Abstaining Quotes

• All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

  Epictetus

  Philosophy, Lying, Reality

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• Total abstinence is so excellent a thing that it cannot be carried to too great an extent. In my passion for it I even carry it so far as to totally abstain from total abstinence itself.

  Mark Twain

  Passion, Abstinence, Excellent

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• Abstaining is favorable both to the head and the pocket.

  W. C. Fields

  Pockets, Abstinence

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• Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Motivational, Drinking, Beer

  The Devil's Dictionary

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• Virtue consists, not in abstaining from vice, but in not desiring it.

  George Bernard Shaw

  Life, Vices, Virtue

  George Bernard Shaw (2015). “The Collected Works of George Bernard Shaw: Plays, Novels, Articles, Letters and Essays: Pygmalion, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Candida, Arms and The Man, Man and Superman, Caesar and Cleopatra, Androcles And The Lion, The New York Times Articles on War, Memories of Oscar Wilde and more”, p.4489, e-artnow

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• Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war, but on the love of peace. It will not be the abstaining from an act, but the coming of a state of mind.

  Herman Wouk

  War, Mind, States

  Herman Wouk (1986). “Winds of War”, Pocket

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• If there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their beloved, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this.

  Plato

  Army, Fighting, Cities

  Plato (2016). “Symposium”, p.38, Lulu.com

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• I'm abstaining from romance and the discussion of romance.

  Lauren Mayberry

  Romance, Discussion

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• We think of prices as simply the notation of how much we must pay for things. But the price system accomplishes far more than that. Hundreds of millions of people buying and selling, and abstaining from buying and selling, generate a system of signals - prices to producers and consumers about relative scarcities and demand. Through this system, consumers can convey to producers their subjective priorities and entrepreneurs can invest accordingly.

  Sheldon Richman

  Thinking, People, Entrepreneur

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• It was palpable, all that wanting: Mother wanting something more, Dad wanting something more, everyone wanting something more. This wasn't going to do for us fifties girls; we were going to have to change the equation even if it meant . . . abstaining from motherhood, because clearly that was where Mother got caught.

  Anne Taylor Fleming

  Girl, Mother, Dad

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• Science has long been in the value business. Despite a widespread belief to the contrary, scientific validity is not the result of scientists abstaining from making value judgments; rather, scientific validity is the result of scientists making their best efforts to value principles of reasoning that link their beliefs to reality, through reliable chains of evidence and argument.

  Sam Harris

  Reality, Objectivity, Best Effort

  "The Moral Landscape". Book by Sam Harris, 2010.

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• I'm the worst ad anyone could possibly be for abstaining from anything.

  Matt Roper

  Worst, Ads

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• Peace, if it ever exists, will not be based on the fear of war, but on the love of peace. It will not be the abstaining from an act, but the coming of a state of mind. In this sense the most insignificant writer can serve peace, where the most powerful tribunals can do nothing.

  Julien Benda

  Powerful, War, Mind

  Julien Benda (2011). “The Treason of the Intellectuals”, p.184, Transaction Publishers

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• Plato says that the punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is, to live under the government of worse men; and the like regret is suggested to all the auditors, as the penalty of abstaining to speak,--that they shall hear worse orators than themselves.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Wise, Regret, Plato

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1870). “Society and Solitude: Twelve Chapters”, p.56, London S. Low, Son & Marston 1870.

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• There are many eyes that can detect and honor the prudent and household virtues; there are many that can discern Genius on his starry track, though the mob is incapable; but when that love which is all-suffering, all-abstaining, all-aspiring, which has vowed to itself, that it will be a wretch and also a fool in this world, sooner than soil its white hands by any compliances, comes into our streets and houses,--only the pure and aspiring can know its face, and the only compliment they can pay it, is to own it.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Jesus, Eye, Hands

  Ralph Waldo Emerson (2012). “Nature and Other Essays”, p.60, Courier Corporation

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• Give a child the habit of sacredly regarding the truth - of carefully respecting the property of others - of scrupulously abstaining from all acts of improvidence which can involve him in distress, and he will just as likely think of rushing into the element in which he cannot breathe, as of lying or cheating or stealing.

  Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux

  Cheating, Children, Lying

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers" by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, (p. 295), 1895.

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• Abstaining so as really to enjoy, is the epicurism, the very perfection, of reason.

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau

  Perfection, Abstinence, Reason

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• To be disciplined does not mean being silent, abstaining, or doing only what one thinks one may undertake without risk; it is not the art of eluding responsibility; it means acting in compliance with orders received, and therefore finding in one's own mind, by effort and reflection, the possibility to carry out such orders. It also means finding in one's own will the energy to face the risks involved in execution.

  Ferdinand Foch

  Art, Mean, Responsibility

  "Precepts and Judgments". Book by Ferdinand Foch, 1919.

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• By abstaining from all definite content, whether as formal logic and theory of science or as the legend of Being beyond all beings, philosophy declared its bankruptcy regarding concrete social goals.

  Theodor Adorno

  Philosophy, Goal, Legends

  Theodor W. Adorno (2012). “Critical Models: Interventions and Catchwords”, p.6, Columbia University Press

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• An artist needs knowledge and the power of observation only so that he can tell from what he is abstaining, and to be sure that his abstention will not appear artificial or false.

  Andrei Tarkovsky

  Artist, Needs, Observation

  "Time Within Time: The Diaries 1970-1986". Book by Andrei Tarkovsky, 1989.

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• As for drugs, it annoys me that people think it`s the worst thing in the world compared with, say, not paying your taxes. If you don`t pay tax, you may be stealing from someone who needs an operation. As for me and drugs or alcohol: No thanks, I`m abstaining for a while.

  Lily Allen

  Thinking, People, Alcohol

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• Jesus isn't coming for a church that's gritting her teeth, struggling to stay free from sin, secretly wishing she could indulge in a little immorality but abstaining because of being afraid of getting caught. No, Jesus is coming for a church passionately and utterly devoted to Him-one that is free on the inside.

  Mike Bickle

  Jesus, Motivation, Struggle

  Mike Bickle (1993). “Passion for Jesus”, Charisma House

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• Paraphrased: The way of al-Junayd includes among other things abstaining constantly from resisting God Most High in whatever happens to one, whether good or bad. . . .

  Ibn Ata Allah

  Als, Way, Whatever Happens

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• Temperance referred not abstaining, but going the right length and no further...of course it may be the duty of a particular Christian, or any Christian, at a particular time, to abstain from strong drink, either because he is the sort of man who cannot drink at all without drinking too much, or because he wants to give the money to the poor, or because he is with people who are inclined to drunkenness and must not encourage them by drinking himself. But the whole point he is abstaining, for a good reason, from something he does not condemn and which he likes to see other people enjoying.

  C. S. Lewis

  Christian, Strong, Drinking

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• Virtue is not to be considered in the light of mere innocence, or abstaining from harm; but as the exertion of our faculties in doing good.

  Joseph Butler

  Light, Innocence, Action

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