Quotes about Discipline

When I first began spending daily time in prayer, I often grew frustrated at how I could forget about God's presence by lunchtime, even after praying for an hour in the morning. Shorter but more frequent times of prayer may actually help us to live with an increasing awareness of God's presence in our lives. How difficult would it be for us to set aside five minutes in the morning, five minutes at noon, and five minutes before or after dinnertime to meet God in prayer?

I may not receive any new insights and God may not feel particularly close. This has taught me that the demand for spiritual experience can be as gluttonous as the desire for food, money, or sex. Desire for spiritual highs needs to be contained so that we can develop other parts of our being.

Honesty demands directness: God has to discipline us to transform us.

Christian marriage is marked by discipline and self-denial... "Christianity does not therefore depreciate marriage; it sanctifies it."

What if exercise and discipline in eating isn't as much about physical health as about honoring the God who made us?

A captivated heart, a bridled tongue, a limited curiosity, and a slow reentry after prayer are necessary disciplines of simplicity.

Ascetics are "strict" only because they want to reserve a major portion of their lives for their passionate pursuit of God.

Successful people are simply those with success habits.

We must, nevertheless, always work at it, because not to advance in the spiritual life is to go back.

I made this my business as much all the day long as at the appointed times of prayer; for at all times, every hour, every minute, even in the height of my business, I drove away from my mind everything that was capable of interrupting my thought of GOD. Such has been my common practice ever since I entered in religion; and, though I have done it very imperfectly, yet I have found great advantages by it.

Take things as they are. Punch when you have to punch. Kick when you have to kick.

Art calls for complete mastery of techniques, developed by reflection within the soul.