1.
Prophet Muhammad -
“The man I most emulate is a Muslim unencumbered; a man of small family, and little money, a performer of prayers and a perfect worshipper of God in private, one who is unknown, and hath enough to supply his wants, and when he dieth, he will leave few women to cry for him, and few legacies.”
2.
Prophet Muhammad -
“Torment not yourselves, lest God punish you.”
3.
Prophet Muhammad -
“Kill not your hearts with excess of eating and drinking.”
4.
William Shakespeare -
“Refrain tonight, and that shall lend a hand of easiness to the next abstinence; the next more easy; for use can almost change the stamp of nature, and either curb the devil, or throw him out with wondrous potency.”
5.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca -
“The whole duty of man is embraced in the two principles of abstinence and patience: temperance in prosperity, and patient courage in adversity.”
6.
Dr. Samuel Johnson -
“To set the mind above the appetites is the end of abstinence, which if not a virtue, is the groundwork of a virtue.”
7.
Robert Herrick -
“Against diseases the strongest fence is the defensive virtue, abstinence.”
8.
Epictetus -
“All philosophy lies in two words, 'sustain' and 'abstain.'”
9.
George Eliot -
“Abstinence is whereby a man refraineth from anything which he may lawfully claim.”
10.
Ambrose Gwinett Bierce -
“ABSTAINER, n. A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure. A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others.”
11.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux -
“If the appetite alone hath sinned, let it alone fast, and it sufficeth. But if the other members also have sinned, why should they not fast, too.... Let the eye fast from strange sights and from every wantonness, so that that which roamed in freedom in fault-doing may, abundantly humbled, be checked by penitence. Let the ear, blameably eager to listen, fast from tales and rumors, and from whatsoever is of idle import, and tendeth least to salvation. Let the tongue fast from slanders and murmurings, and from useless, vain, and scurrilous words, and sometimes also, in the seriousness of silence, even from things which may seem of essential import. Let the hand abstain from ... all toils which are not imperatively necessary. But also let the soul herself abstain from all evils and from acting out her own will. For without such abstinence the other things find no favor with the Lord.”
12.
Saint Augustine of Hippo -
“To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.”
13.
Francois Voltaire -
“Use, do not abuse; nether abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.”
14.
Robert Herrick -
“Against diseases here the strongest fence, Is the defensive virtue, abstinence.”
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