Temptation Quotes

• Temptation is like a knife, that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man; it may be his food or his poison, his exercise or his destruction

  John Owen

  Cutting, Exercise, Men

  John Owen, Rev Terry Kulakowski, Editor “Overcoming Temptation and Sin”, Lulu.com

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• Knowledge of God's Word is a bulwark against deception, temptation, accusation, even persecution.

  Edwin Louis Cole

  God, Hype, Deception

  55 Copy quote

• Do not worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older it will avoid you.

  Joey Adams

  Funny, Life, Birthday

  Joey Adams (1981). “Strictly for laughs”, A & W Publishers, Inc.

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• By persistently remaining single a man converts himself into a permanent public temptation.

  Oscar Wilde

  Anniversary, Single, Funny Valentines Day

  Oscar Wilde (2012). “The Wit and Humor of Oscar Wilde”, p.32, Courier Corporation

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• It's all right letting yourself go, as long as you can get yourself back.

  Mick Jagger

  Inspirational, Motivational, Letting Go

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Do not grieve over the temptations you suffer. When the Lord intends to bestow a particular virtue on us, He often permits us first to be tempted by the opposite vice. Therefore, look upon every temptation as an invitation to grow in a particular virtue and a promise by God that you will be successful, if only you stand fast.

  Philip Neri

  Successful, Grieving, Opposites

  131 Copy quote

• A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is... A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.

  C. S. Lewis

  Motivational, Strong, Lying

  62 Copy quote

• I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.

  Mae West

  Motivational, Tattoo, Sexy

  My Little Chickadee (motion picture) (1940) See Balzac 1; Clementina Graham 1; Wilde 25; Wilde 53

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• The biggest human temptation is... to settle for too little.

  Thomas Merton

  Wisdom, Simple Life, Littles

  Forbes, August 4, 1980.

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• 'Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall.

  William Shakespeare

  Fall, Tempted, One Thing

  William Shakespeare (2014). “The Arden Dictionary Of Shakespeare Quotations”, p.280, A&C Black

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• When tempted to be unfaithful, the intellectual woman will try to inspire her husband with indifference, the sentimental woman with hatred, and the passionate woman with disgust.

  Honore de Balzac

  Husband, Hatred, Inspire

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• One learns more metaphysics from a single temptation than from all the philosophers.

  James Russell Lowell

  Philosopher, Metaphysics

  James Russell Lowell (1864). “Fireside Travels”, p.119

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• Love cries victory when the tears of a woman become the sole defence of her virtue.

  Jean de La Fontaine

  Victory, Tears, Cry

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• How many perils doe enfold The righteous man to make him daily fall.

  Edmund Spenser

  Fall, Men, Righteous Man

  Edmund Spenser (1805). “The Works of Edmund Spenser ...”, p.37

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• Who ever lives looking for pleasure only, his senses uncontrolled, immoderate in his enjoyments, idle and weak, the tempter will certainly overcome him, as the wind blows down a weak tree.

  Gautama Buddha

  Blow, Wind, Tree

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• An honest heart is not to be trusted with itself in bad company.

  Samuel Richardson

  Heart, Honest, Bad Company

  Samuel Richardson (1856). “Virtue rewarded: in a series of letters, from a beautiful young lady to her parents. A narrative”, p.94

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• An acknowledged love sanctifies every little freedom; and little freedoms beget great ones.

  Samuel Richardson

  Littles, Sanctify, Begets

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• When a man resists sin on human motive only, he will not hold out long.

  Daniel H. Wilson

  Men, Long, Sin

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• When tempted, the shortest and surest way is to act like a little child at the breast; when we show it a frightful monster, it shrinks back and buries its face in its mother's bosom, that it may no longer behold it.

  Francois Fenelon

  Mother, Children, Monsters

  Francois Fenelon (2014). “Spiritual Progress”, p.51, Lulu.com

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• The temptation is not here, where you are reading about it or praying about it. It is down in your shop, among bales and boxes, ten-penny nails, and sand-paper.

  Edwin Hubbel Chapin

  Reading, Pennies, Nails

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• For years my wedding ring has done its job. It has led me not into temptation. It has reminded my husband numerous times at parties that it's time to go home. It has been a source of relief to a dinner companion. It has been a status symbol in the maternity ward.

  Erma Bombeck

  Inspirational, Funny, Marriage

  17 Copy quote

• There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.

  Mark Twain

  Fear, Halloween, Coward

  Following the Equator (1897) ch. 36

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• Ever notice that the whisper of temptation can be heard farther than the loudest call to duty.

  Earl Wilson

  Duty, Heard, Temptation Life

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• About the only time losing is more fun than winning is when you're fighting temptation.

  Tom Wilson

  Love, Fun, Sunset

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• Temptations, when we meet them at first, are as the lion that reared upon Samson; but if we overcome them, the next time we see them we shall find a nest of honey within them.

  John Bunyan

  Prayer, Overcoming, Lions

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