#tempt

I may attempt a novel. I think that no matter what you write, it requires being honest with oneself, and you have to pull yourself out of the whirlwind of daily life. ↗

— Iris Chang

#being #being honest #daily #daily life #honest

There's every reason to believe there will be further attacks attempted against the United States. For us to spend so much time patting ourselves on the back because we got bin Laden that we miss the next attack would be a terrible tragedy. ↗

— Dick Cheney

#attack #attacks #attempted #back #because

The two most precious things this side of the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other. ↗

— Charles Caleb Colton

#deprive #grave #life #may #most

We should every night call ourselves to an account; What infirmity have I mastered today? What passions opposed? What temptation resisted? What virtue acquired? Our vices will abort of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift. ↗

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca

#temptation

The greatest temptations are not those that solicit our consent to obvious sin, but those that offer us great evils masking as the greatest goods. ↗

— Thomas Merton

#temptation #vices #temptation

I think I should learn to jump on my own soon, don't you?' 'And deprive myself of the opportunity to be near you?' His voice was husky in her ear, his breath tickling the tender skin of her neck. 'That seems foolish on my part, but if you'd like to learn, I'll teach you.' She nodded, her voice stuck in her throat. 'Very well,' he said. 'But not tonight. Tonight you'll stay with me. ↗

— Michelle Zink

#griffin #griffin-channing #helen #helen-cartwright #michelle-zink

I never resist temptation because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me. ↗

— George Bernard Shaw

#temptation

I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires, rather than in attempting to satisfy them. ↗

— John Stuart Mill

#desires #happiness #i #i have learned #learned

Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection. As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, "Well, that proves once again that I am a nobody." ... [My dark side says,] I am no good... I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected, and abandoned. Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved." Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence. ↗

— Henri J.M. Nouwen

#christianity #faith #feelings #identity #rejection

Arthur Dent: What happens if I press this button? Ford Prefect: I wouldn't- Arthur Dent: Oh. Ford Prefect: What happened? Arthur Dent: A sign lit up, saying 'Please do not press this button again. ↗

— Douglas Adams

#play