Quotes about Control

He possessed the power to depart, as much as a cat possesses the power to leave a mouse half killed, or a bird half eaten.

I'll not do anything, though you should swear your tongue out, except what I please!

What are we to do, then? To make the best of what lies within our power, and deal with everything else as it comes. 'How does it come, then?' As God wills.

If a person gave your body to any stranger he met on his way, you would certainly be angry. And do you feel no shame in handing over your own mind to be confused and mystified by anyone who happens to verbally attack you?

And the way to be free is to let go of anything that is not within your control.

On the occasion of every accident (event) that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.

Philosophy does not claim to secure for us anything outside our control. Otherwise it would be taking on matters that do not concern it. For as wood is the material of the carpenter, and marble that of the sculptor, so the subject matter of the art of life is the life of the self.

First to those universal principles I have spoken of: these you must keep at command, and without them neither sleep nor rise, drink nor eat nor deal with men: the principle that no one can control another's will, and that the will alone is the sphere of good and evil.

Do your best to rein in your desire. For if you desire something that isn't within your own control, disappointment will surely follow; meanwhile, you will be neglecting the very things that are within your control that are worthy of desire.

Can we avoid people? How is that possible? And if we associate with them, can we change them? Who gives us that power?

Let man be pleased with whatever has pleased God; let him marvel at himself and his own resources for this very reason, that he cannot be overcome, that he has the very powers of evil subject to his control, and that he brings into subjection chance and pain and wrong by means of that strongest of powers — reason. Love reason! The love of reason will arm you against the greatest hardships.

End the habit of despising things that are not within your power