the discipline of a warrior. Not the discipline from the outside to tell us what to do and not to do, but the discipline to be ourselves, no matter what.”
― Miguel Ruiz

“Civilization could not exist without tremors of desire and without the counteracting, negation force of disciplined denial. Nor would the gyratory pulsations of a lively civilization exist devoid of the convulsive chemistry of union and repellency. We are born with a desire to be immortal. Cursed with the knowledge that we must die, people live their orthodox lives out by displaying reckless abandon as to the outcome of human life or nervously hounded by utter despondency nipping their heels. How we resolve this decidedly human complex of carrying out our daily lives while burden by our inescapable mortality determines our essential character. The collation of similar values adopted by our community determines who we are as a people.”
― Kilroy J. Oldster

“Everything one has a right to do is not best to be done." Benjamin Franklin”
― Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly

“No one can attain success in life without self-discipline”
― Anufa Freeborn

“Contrary to the belief of those outside it, the aristocratic upbringing of their generation was harsh and demanding of self discipline.”
― Evelyn Anthony, The Tamarind Seed

“It is baseless to talk about the concepts of self-discipline and self-confidence without having scientific knowledge about the 'Self.”
― Rakhi Roy Halder

“It takes persistent self discipline to build up a physical strength.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Right now I am making the choice to live out this day choosing to be intentional about not being unintentional.”
― Craig D. Lounsbrough