#temptation

People couldn't become truly holy, he said, unless they also had the opportunity to be definitively wicked. ↗

— Terry Pratchett

#good-and-evil #temptation #wickedness #opportunity

Loyalty was a great thing, but no lieutenants should be forced to choose between their leader and a circus with elephants ↗

— Neil Gaiman

#loyalty #temptation #temptation

Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection. Success, popularity, and power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success, popularity, and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however, is self-rejection. As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone, or abandoned, I find myself thinking, "Well, that proves once again that I am a nobody." ... [My dark side says,] I am no good... I deserve to be pushed aside, forgotten, rejected, and abandoned. Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the "Beloved." Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence. ↗

— Henri J.M. Nouwen

#christianity #faith #feelings #identity #rejection

My head spins as I glance away, refusing to get sucked back into his gaze when so much is at risk. ↗

— Emily Giffin

#love

Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself. ↗

— Rita Mae Brown

#i #i can #into #lead #me

It may almost be a question whether such wisdom as many of us have in our mature years has not come from the dying out of the power of temptation, rather than as the results of thought and resolution. ↗

— Anthony Trollope

#come #dying #many #mature #may

Whether something is old-fashioned or not doesn't resolve the question of whether it's true or not. I can see the temptation of simply thinking, 'Well, there's a cultural mainstream which flows neatly in one direction. You just align with it'. And that really won't do. ↗

— Rowan Williams

#cultural #direction #flows #i #i can

Ever notice that the whisper of temptation can be heard farther than the loudest call to duty. ↗

— Earl Wilson

#duty #ever #farther #heard #loudest

There are numerous bugbears in the profession of a politician. First, ordinary life suffers. Second, there are many temptations to ruin you and those around you. And I suppose third, and this is rarely discussed, people at the top generally have no friends. ↗

— Boris Yeltsin

#discussed #first #friends #generally #i

I try to avoid the temptation with time as a total indicator for what my possibilities are for the marathon. It's the not the best indicator, but it's more how you feel, how you cover the distance and how you are able to do the training afterward. ↗

— Ryan Hall

#avoid #best #cover #distance #feel