Not being able to govern events, I govern myself, and apply myself to them, if they will not apply themselves to me. – Michel de Montaigne, Essays, 1588

An element of abstention, of restraint, must enter into all finer joys. – Vida D. Scudder

The first attribute that characterizes the greater man from the moron is his thicker layer of inhibition. – Martin H. Fischer (1879–1962)

The cyclone derives its powers from a calm center. So does a person. – Norman Vincent Peale