60 Self-Discipline Quotes on Cultivating Self-Control

Let this list of self-discipline quotes help you manage your emotions, thoughts, and actions in the face of impulses!

In a world full of temptations, our emotions and behavior are the hardest things to manage.

It’s difficult to focus on what you need to do when all kinds of distractions are calling your name. But, having self-discipline can make it possible.

Through self-discipline, you will have the ability to persevere and stay focused through difficult times. In this way, you gain more control over yourself in certain situations.

By making a habit out of it, you’ll eventually reach success.

But, self-discipline isn’t something that comes naturally to everyone. It’s a skill you need to develop and improve.

So, to help you out, check out this collection that’ll make you learn all the tips and tricks to cultivate your self-discipline!

Start here.

And don’t forget to check out these positive quotes and success quotes.

Best Self-Discipline Quotes

1. “With this magic ingredient, you can accomplish anything and everything you want to, and it is called self-discipline.” – Brian Tracy

2. “A self-discipline is an act of cultivation. It requires you to connect today’s actions to tomorrow’s results. There’s a season for sowing, a season for reaping. Self-discipline helps you know which is which.” – Gary Ryan Blair

3. “Self-discipline is when your conscience tells you to do something, and you don’t talk back.” – W.K. Hope

4. “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves—self-discipline with all of them came first.” – Harry S. Truman

5. “By constant self-discipline and self-control you can develop greatness of character.” – Grenville Kleiser

6. “Self-discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.” – Elbert Hubbard

7. “Self-discipline is about controlling your desires and impulses while staying focused on what needs to get done to achieve your goal.” – Adam Sicinski

8. “Self-discipline is the center of all material success. You can’t win the war against the world if you can’t win the war against your own mind.” – Will Smith

9. “Self-discipline calls for a balancing of the emotions of your heart with the reasoning faculty of your head.” – Napoleon Hill

10. “Self-discipline means living your life the hard way—resisting temptations and instant gratification, in order to receive bigger and better rewards in the future.” – Martin Meadows

Famous Quotes About Self-Discipline

11. “I could only achieve success in my life through self-discipline, and I applied it until my wish and my will became one.” – Nikola Tesla

12. “I think self-discipline is something; it’s like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets.” – Daniel Goldstein

13. “Self-discipline begins with the mastery of thought. If you do not control your thoughts, you cannot control your needs.” – Napoleon Hill

14. “Self-discipline is that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another.” – Joseph Addison

15. “It’s a lot more than mind over matter. It takes relentless self-discipline to schedule suffering into your day, every day.” – David Goggins

Also read: Famous Quotes

Short Self-Discipline Quotes

16. “Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.” – Lou Holtz

17. “The only discipline that lasts is self-discipline.” – Bum Phillips

18. “With self-discipline, most anything is possible.” – Theodore Roosevelt

19. “The center of bringing any dream into fruition is self-discipline.” – Will Smith

20. “Self-discipline is a self-enlarging process.” – M. Scott Peck

21. “Self-discipline is the architect of accomplishment.” – Anonymous

22. “Self-discipline creates a brighter tomorrow.” – Anonymous

23. “If we don’t discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us.” – William Feather

24. “Self-discipline is what separates the winners and the losers.” – Thomas Peterffy

25. “All successes begin with self-discipline. It starts with you.” – Dwayne Johnson

26. “Self-discipline is the magic power that makes you virtually unstoppable.” – Dan Kennedy

27. “Simply, self-discipline enables you to think first and act afterward.” – Napoleon Hill

28. “Self-discipline is the root quality that will improve every aspect of your life.” – Jocko Willink

29. “Self-discipline is easy when you have a vision that pulls you.” – Nathan Lee Morales

Also read: Short Quotes

Self-Discipline Quotes to Live By

30. “Discipline yourself to do the things you need to do when you need to do them, and the day will come when you will be able to do the things you want to do when you want to do them.” – Zig Ziglar

31. “Waking up early maintains your self-discipline. Get up, read, work out, journal, meditate, or grind. How you start the day sets the tone.” – Genereux Philip

32. “No matter how sweet it smells, if you know it will give you discomfort later, don’t even attempt to taste it. Discipline yourself to stay out of sin!” – Israelmore Ayivor

Also read: Quotes to Live By

Self-Discipline Quotes That’ll Strengthen Your Mindset

33. “The great master key to riches is nothing more or less than the self-discipline necessary to help you take full and complete possession of your own mind.” – Napoleon Hill

34. “If I want to be great, I have to win the victory over myself—self-discipline.” – Harry S. Truman

35. “That’s why the point isn’t to become smarter but to become more self-disciplined.” – Adam Kirk Smith

36. “Whatever you abuse will return to hunt you. Cultivate the self-discipline to use everything within the environment God created them for.” – Paul Bamikole

37. “The fact is, discipline is only punishment when imposed on you by someone else. When you discipline yourself, it’s not punishment but empowerment.” – Les Brown

Self-Discipline Quotes to Show the Fruitful Results of Self-Control

38. “Having a strong sense of self-discipline helps us to avoid negativity and achieve the greatness we desire.” – Amr Okasha

39. “The more I disciplined myself to take notice of the good things in life, the more I began to recognize just how much there is to be thankful for.” – Krystal Kuehn

40. “Mastery of impulse is all about self-discipline and choice. A mind is a powerful tool with which we have the ability to be in control of ourselves.” – Alaric Hutchinson

41. “Self-discipline is the ability to organize your behavior over time in the service of specific goals.” – Nathaniel Branden

42. “Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from laziness and lethargy, freedom from the expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness, fear, and doubt. Self-discipline allows a pitcher to feel his individuality, inner strength, and talent. He is master of, rather than a slave to, his thoughts and emotions.” – Harvey Dorfman

Self-Discipline Quotes for Those Who Struggle

43. “If it were easy to walk the path of self-discipline, we wouldn’t gain much from it.” – Glenn C. Stewart

44. “What we do upon some great occasion will probably depend on what we already are, and what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline.” – Henry Liddon

45. “Overcoming the pain of self-discipline, we achieve our goals and move towards our dreams.” – Sunday Adelaja

46. “Self-discipline is often disguised as short-term pain, which often leads to long-term gains. The mistake many of us make is the need and want for short-term gains—immediate gratification, which often leads to long-term pain.” – Charles F. Glassman

Profound Self-Discipline Quotes to Shift Your Perspective

47. “If you will discipline yourself to make your mind self-sufficient, you will thereby be least vulnerable to injury from the outside.” – Plato

48. “Without self-discipline, potentials are useless, and mediocrity becomes the plague of life.” – Clement Ogedegbe

49. “A disciplined person follows values stemming from their source—the self.” – Stephen Covey

Self-Discipline Quotes From the Bible 

50. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” – James 2:10

51. “For in many things we offend all. If any man offends not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.” – James 3:2

52. “He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.” – Proverbs 18:9

53. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6

54. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” – 2 Timothy 1:7

55. “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” – Romans 8:13

56. “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” – 1 Corinthians 6:12

57. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” – 1 Peter 5:8

More Self-Discipline Quotes for Your Inquisitive Mind

58. “If the self-discipline of the free cannot match the iron discipline of the mailed fist-in economic, political, scientific and all other kinds of struggles as well as the military—then the peril to freedom will continue to rise.” – John F. Kennedy

59. “Self-discipline is the number one delineating factor between the rich, the middle class, and the poor.” – Robert Kiyosaki

60. “Self-discipline is extremely valuable, especially for entrepreneurs. If you lose everything, but you still have self-discipline remaining, you’ll get back everything you lost and multiples times more.” – Hendrith Vanlon Smith, Jr.

Do You Think That Having Self-Discipline Can Help You Achieve Success?

Self-discipline is a difficult skill to master. This is because we live in a world filled with distractions that push us to make impulsive decisions. That’s why it’s essential to make a personal commitment to discipline yourself and follow through with your goals.

Always keep in mind that self-discipline is essential for success in every aspect of life. In fact, it can help you achieve all your goals if you carefully follow your decisions and plans. But, since it’s not a natural skill we possess, we must constantly strive to improve and hone it.

To develop your self-discipline, you must train your body and mind. In this way, you can build the strength that will allow you to stay the course even when the path is hard.

At the same time, self-discipline will help you have a laser-like focus. With it, you can zoom in on the essentials and nonessentials.

Make a habit out of these practices. In time, you’ll gain the discipline that’ll help you block out all distractions keeping you from your goals!

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Karen Danao

Hi, I’m Karen, a content curator and writer for Quote Ambition; I’m also a marketing and advertising professional. Beyond the keyboard and the screen, I’m someone who’s out to enjoy every bit that life has to offer!

Poetry, philosophy, history, and movies are all topics I love writing about! However, my true passion is in traveling, photography, and finding common ground to which everyone from different cultures can relate.

With the many places I’ve been to, I found that love, inspiration, and happiness are some things that bring people together. No matter how different we are on the outside, I’m a true believer that our emotions don’t lie; if you dig deep into our psyche, we’re all the same inside.

This belief was further amplified when I joined Quote Ambition. Through the quotes I’ve read, collected, organized, and written about, I found that humans are resilient, creative, and compassionate.

We take from each others’ hearts and courage, and it’s through our individual experiences that we learn how to rise above our challenges and pain. In so many ways, Quote Ambition is a platform that allows people from all over the world to gain the inspiration they need anytime, anywhere!

You can find me on MuckRack and LinkedIn.