Restraining Quotes

• Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, Libertarian Party, Democracies Have

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• A wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Wise, Wisdom, Men

  Thomas Jefferson (2011). “Jefferson on Freedom: Wisdom, Advice, and Hints on Freedom, Democracy, and the American Way”, p.65, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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• [Our Constitution] is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.

  Patrick Henry

  Government, People, Tyranny Founding Fathers

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• It's politely assumed that democracy is a means of containing and restraining violence. But violence comes not from genes but from ideas

  Edward Bond

  Mean, Ideas, Democracy

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• Those who restrain their desires, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.

  William Blake

  Inspirational, Artist, Thought Provoking

  William Blake, “The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell”

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• The whole country wants civility. Why don't we have it? It doesn't cost anything. No federal funding, no legislation is involved. One answer is the unwillingness to restrain oneself. Everybody wants other people to be polite to them, but they want the freedom of not having to be polite to others.

  Judith Martin

  Country, Freedom, Equality

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• Willpower is what separates us from the animals. It's the capacity to restrain our impulses, resist temptation - do what's right and good for us in the long run, not what we want to do right now. It's central, in fact, to civilisation.

  Roy Baumeister

  Running, Animal, Discipline

  "Why willpower matters – and how to get it" by Jon Henley, www.theguardian.com. February 7, 2012.

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• No one is truly free, they are a slave to wealth, fortune, the law, or other people restraining them from acting according to their will.

  Euripides

  Freedom, Law, People

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• Sometimes our power resides not in what we do, but in what we don't do.

  Paulo Coelho

  Sometimes

  FaceBook post by Paulo Coelho from Oct 15, 2011

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• Destructive thoughts and emotions undermine the very causes of peace and happiness. If you think clearly about it, it makes no sense to think you’re seeking happiness, if you do nothing to restrain angry, spiteful, and malicious thoughts and emotions.

  Dalai Lama

  Thinking, Causes, Emotion

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• Success has less to do with what we can get ourselves to do and more to do with keeping ourselves from doing what we shouldn’t.

  Kenneth Cole

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• You will be able to check envy if you rejoice with the man whom you envy whenever he rejoices, and grieve whenever he grieves.

  Maximus the Confessor

  Christian, Men, Grieving

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• The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.

  George Mason

  Government, Liberty, Freedom Of The Press

  Virginia Bill of Rights article 12 (1776)

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• By restraining spending and by cutting the deficit, Republican policies are helping to keep our economy strong.

  Dennis Hastert

  Strong, Cutting, Helping

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• One single object . . . [will merit] the endless gratitude of the society: that of restraining the judges from usurping legislation.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Gratitude, Judging, Politics

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• A single good government becomes... a blessing to the whole earth, its welcome to the oppressed restraining within certain limits the measure of their oppressions. But should even this be counteracted by violence on the right of expatriation, the other branch of our example then presents itself for imitation: to rise on their rulers and do as we have done.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Blessing, Government, Example

  Thomas Jefferson (2016). “The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, Volume 12: 1 September 1817 to 21 April 1818”, p.20, Princeton University Press

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• Concentration is not thinking of one thing. On the contrary, it is excluding all thoughts, since all thoughts obstruct the sense of one's true being. All efforts are to be directed simply to removing the veil of ignorance. Concentrating the mind solely on the Self will lead to happiness or bliss. Drawing in the thoughts, restraining them and preventing them from straying outwards is called detachment (vairagya). Fixing them in the Self is spiritual practice (sadhana). Concentrating on the heart is the same as concentrating on the Self. Heart is another name for Self.

  Ramana Maharshi

  Spiritual, Heart, Ignorance

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• The mentor can be identified by four things: by restraining you from wrongdoing, guiding you towards good actions, telling you what you ought to know, and showing you the path to heaven.

  Gautama Buddha

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Buddhist

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• Patience means restraining one's inclinations.

  Ieyasu Tokugawa

  Patience, Mean, Inclination

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• The strong manly ones in life are those who understand the meaning of the word patience. Patience means restraining one's inclinations. There are seven emotions: joy, anger, anxiety, adoration, grief, fear, and hate, and if a man does not give way to these he can be called patient. I am not as strong as I might be, but I have long known and practiced patience. And if my descendants wish to be as I am, they must study patience.

  Ieyasu Tokugawa

  Strong, Hate, Grief

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• How is property given? By restraining liberty; that is, by taking it away so far as necessary for the purpose. How is your house made yours? By debarring every one else from the liberty of entering it without your leave.

  Jeremy Bentham

  House, Liberty, Purpose

  Jeremy Bentham (1844). “Benthamiana: Or Select Extracts from the Works of Jeremy Bentham. With an Outline of His Opinions on the Principal Subjects Discussed in His Works”, p.95

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• If you believe that man is inherently flawed-what religious people call 'original sin'-it follows that man, if left to his own devices, will tend towards ego-driven disharmony. Traditionalist conservatives know that absent the restraining hand of religion, tradition, or the state, there is nothing to prevent human beings from acting in ways contrary to their own best interests, or those of the community.

  Rod Dreher

  Religious, Believe, Men

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• To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted, so as to be most useful, I should answer, "by restraining it to true facts & sound principles only." Yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of it's benefits, than is done by it's abandoned prostitution to falsehood.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Media Control, Sound, Principles

  Thomas Jefferson, Joyce Appleby, Terence Ball (1999). “Jefferson: Political Writings”, p.274, Cambridge University Press

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• Editors and reporters are not as free and independent to invite a variety of opinions as they might think. They are free to say what they like only as long as their bosses like what they say. They are free to produce what they want if their product remains within acceptable political boundaries. You will have no sensation of a leash around your neck if you sit by the peg. It is only when your stray that you feel the restraining tug.

  Michael Parenti

  Independent, Thinking, Media

  Michael Parenti (1996). “Dirty Truths”, p.150, City Lights Books

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• For my part I have sought liberty more than power, and power only because it can lead to freedom. What interested me was not a philosophy of the free man (all who try that have proved tiresome), but a technique: I hoped to discover the hinge where our will meets and moves with destiny, and where discipline strengthens, instead of restraining, our nature.

  Marguerite Yourcenar

  Philosophy, Moving, Destiny

  Marguerite Yourcenar (1954). “Memoirs of Hadrian”, New York, Farrar

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