A monk should surely love his books with humility, wishing their good and not the glory of his own curiosity; but what the temptation of adultery is for laymen and the yearning for riches is for secular ecclesiastics, the seduction of knowledge is for monks.
Temptation Quotes (274 Quotes)
To evade such temptations is the first duty of the poet. For as the ear is the antechamber to the soul, poetry can adulterate and destroy more surely then lust or gunpowder. The poet's, then, is the highest office of all. His words reach where others fall short. A silly song of Shakespeare's has done more for the poor and the wicked than all the preachers and philanthropists in the world.
I fell victim to the temptation of every autobiographer, to the illusion that since the past exists only in one's memories and the words which strive vainly to encapsulate them, it is possible to create past events simply by saying they occurred.
Where was the Jew in him? You couldn't find it and yet you knew it was there. Where was the irrationality in him? Where was the crybaby in him? Where were the wayward temptations? No guile. No artifice. No mischief. All that he had eliminated to achieve his perfection. No striving, no ambivalence, no doubleness- just the style, the natural physical refinement of a star.
You must talk to me, Caravaggio. Or am I just a book? Something to be read, some creature to be tempted out of a loch and shot full of morphine, full of corridors, lies, loose vegetation, pockets of stones.
The silence was always the greates temptation.
Knowing was a temptation. What you don't know won't tempt you.
I think sometimes there might be an advantage in making people aware how worn and stale these old transgressions are. It might take some of the shine off them for those who are tempted.
But if you happen to be a man, sometime in the future, and you've made it this far, please remember: you will never be subject to the temptation or feeling you must forgive, a man, as a woman. It's difficult to resist, believe me. But remember that forgiveness too is a power. To beg for it is a power, and to withhold or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest.
The temptation was great to muster what force we could and put up a fight. It's the easiest way out, and the most satisfactory to self-respect--but, nearly invariably, the stupidest.
I felt an unrelenting restlessness. It was the first time I had ever experienced jealousy, and that emotion clung to my skin day and night like a dark stain, a contamination I could not shed; it became so unbearable that when finally I rid myself of it, I was freed forever of the desire to possess another person or the temptation ever to belong to anyone.
Power was my weakness and my temptation.
I couldn't resist the temptation to tease Pyle - it is, after all, the weapon of weakness and I was weak.
But I ask again, are there many like Thee? And could thou believe for one moment that men, too, could face such a temptation? Is the nature of men such, that they can reject miracles and at the great moments of their life, the moments of their deepest, most agonizing spiritual difficulties, cling only to the free verdict of their heart? ... and thou didst hope that man, following Thee, would cling to god and not ask for a miracle.
The very good people did not convince me; I felt they'd never been tempted. But you knew; you understood; you felt the world outside tugging at one with all its golden hands - and you hated the things it asked of one; you hated happiness bought by disloyalty and cruelty and indifference. That was what I'd never known before - and it's better than anything I've known.
When you handle books all day long, every new one is a friend and a temptation.
Which is better? - To have surrendered to temptation; listened to passion; made no painful effort - no struggled; - but to have sunk down in the silken snare; fallen asleep on the flower covering it; wakened in a southern clime, amongst the luxuries of a pleasure villa: to have been now living in France, Mr. Rochester's mistress; delirious with his love half my time - for he would - oh, yes, he would have love me well for a while.
Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. ... We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means-the only complete realist.
If you could see into my past just by touching my back, you'd have a hard time resisting the temptation too.
Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.
People can so easily be tempted by slackness... and by money.
One thing that characterizes Harriet is that she is extremely diligent. She's going to be prepared. The temptation will be great for some to try to match wits with her on constitutional issues. There's some danger that senators might demonstrate not her lack of knowledge, but their own.
To exchange principles for popularity might be a temptation. It's at the core of populism. We must offer something else.
If we entertain temptations, soon they begin entertaining us.
It is like a temptation to eat ice cream instead of something that is better for you.
Let a man be but in earnest in praying against a temptation as the tempter is in pressing it, and he needs not proceed by a surer measure.
The temptations are great to simply retreat to the domain of private life and give up on our public problems.
ASPERSE, v.t. Maliciously to ascribe to another vicious actions which one has not had the temptation and opportunity to commit.
All men are tempted. There is no man that lives that can't be broken down, provided it is the right temptation, put in the right spot.
Both sides succumbed to the temptation to attribute to oneself only glory and to accuse one's political rival of all sins, both unintentional and fictitious,
Obviously, there's the temptation to sit back and smile, ... But there's so much at stake, we have to do our due diligence.
... I have been with you at all seasons, Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
I think the advice to any investor is try to block out as much macro noise as you can but resist the temptation to think this is a market bottom -- it's a lottery ticket.
Those who made and endorsed our Constitution knew man's nature, and it is to their ideas, rather than to the temptations of utopia, that we must ask that our judges adhere.
Although I am deeply grateful to a great many people, I forgo the temptation of naming them for fear that I might slight any by omission.
You're not perceived as a person, you're perceived as a commodity, so absolutely there are temptations, because people are wanting to be close to a perception of power and fame, so women will be trying to seduce your husband, and men will be trying to seduce your wife.
If there is a need, I will intervene. I truly hope the truck drivers will overcome the temptation to use the technical ability to clog up the country's arteries.
Nothing is easier than the expenditure of public money. It doesn't appear to belong to anyone. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody.
Pay attention to the voice within.... Sometimes the voice of your conscience gets drowned out by crowd noise or by the pep rally of temptations. And your mind may put some selfish spin on the ball, rationalizing that it's okay to veer away from the ethical route. When we run into conflicts between ethical 'shoulds' and our selfish 'wants,' we all argure out ways to con our conscience. But take pains to listen, because it has your best interests at heart.
I will ever be grateful for the wise counsel of a strong and inspired father when he taught, 'If you always say no to the first temptation, you will not have to worry if you will be able to say no to the second one.'
Those that can will do so, either officially -- as Saudi Arabia has -- or unofficially, simply because of the temptation of higher prices,
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
I counsel you, in the words of Jesus Christ, to 'watch and pray I always lest ye enter into temptation for Satan desireth to have you, that he may sift you as wheat' (3 Nephi 1818). If you will earnestly seek guidance from your Heavenly Father, morning and evening, you will be given the strength to shun any temptation.
Sound principles will not justify our taxing the industry of our fellow citizens to accumulate treasure for wars to happen we know not when, and which might not perhaps happen but from the temptations offered by that treasure
Its a sign of troubled times when the concept of pressure becomes an acceptable excuse for ethical shortcuts and moral shortcomings. Pressures are just temptations in disguise and its never been acceptable to give in to temptation. Ethics is about the way things ought to be, not about the way things are. When it comes to ethics, motive is very important. A person of character does the right thing for the right reason. Compliance is about what we must do ethics is about what we should do. Ethical people often do more than the law requires and less than it allows. The area of discretion between the legal must and the moral should tests our character. Noble talk and framed ethics statements are no substitute for principled conduct. The test is doing the right thing.
The temptation is too great for Hollywood to resist.
One time, ... I was doing 'Studs Place,' my early TV show, and I'm supposed to be quitting cigars and I'm yearning for a smoke and I quote from the 'Odyssey.' I say, I am Ulysses passing the Isle of Circe. Meaning I got these temptations. Truck drivers called in and said they liked the classical reference.
Victorious living does not mean freedom from temptation, nor does it mean freedom from mistakes.
This would go a long way to deter any kind of temptation to fraud.
The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little.