TEMPTATION QUOTES III
quotations about temptation
There can be no virtue without temptation; for virtue is victory over temptation.
LYMAN ABBOTT
The Theology of an Evolutionist
Satan tempts the ambitious man with a crown, the sanguine man with beauty, the covetous man with a wedge of gold; he provides savory meat, such as the sinner loves.
T. WATSON
attributed, Day's Collacon
Our nature tempts us perpetually; criminal desire is often excited; but sin is not completed till reason consents.
PASCAL
attributed, Day's Collacon
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
Mere Christianity
Every yielding to temptation is a hindrance, not a help, to moral development; but every temptation offers what, rightly employed, is an indispensable means of moral development. For all moral development is through temptation to virtue.
LYMAN ABBOTT
The Theology of an Evolutionist
Oh the remembrance of my great sins, of my great temptations, and of my great fear of perishing forever! They bring afresh into my mind the remembrance of my great help, my great supports from Heaven, and the great grace that God extended to such a wretch as I.
JOHN BUNYAN
preface, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
If you want to prevent short-term temptations from derailing important long-term goals, you can change the way you think about those temptations. Focusing on the specifics of those temptations--particularly their desirable characteristics--makes it harder to resist those temptations. Thinking about the temptations abstractly, though, makes them less likely to engage your motivation to act. And that helps you to continue to do things that will help you to achieve those long-term goals.
ART MARKMAN
"Note to Self: It Is Easiest to Avoid Abstract Temptations", Psychology Today, April 14, 2017
The most formidable attribute of temptation is its increasing power, its accelerating ratio of velocity. Every act of repetition increases power, diminishes resistance. It is like the letting out of waters--where a drop can go, a river can go. Whoever yields to temptation, subjects himself to the law of falling bodies.
HORACE MANN
Thoughts
But Satan now is wiser than of yore,
And tempts by making rich, not making poor.
ALEXANDER POPE
Moral Essays
The mother who tries to keep her child away from all temptation simply prepares the boy for a terrible fall when he gets old enough to leave the home. It is not by taking away the bonds, it is by giving strength to the man that he may break the bonds, that he is redeemed. Every man is like a Samson bound by his enemies, and he must acquire the strength within himself to break them.
LYMAN ABBOTT
The Theology of an Evolutionist
Honest bread is very well--it's the butter that makes the temptation.
DOUGLAS JERROLD
The Catspaw
The temptations are endless, and willpower can only take us so far.
OLAYINKA
"The Real Reasons You Should Stop Procrastinating", Information Nigeria, May 30, 2017
Frequent and violent temptations were a proof that the citadel of the soul had not fallen and that the devil raged to make it fall.
JAMES JOYCE
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Temptations come, as a general rule, when they are sought.
MARGARET OLIPHANT
Miss Marjoribanks
Temptation would be a lot easier to avoid if we didn't meet it in such gay company.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
Marriage is popular because it combines the maximum of temptation with the maximum of opportunity.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Maxims for Revolutionists
Ah! when in the immortal ranks enlisted,
I sometimes wonder if we shall not find
That not by deeds, but by what we've resisted,
Our places are assigned.
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX
"As By Fire"
'Tis no sin to be tempted, but to be overcome.
WILLIAM PENN
Some Fruits of Solitude
The problem with temptation is that you may not get another chance.
LAURENCE J. PETER
Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Times
He that tempted Christ will not be expected to spare men.
ST. BERNARD
attributed, Day's Collacon