Sunday, February 19, 2006

Self Mastery


"I am the captain of my soul.I am the master of my fate."-- William Hanley

David O. McKay urged us to remember that “the greatest battle of life is fought out within the silent chambers of your own soul”

The Greek philosopher Epectitus also declared that “No man is free who is not master of himself.” This again is plain because he who does not control his impulses, emotions and desires permits himself to be their slave by following them at every turn. A slave, as we know, is one without freedom but does the bidding of his master to satisfy the latter’s every whim which usually leads to destruction and death.

Spencer W. Kimball quoted an unknown author as follows: “The height of a man’s success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. … He who cannot establish a dominion over himself will have no dominion over others. He who masters himself shall be king”

Plato said: “The first and best victory is to conquer self; to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile.”

Leonardo da Vinci once said: “You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself.” Then he goes on to say that “the height of a man’s success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment