quotations about temptation
Temptation is woman's weapon and man's excuse.
H. L. MENCKEN
Mencken Chrestomathy
Often take counsel when tempted; and do not be harsh with others who are tempted, but console them as you yourself would wish to be consoled.
THOMAS A KEMPIS
The Imitation of Christ
It is not the great temptations that ruin us; it is the little ones.
JOHN W. DE FOREST
Seacliff, or The Mystery of the Westervelts
Get thee behind me, Satan.
BIBLE
Matthew 16:23
Temptations are as thick as the leaves of the forest, and no one can be out of the reach of temptation unless he is dead. The great thing is to make people intelligent enough and strong enough, not to keep away from temptation, but to resist it.
ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
"How to Reform Mankind", Works
Temptation hath a music for all ears.
NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS
"Extract"
It is a most fearful fact to think of, that in every heart there is some secret spring that would be weak at the touch of temptation, and that is liable to be assailed. Fearful, and yet salutary to think of; for the thought may serve to keep our moral nature braced. It warns us that we can never stand at ease, or lie down in this field of life, without sentinels of watchfulness and campfires of prayer.
E. H. CHAPIN
Living Words
Soul's Castle fell at one blast of temptation,
But many a worm had pierced the foundation.
WILLIAM ALLINGHAM
"Blackberries"
Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour.... If at my convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?
CHARLOTTE BRONTË
Jane Eyre
When you flee temptation be sure you don't leave a forwarding address.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself.
RITA MAE BROWN
attributed, Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing
There's a lesson in every temptation.
FRANK HERBERT
God Emperor of Dune
The man who loves and seeks the excitement of temptation, shows that he is restrained from sin by fear, and not by principle--that while his life is on the side of virtue, his affections lean to vice.
JOSIAH GILBERT HOLLAND
Gold-foil, Hammered from Popular Proverbs
Devils soonest tempt, resembling spirits of light.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Love's Labour's Lost
There are those who say that temptation can be barricaded beyond the door. The ones who think that stray desires can be driven out of the heart like the moneychangers from the temple. Maybe they can, if you patrol your weak points day and night, don't look, don't smell, don't dream.
JEANETTE WINTERSON
Written on the Body
The devil and temptations also afford us occasion to learn and understand the Scriptures, by experience and practice. Without these we should never understand them, however diligently we read and listened to them.
MARTIN LUTHER
"Of God's Word", Table Talk
Bearing up against temptations and prevailing over them, is the very thing wherein the whole life of religion consists; 'Tis the trial which God puts upon us in this world, by which we are to make evidence of our love and obedience to Him, and of our fitness to be made members of His kingdom.
SAMUEL CLARKE
attributed, Works, Containing Sermons on Several Subjects, Volume 2
So you tell yourself you are pretty fine clay
To have tricked temptation and turned it away,
But wait, my friend, for a different day;
Wait till you want to want to!
EDMUND VANCE COOKE
Desire