Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.
~ St. Augustine

Renouncement: the heroism of mediocrity.
~ Natalie Clifford Barney

With renunciation life begins.
~ Amelia E. Barr

Abstainer. A weak man who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.
~ Ambrose Bierce

The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up.
~ Dorothy Day

Subdue your appetites, my dears, and you've conquered human nature .
~ Charles Dickens

Renunciation remains sorrow, though a sorrow borne willingly.
~ George Eliot

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.
~ Epictetus

Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water.
~ W. C. Fields

Abstaining is favorable both to the head and the pocket.
~ Horace Greeley

Always rise from the table with an appetite, and you will never sit down without one.
~ William Penn

The only way for a rich man to be healthy is by exercise and abstinence, to live as if he were poor.
~ Sir William Temple

Self-denial is the shining sore on the leprous body of Christianity.
~ Oscar Wilde