A little kingdom I possess, where thoughts and feelings dwell; And very hard the task I find of governing it well.
~ Louisa May Alcott

Govern thyself then you will be able to govern the world.
~ Anonymous

He that would govern others, first should be the master of himself.
~ Philip Massinger

He who cannot obey himself will be commanded. That is the nature of living creatures.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.
~ Confucius

He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.
~ Lao-Tzu

He who reins within himself and rules passions, desires, and fears is more than a king
~ John Milton

I am always with myself and it is I who am my tormentor.
~ Count Leo Tolstoy

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.
~ Aristotle

Not to have control over the senses is like sailing in a rudderless ship, bound to break to pieces on coming in contact with the very first rock.
~ Mahatma Gandhi

O, it is excellent to have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.
~ William Shakespeare

Prudent, cautious self-control, is wisdom's root.
~ Robert Burns

Seek always for the answer within. Be not influenced by those around you, by their thoughts or their words
~ Eileen Caddy

Self-disciplined begins with the mastery of your thoughts. If you don't control what you think, you can't control what you do. Simply, self-discipline enables you to think first and act afterward.
~ Napoleon Hill

Such power there is in clear-eyed self-restraint.
~ James Russell Lowell

The best time for you to hold your tongue is the time you feel you must say something or bust.
~ Josh Billings

The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.
~ Charles Darwin

To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves.
~ Virginia Woolf

We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win.
~ Edward Gibbon

When the fight begins within himself, a man's worth something.
~ Robert Browning