"The self is the friend of a man who masters himself through the self, but for a man without self-mastery, the self is like an enemy at war."
The Bhagavad Giga, India, Circa A.D. First Century

"We mean the ability to keep one's head at times of exceptional stress and violent emotion...But it might be closer to the truth to assume that the faculty known as self-control-the gift of keeping calm even under the greatest stress-is rooted in temperament. It is itself an emotion which serves to balance the passionate feelings in strong characters without destroying them, and it is this balance alone that assures the dominance of intellect. The counter-weight we mean is simply the sense of human dignity, the noblest pride and deepest need of all: the urge to act rationally at all times. Therefore we would argue that a strong character is one that will not be unbalanced by the most powerful emotions."
On War, Carl Von Clausewitz, 1780-1831

"We often make the mistake of actively opposing a tendency or party or age because we happen to have seen only its external side, its deliquescense or the 'faults of its virtues' nescessarily adhering to it-perhaps because we ourselves have participated in them to a marked degree. Then we turn our backs on them and go off in an opposite direction; but it would be better if we sought out their good and strong side instead or evolved and developed it in our self. It requires, to be sure, a more penetrating eye and a more favorable inclination to advance what is imperfect and evolving than to see through it in its imperfection and deny it."
Human, All Too Human, Friedrich Nietzsche, 1878

"When a man has learned within his heart what fear and trembling mean, he is safe-guarded against any terror produced by outside influences. Let the thunder roll and spread terror a hundred miles around: he remains so composed and reverent in spirit that the sacrificial rite is not interrupted. This is the spirit that must animate leaders and rulers of men- a profound inner seriousness from which all outer terrors glance off harmlessly."
The 1 Ching , China, Circa Eighth Century B.C.