quotations about abstinence
To set the mind above the appetites is the end of abstinence, which one of the fathers observes to be, not a virtue, but the groundwork of a virtue.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
The Idler, April 14, 1759
Self denial is not a virtue: it is only the effect of prudence on rascality.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
"Maxims for Revolutionists", Man and Superman
Thou shalt abstain, renounce, refrain.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE
Faust
Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
Johnsoniana
Sometimes, being told not to do something just makes us want it all the more. Sometimes, a little of what you crave is better than total abstinence.
JOANNE HARRIS
The Strawberry Thief
They tried to put a face on creation
They invented a morality crutch
To hide us from our own nature
One of virulence and futility
Through abstinence and humility
How dare they hide the truth
CATTLE DECAPITATION
"The Earthling", Humanure
Neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.
VOLTAIRE
Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme
The practice of self-denial, or the forbearance of lawful pleasures, has been considered by almost every nation, from the remotest ages, as the highest exaltation of human virtue; and all have agreed to pay respect and veneration to those who abstained from the delights of life, even when they did not censure those who enjoy them.
SAMUEL JOHNSON
The Idler, April 14, 1759
Abstinence would seldom be required if intemperance did not exist.
FRANKHUM
attributed, Day's Collacon
I smell the fear that rains inside
The thought of children who must oblige
To tainted dreams and polluted seas
The missing moon and melting trees
A mist of doom and clouds of pain
A toxic waste and an acid rain
The passing of our ignorance
A lifetime spent in abstinence
LENNY KRAVITZ
"Fear"
Abstinence is just depressing; to be celibate, I don't think that's natural. And then being with men--again--depressing. I mean, they're good for friends, or pets, but not for partners.
RACHEL MURR
Unnatural
Abstinence is the elder and better daughter of temperance.
STOBAEUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
Oh, my rank ink instrument
Row my boat towards abstinence
With thoughts as long as cigarettes
Snowed in lips and cross protect
Oh, that birdlike appetite
Do passive fasts make us contrite?
On silken highways of the night
The spiders crawl my candlelight
JETS TO BRAZIL
"Psalm"
Your forest needs fire
Your abstinence needs desire
Your rubber neck needs barbed wire
THE GHOST
"Banished and Loving It"
Abstinence is perfectly reasonable in theory ... it just doesn't work in practice. It's like dieting. You can go a day or two, maybe even a week. But eventually that pizza just smells too good.
TOM PERROTTA
The Abstinence Teacher
Just think of all those women on the Titanic who said, "No, thank you" to dessert that night. And for what?!
ERMA BOMBECK
Woman's Day, Nov. 13, 2007
Refin'd himself to Soul, to curb the Sense;
And made almost a Sin of Abstinence.
JOHN DRYDEN
The Character of a Good Parson
Pleasure is a sin
And Abstinence shall win this day
And that's the way it's gonna stay
Black Parisian lace
Your salvation--my disgrace
My God where did you go wrong?
THE DIVINE COMEDY
"Three Sisters", Liberation
Refrain tonight,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Hamlet
All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
JESUS
Matthew 19:11-12