Quote Atlassourced quotes & context
Source identified
The governing of our temper is truly the business of our whole lives.
Read & copy the quotation
“The governing of our temper is truly the business of our whole lives.”

Mary Wollstonecraft

Download image (JPG)

Source
Thoughts on the Education of Daughters
Date
1787
Meaning

Meaning of “The governing of our temper is truly the…”

Emotional self-command is not a childhood lesson completed once; it remains a lifelong practice because new circumstances continually test established habits.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787), “The TEMPER,” printed page 62, Project Gutenberg #67466. Wollstonecraft calls governing the temper the business of the whole life while discussing habits of self-command and conduct; the passage is moral-educational argument rather than clinical emotion-regulation advice.

Primary / edition source ↗

Customize your imageTen designs · Square or portrait · Preview and share
Themes

Ideas connected with this quotation

AngerCalmConsistencyDiscipline Quotes About Habits, Practice & ConsistencyGrowthHabitsInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityLifeLife AdviceMotivation For LifePatiencePeacePersonal GrowthResponsibilitySelf-Control Quotes About Restraint & JudgmentShortCharacterControl
Related quotations

Continue through nearby ideas

Source identified
Generally then if you would make anything a habit, do it.
Read & copy

“Generally then if you would make anything a habit, do it.”

Epictetus · Discourses of Epictetus · c. 125 CE
Meaning & context

Repeated behavior trains the corresponding habit, so change depends on practicing the desired action rather than merely endorsing it in theory.

Source details

Discourses of Epictetus, Book II, Chapter XVIII, “How we should struggle against appearances,” George Long translation; 1877 George Bell & Sons witness on Wikisource, cross-checked against Project Gutenberg #10661. This collection lightly normalizes Long’s “any thing” to “anything”; this longer record contains the shorter retained habit excerpt represented by a separate legacy quote URL.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.
Read & copy

“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.”

Proverbs · King James Bible — Proverbs 6:6 · 1611
Meaning & context

The proverb uses the ant as an example of self-directed preparation, turning observation of repeated practical behavior into a lesson about disciplined habits.

Source details

Proverbs 6:6 in the King James Version; the following verses describe the ant preparing food without an overseer.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
For of course rashness is the note of youth, prudence of old age.
Read & copy

“For of course rashness is the note of youth, prudence of old age.”

Cicero · Cato on Old Age · 44 BCE
Voice: Dialogue speaker · Marcus Cato (Cato the Elder)
Meaning & context

The contrast assigns different characteristic strengths to stages of life, valuing experience for the restraint and judgment it can develop.

Source details

Cato on Old Age, Shuckburgh translation.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
Get into the habit of being orderly and neat.
Read & copy

“Get into the habit of being orderly and neat.”

Booker T. Washington · Character Building · 1902
Meaning & context

Order is treated as trainable behavior that reduces avoidable friction and supports reliability in work, study, and shared environments.

Source details

Character Building, “Some Great Little Things,” Project Gutenberg #60484. Washington tells students to make order and neatness habitual in crowded rooms, immediately before his advice to work and close doors quietly.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
Time is what we want most, but what, alas! we use worst;
Read & copy

“Time is what we want most, but what, alas! we use worst;”

William Penn · Some Fruits of Solitude · 1693
Meaning & context

Penn argues that time is indispensable yet commonly spent carelessly, making attention to its use a central responsibility in the conduct of life.

Source details

Some Fruits of Solitude, Preface, reviewed against the Oxford Text Archive transcription of the licensed 1693 edition. Penn says time is what people want most but use worst and immediately frames stewardship of time in explicitly religious accountability to God, neighbour and self; it remains Quaker conduct-of-life reflection rather than productivity research.

↓ Download image (JPG)

Source identified
The more the habit of thrift is practised, the easier it becomes.
Read & copy

“The more the habit of thrift is practised, the easier it becomes.”

Samuel Smiles · Thrift · 1875
Meaning & context

Repeated practice lowers the effort required for prudent behavior, illustrating how a difficult choice can gradually become an established habit.

Source details

Thrift, Chapter II, “Habits of Thrift,” Project Gutenberg #14418. The sentence completes Smiles’s practical paragraph on forming habits of economy: repeated thrift becomes easier and eventually compensates the self-denial it initially requires.

↓ Download image (JPG)