What is Discipline and Why it is Important
I like this definition of discipline from the Cambridge Dictionary the most. They define discipline as – the ability to control yourself or other people, even in difficult situations.
In this article, I’m talking about self-discipline and most of the quotes cover self-discipline as well.
So why is discipline and self-discipline in particular so important? It is a vital part of achieving any goals we have set up. This blog wouldn’t happen if I didn’t have the discipline to research and write articles on a daily basis.
Your health, diet or fitness goals would be just a hang in there poster on the wall if you didn’t actually put in the work. Without discipline, kids all over the world are turning into spoiled brats with a sense of entitlement.
Read on to see what the leading minds had to say about discipline and why it is so important.
Discipline Quotes 1-10
“Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel
“The notion of freedom proclaimed by the modern world is anti-discipline. But true freedom cannot be separated from discipline.”
― Matthew Kelly
“True freedom is impossible without a mind made free by discipline.”
― Mortimer J. Adler
Discipline Quotes
“We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause.”
― Steven Pressfield
“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.”
― David Foster Wallace
“One painful duty fulfilled makes the next plainer and easier.”
― Helen Keller
“Self-control is the chief element in self-respect, and self-respect is the chief element in courage.”
― Thucydides
“Why is discipline important? Discipline teaches us to operate by principle rather than desire. Saying no to our impulses (even the ones that are not inherently sinful) puts us in control of our appetites rather than vice versa. It deposes our lust and permits truth, virtue, and integrity to rule our minds instead.”
― John MacArthur Jr.
“Our greatest glory is not in falling, but rising each time we fall. ”
― Rocky Balboa
“You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself… the height of a man’s success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. …And this law is the expression of eternal justice. He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others.”
― Leonardo da Vinci
Related post Superhuman Jocko Willink Quotes
Discipline Quotes 11-20
“Always Remember to take your Vitamins: Take your Vitamin A for Action, Vitamin B for Belief, Vitamin C for Confidence, Vitamin D for Discipline, Vitamin E for Enthusiasm!!”
― Pablo
“What you keep before your eyes will affect you.”
― Joel Osteen
“The problem with patience and discipline is that it requires both of them to develop each of them.”
― Thomas M. Sterner
Discipline Quotes
“Self-discipline is the ability to organize your behavior over time in the service of specific goals.”
― Nathaniel Branden
“The real liberation dwells in the discipline.”
― Neeraj Agnihotri
“Whether our action is wholesome or unwholesome depends on whether that action or deed arises from a disciplined or undisciplined state of mind. It is felt that a disciplined mind leads to happiness and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering, and in fact it is said that bringing about discipline within one’s mind is the essence of the Buddha’s teaching.”
― Dalai Lama XIV
“Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it.”
― Thomas Jefferson
“True discipline is really just self-remembering; no forcing or fighting is necessary.”
― Charles Eisenstein
“When an individual is motivated by great and powerful convictions of truth, then he disciplines himself, not because of the demands of the church, but because of the knowledge within his heart”
― Gordon B. Hinckley
“Tough love may be tough to give, but it is a necessity of life and assurance of positive growth.”
― T.F. Hodge
Discipline Quotes 21-30
“Good habits are worth being fanatical about.”
― John Irving
“Have your dream…What you need now more than anything is discipline. Cast off mere words. Words turn into stone.”
― Haruki Murakami
“Those who have nothing have only their discipline.”
― Alain Badiou
Discipline Quotes
“Discipline is a symbol of caring for a child. He needs guidance. If there is love, there is no such thing as being too tough with a child. A parent must also not be afraid to hang himself. If you have never been hated by your child, you have never been a parent.”
― Bette Davis
“The most powerful control we can ever attain, is to be in control of ourselves.”
― Chris Page
“Whoever submits himself to a super-discipline can expect great triumphs.”
― Samael Aun Weor
“Discipline isn’t a dirty word. Far from it. Discipline is the one thing that separates us from chaos and anarchy. Discipline implies timing. It’s the precursor to good behavior, and it never comes from bad behavior. People who associate discipline with punishment are wrong: with discipline, punishment is unnecessary.”
― Buck Brannaman
“A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.”
― Dalai Lama XIV
“Discipline imposed from the outside eventually defeats when it is not matched by desire from within.”
― Dawson Trotman
“We need patient people who are able to endure the toughest disciplines.”
― Samael Aun Weor
Discipline Quotes 31-40
“Men need discipline! Countries need discipline! The world needs discipline! He who wants to be successful needs discipline! Be a man of discipline!”
― Mehmet Murat Ildan
“Don’t let your mind control you. Control your mind.”
― Jocko Willink
“Accept hardship as a necessary discipline.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita
Discipline Quotes
“But good shooting made a warrior; discipline, a soldier.”
― Paul Krueger
“Mind your discipline to read, read to discipline your mind.”
― Mark Hanson
“The sweet of success comes after the sweat of discipline.”
― Vincent Okay Nwachukwu
“For every disciplined effort, there is multiple rewards.”
― Jim Rohn
“Discipline stays beyond the exemption; otherwise, it loses and damages its credibility, accuracy, and definition.”
― Ehsan Sehgal
“You got to do the work no one else is willing to do, in order to get the kind of success most people only dream about having.”
― Jeanette Coron
“Only the disciplined ones are free in life”
― Eliud Kipchoge
Discipline Quotes 41-50
“It’s been said that there are only two pains in life, the pain of discipline or the pain of regret, and that discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”
― Anthony Robbins
“Decisions help us start. Discipline helps us finish.”
― John C. Maxwell
“Trams and disciplined people always reach their destinations!”
― Mehmet Murat Ildan
Discipline Quotes
“Discipline not just determines success but determines how long you can stay successful.”
― C Muthu Palaniappan
“Although discipline demands control and asceticism, it actually results in freedom. When you have the discipline to get up early, you are rewarded with more free time.”
― Jocko Willink
“You are stopping you, you are giving up instead of getting hard.”
― David Goggins
“Starting is not most people’s problem, staying, continuing and finishing is.”
― Darren Hardy
“Ultimately, it is through short-term victories that we achieve our long-term goals.”
― Ernest Cadorin
“Your thoughts are powerful and hold the power of life and death. Your thoughts trigger your emotions. Learn to tame your thoughts…do not let your thoughts tame you. Learn to tame your emotions…do not let your emotions tame you”
― Kemi Sogunle
“Sometimes you have to do things you don’t like or want to do, in order to be the best you can be, do the things you were destined to do and to fulfill your Destiny.”
― Jeanette Coron
Related post Superhuman Jocko Willink Quotes
Discipline Quotes 51-60
“We are creatures of habit, and leveraging our habitual tendencies is one of the best ways to develop discipline.”
― Ernest Cadorin
“A Kung Fu Master is a Practitioner of Martial Arts Who Keeps Practicing.”
― Kailin Gow
“Some people plan on being disciplined as soon as they achieve something that cannot be achieved without discipline.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Discipline Quotes
“When circumstances demand that we do something that is not natural to our temperament or talents, we must sometimes intentionally choose by discipline what we inherently lack by nature.”
― Jamie Arpin-Ricci
“A person either disciplines his finances or his finances disciplines him.”
― Orrin Woodward
“In any organization, someone must be the boss. If it’s even just one person, you’ve got to be the boss of yourself.”
― Malcolm X
“Inspiration works if you work.”
― Amit Kalantri
“Discipline is not about rules. It’s about respect. Respect for yourself and others.”
― Janna Cachola
“The foundation of a strong self comes from small acts of daily discipline.”
― Ophelia Filek
“Sometimes you have to go through temporary discomfort and make temporary sacrifices; in order to get long term success and comfort.”
― Jeanette Coron
Discipline Quotes 61-70
“Discipline without direction is drudgery.”
― Donald S. Whitney
“Discipline yourself before you discipline others.”
― Ibn Jeem
“Bravery comes along as a gradual accumulation of discipline”
― Buzz Aldrin
Discipline Quotes
“I have come to realize that discipline is not about rules. Discipline is about respect.”
― Janna Cachola
“Discipline is the great equalizer. If a young woman is beautiful but has no discipline, she will lose her looks as she grows older. If a plain woman is disciplined she will undoubtedly become more beautiful with time.”
― Sophia Loren
“Don’t join the queue of ignorant people who do not know that their time flies away into vanity daily. Don’t be a part of the lazy lot who cannot discipline themselves in solitude to convert their time into products or added value.”
― Sunday Adelaja
“Life demands discipline in order to succeed in it.”
― ANIKOR Daniel
“Make yourself a slave to good habits”
― Dan John
“Discipline is the thing that makes you do what you might not want to, but you do it anyway because it’s what you have to do in order to get what you want or desire.”
― Kyle Vidrine
“Embrace who you are and your divine purpose. Identify the barriers in your life, and develop discipline, courage and the strength to permanently move beyond them, and keep moving forward.”
― Germany Kent
Discipline Quotes 71-80
“Self-discipline is the mother of success”
― Topsy Gift
“Passion is a Horse Given to Us to Discipline.”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor
“It is one thing to praise discipline, and another to submit to it.”
― Miguel De Cervantes
Discipline Quotes
“Don’t let the things of the world distract you. Focus on your purpose”
― Sunday Adelaja
“Greatness can only be procured with the currency of time and discipline”
― Topsy Gift
“Creativity without discipline will struggle, creativity with discipline will succeed.”
― Amit Kalantri
“The only difference between where you are and where you want to be is the number of steps you haven’t taken yet.”
― Hayley Solich
“Discipline sets you free.”
― Pravin Agarwal
“Discipline yourself to do what is necessary or you won’t acquire the necessary…”
― Stephen Magnus
“There is no shortcut for hard work that leads to effectiveness. You must stay disciplined because most of the work is behind the scenes.”
― Germany Kent
Discipline Quotes 81-90
“If we don’t discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us.”
― William Feather
“Discipline must be without control, without suppression, without any form of fear… It is not discipline first and then freedom; freedom is at the very beginning, not at the end.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti
“If you haven’t arrived yet, keep driving, your destiny is waiting for you.”
Discipline Quotes
― Rob Liano
“With discipline, you can lose weight, you can excel in work, you can win the war.”
― Amit Kalantri
“With practice, you build the road to accomplish your goals. Excellence lives in attention to detail. Give your all, all the time. Don’t save anything for the walk home.”
― Ethan Hawke
“Success and discipline are synonymous in life – you can’t have one without the other!”
― Bobby F. Kimbrough, Jr.
“Discipline is to present us before grace, it does not produce grace to make sense.”
― Richard J. Foster
“The discipline of focus that is necessary to think profoundly is certainly difficult for many people to achieve.”
― Pearl Zhu
“Discipline is critical to proper preparation.”
― Ken Marlin
“The true extent of one’s discipline is revealed when motivation runs out”
― Elias Tan JS
Discipline Quotes 91-100
“Oddly, with discipline, structure, and order, you will find freedom, anything is possible. Without it, locating your saddle may take all morning.”
― Ethan Hawke
“Do first what you don’t want to do most.”
― Clifford Cohen
“Be creative while inventing ideas, but be disciplined while implementing them.”
― Amit Kalantri
Discipline Quotes
“Ability is of no value without discipline. Winning has no style or substance without humility.”
― Andrew Critchley
“Don’t be quick to leave the class of discipline; you shall only live to remember the last lesson.”
― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah
“Don’t expect to be motivated every day to get out there and make things happen. You won’t be. Don’t count on motivation. Count on Discipline.”
― Jocko Willink
“If you have control over yourself, you have no desire to control others.”
― Miya Yamanouchi
“Discipline is for professionals. Motivation is for amateurs.”
― J. R. Rim
“I made the exhilarating discovery that study, when it is pursued with ardor and discipline, becomes creation.”
― W. K. Hancock
“A practice of giving [it] your best, means you don’t just have to hope for it.”
― T. F. Hodge
Discipline Quotes 101-110
“Self-discipline is about disciplined thoughts.”
― Pearl Zhu
“Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do something you don’t necessarily want to do, to get a result you would really like to have.”
― Andy Andrews
“Even if you can’t perform at a high level, showing up and doing something is still a thousand times better than not showing up at all.”
― Jocko Willink
Discipline Quotes
“Once you bid farewell to discipline you say goodbye to success”
― Alex Ferguson
“Don’t let your imperfections conveniently excuse you from having discipline. Have the courage to work through your imperfections.”
― Matthew Donnelly
“Desires must be fuelled with discipline”
― Henrietta Newton Martin
“Learn to work on your work.”
― David Bayles and Ted Orland
“Awards and ceremonies are all an applause of discipline.”
― Sunday Adelaja
“Discipline is a bridge built through everyday action.”
― J. R. Rim
“It takes self-discipline and persistence action to achieve the goal.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita
