Top 100 Trying To Control Quotes
#1. If you're filming a scene on horseback, if you're trying to control an animal that's much larger than you and trying to get it to do the exact same thing so you can match things up, that can get tricky, especially if the horse gets tired or angry or something.
Daniel Portman
#2. Hitting bottom isn't a weekend retreat, it's not a goddamn seminar. Stop trying to control everything and just let go. Let go
Chuck Palahniuk
#3. You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control.
Elizabeth Gilbert
#4. Psychologists have shown the irony of the process of thought control: the more energy you put into trying to control your ideas and what you think about, the more your ideas end up controlling you.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
#5. Surrender is not giving up, far from it. Surrender takes an enormous amount of courage. Often we are only capable of doing so when the pain of trying to control the outcome becomes too much to bear.
Bronnie Ware
#6. Nothing is more diminishing than trying to control success or hold on to things.
Anne-Marie Duff
#7. I was trying to control myself because I wanted to just park the car and jump out and do cartwheels. The next dream is to win the world championship.
Lewis Hamilton
#8. No is a word that must never be negotiated, because the person who chooses not to hear it is trying to control you.
Gavin De Becker
#9. Today, I will let go. I will stop trying to control everything. I will stop trying to make myself be and do better, and I will let myself be.
Melody Beattie
#10. The dripping ... well, if it happens, it happens; it does not take anything from the work. The dripping just proves that you were not trying to control the work, but the work was developing by itself and if it drips, it's a natural part in the evolution of the work.
Keith Haring
#11. Risk is trying to control something you are powerless over.
Eric Clapton
#12. Trying to control the future is like trying to take the master carpenter's place. When you handle the master carpenter's tools, chances are that you'll cut your hand.
Lao-Tzu
#13. There is no amount of darkness that can extinguish the inner light. The important thing is not to spend our lives trying to control the environment around us. The task is to control the environment within us.
Joan D. Chittister
#14. She switched the headlamp on and saw bats clinging to the side of the cave inches from her face. Someone whimpered. She supposed it was her. She switched the lamp off and played out the rope, dropping more slowly, trying to control the whimpering.
Janet Evanovich
#15. For a long time now I have trusted my dreaming self as wiser than that waking self whose head is cluttered with reason and practicalities, so busy trying to control things that he sometimes forgets that the heart has reasons that reason does not know. When I dream, I never forget to trust myself.
Sheldon B. Kopp
#16. I've had a blessed life. I've pulled back from trying to control my destiny and gone back to accepting whatever fate has in store for me. I live for today because I don't know what'll happen tomorrow.
Cilla Black
#17. Superstitions are man's way of trying to control things he has no control over ...
Sarah Addison Allen
#18. My level of intervention in the press, trying to control stories, is zero. Subzero.
Benjamin Netanyahu
#19. Trying to make someone fall in love with you is about as pointless as trying to control who you fall in love with.
James Earl Jones
#20. I think sometimes what happens is that all of this feeling out of control manifests itself in trying to control your body; whether it's an eating disorder or talking about getting your nose fixed, as if that's going to be the solution to all the pressure.
Susan Sarandon
#21. She is trying to control me with fear, because she cannot control me any other way.
My eyes open wide. They burn as if they are on fire - no, as if they are made of fire. Eyes are the window to the soul.
Beth Revis
#22. Sometimes you have to stop trying to control everything and let life happen the way it's supposed to, Tess. Even if it's not exactly the way you wanted.
But what if it's not even a little like you wanted?
Then you deal with it and keep going.
Lord, Cynthia
#23. Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself.
Laozi
#24. If we can just let go and trust that things will work out they way they're supposed to, without trying to control the outcome, then we can begin to enjoy the moment more fully. The joy of the freedom it brings becomes more pleasurable than the experience itself.
Goldie Hawn
#25. If people can't control their own emotions, then they have to start trying to control other people's behavior.
Robin Skynner
#26. When work relationships are reciprocal, ethical leadership emerges for both the executive and the participant unless the executive is trying to control the participant.
Peter J. Dean
#27. Every time I start chasing my tail, and I'm trying to control all these elements of my universe, I pray, 'I'm not in control of any of this. I can just do the best I can. Please guide me. Please help me figure how I can move through this in the way You would have me.'
Cheryl Ladd
#28. When I joined the trio, it was as if I was capable of driving a sports car at 60, but Ray Brown and Oscar Peterson just kept pressing the pedal down, and I was trying to control the car at 80!
Barney Kessel
#29. Jim, because he was angry even back then and trying to control it, she felt, and Bob because his heart was big. She didn't care much for Susan. "Nobody did, far as I know," she said.
Elizabeth Strout
#30. Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power.
Epictetus
#31. I had to let go first. Trying to control the timing and outcome was a terrible waste of energy. My intentions were already out there and I had taken what action I could. My only job now was to get out of the way.
Bronnie Ware
#32. In contrast, nonattachment allows full participation in life without trying to control outcomes.
David R. Hawkins
#33. Superstition is just fantasy with attitude; it's a way of erroneously trying to control events.
Joy Browne
#34. We are all just actors trying to control and manage our public image, we act based on how others might see us.
Erving Goffman
#35. Leading people is the opposite of trying to control them; it's about gaining their trust through your integrity, developing their potential through your partnership, and motivating them through your affirmation.
Kenneth H. Blanchard
#36. Ironically, we often spend a great deal of time and effort trying to control our external conditions, while letting our internal reactions run wild.
Gyalwa Dokhampa
#37. The Bible warns [parents] against extremes in dealing with our adult children. It tells us to avoid trying to control [them] once they become adults. When children become independent, a major transition takes place: They are no longer under our authority.
Billy Graham
#38. Wisdom, health, life and love cannot be found in trying to control the wind, but rather in harnessing the wind in the sails of receptive engagement of the present moment.
Martin Laird
#39. The Universe has your back. Instead of trying to control the outcome, just enjoy the journey.
Dawn Gluskin
#40. It's quite an unfair thought that Microsoft are trying to control our gaming, they're trying to force us to be online all the time. [People] didn't really think that through.
Peter Molyneux
#41. As soon as I stopped trying to control everything that came out of my mouth and every picture that came out, that's when I became so much happier.
Kristen Stewart
#42. You can try to control people, or you can try to have a system that represents reality. I find that knowing what's really happening is more important than trying to control people.
Larry Page
#43. Today I will stop trying to control my relationships. I will participate at a reasonable level and let the other person do the same. I can let go, knowing that the relationship will find its own life-or not-and that I don't have to do all the work, only my share.
Melody Beattie
#44. Stop trying to stay safe, stop trying to control your feelings. Don't put up an umbrella, feel the rain.
Fabian Black
#45. Because that's the truth about people with obsessively organised plans: we're not trying to control everything in our lives. We're trying to block everything we can't.
Holly Smale
#46. If someone yells at me, they are not expressing love. They may be threatening me. They may be expressing great frustration with me. They may simply be trying to control my behavior. However, they are not communicating love.
Cathy Burnham Martin
#48. Learning to play with a big amplifier is like trying to control an elephant.
Ritchie Blackmore
#49. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to control something that isn't yours to control. Let go. Free yourself. Allow your mind and energy to focus on something positive ... to build something beautiful.
Steve Maraboli
#50. We live in a world that is beyond our control, and life is in a constant flux of change. So we have a decision to make: keep trying to control a storm that is not going to go away or start learning how to live within the rain.
Glenn Pemberton
#51. I was lying there trying to control the fear. I did not know much about this uremic poisoning. A woman I'd known slightly in Texas had died of it after drinking a bottle of beer ever hour, night and day, for two weeks.
William S. Burroughs
#52. However, letting yourself be driven by fear, denying the realities around you, or trying to control the unknown only undermines your confidence.
Bob Rosen
#53. Our reputations are so out of our control that it's laughable how much time and effort so many of us put into trying to "control" them.
Taite Adams
#54. most well-meaning and generous Parisians were aware, in general, of the laws restricting the lives of their Jewish cohabitants but had convinced themselves that the government was only trying to control immigration and "terrorism.
Ronald C. Rosbottom
#55. That's the truth about people with obsessively organised plans: we're not trying to control everything in our lives. We're trying to block out the things we can't.
Holly Smale
#56. Eventually I lost interest in trying to control my life, to make things happen in a way that I thought I wanted them to be. I began to practice surrendering to the universe and finding out what "it" wanted me to do.
Shakti Gawain
#57. Stop trying to control how you feel, and instead take control of what you do.
Russ Harris
#58. All forms of government ultimately are not going to succeed in trying to control or censor the Internet.
Rupert Murdoch
#59. The most basic elements of our life - our birth and our death - are out of our control. People spend a lifetime trying to control these things but it's impossible.
Darien Gee
#60. I'm still writing songs but leaving them a lot more open and not trying to control every nuance of it.
Luke Temple
#61. He's trying to control me, and he wants to use his religion to do that. Religion isn't just a power word- the word is power itself.
Scott Sigler
#62. If we really knew the God of Jesus, we would stop trying to control and manipulate others "for their own good," knowing full well that this is not how God works among His people. - The Signature of Jesus
Brennan Manning
#63. Lillian was always so good at treating everything like a test, like some kind of game where the prize was shiny and untouchable. Perfection. She wanted me to back off, butt out, stop trying to control her life. And she wanted me to save her.
Brenna Yovanoff
#64. Some humans are so consumed with trying to control the outcomes of their own lives that they don't have any idea the part they play in the outcome of someone else's.
Kate McGahan
#65. I think I just learned that God has a plan for all of us, and I work hard and do all the things I can, but at the same time, His will is perfect; and me trying to control it, it's not going to work.
Matt Holliday
#66. I'm pretty sure all the individuals trying to control other people's happiness have none in their own lives.
Sarah Liss
#67. But a lot of our thinking is caught up in dwelling on the past, trying to control the future, generating misperceptions, and worrying about what others are thinking.
Thich Nhat Hanh
#68. It is America, I don't want the government trying to control more of my life. I want less government control, and I think there are too many government regulations, laws and taxes on the books.
Trent Lott
#69. life was made up of hundreds of individual moments. We need to focus on the good ones, rather than trying to control everything continuously.
Nick M. Lloyd
#70. I have learned that trying to control other people's opinions of you is the fastest possible route to unhappiness.
Dan Pearce
#71. Educators are still spending way too much time trying to control what kids learn, bending the content to their own purposes, hoping beyond hope to change - by using technology - but not change too much.
Daniel Greenberg
#72. Being a pop-leaning, female artist, you'd think that I'd have my record company breathing down my neck and trying to control everything I'm doing. Actually, they've just kind of let me take the wheel.
Halsey
#73. It takes a special man not to feel threatened by a smart, headstrong girl like you. And it takes a generous, loving heart to want to nurture that strength, to push you outside your comfort zone, instead of tamping it down or trying to control it." Duke
Melissa Foster
#74. Identifying with the results is very dangerous, especially for those trying to control the senses or practice celibacy.
B.T. Swami
#75. The real truth that dare not speak itself is that no one is in control, absolutely no one. This stuff is ruled by the equations of dynamics and chaos. There may be entities seeking control, but to seek control is to take enormous aggravation upon yourself. It's like trying to control a dream.
Terence McKenna
#76. Be an unsinkable ship.' Basically, making yourself seaworthy is easier than trying to control the sea.
Allie Brosh
#77. whatever you come up with needs to suggest a voice that you are not trying to control. If you're lost in the forest, let the horse find the way home. You have to stop directing, because you will only get in the way.
Anne Lamott
#78. Trying to control construction costs is like trying to control the cost of a hospital stay. You may not realize that when you sneeze and the nurse hands you a box of tissues, it generates a $5 charge on your bill. But you still have to pay.
Margo Kaufman
#79. i'm not trying to control you, i'm trying to court you!
Kiersten White
#80. I think religion is often very different from spirituality. Religion is often about rules and people trying to control our lives who are actually very unspiritual ... God can be found anywhere, and in fact, everywhere. And you don
Darren Aronofsky
#81. By trying to control everything we become very neurotic, more and more desperate. It's a huge tragic thing.
Charlotte Rampling
#82. Gratitude helps us stop trying to control outcomes. It is the key that unlocks positive energy in our life. It is the alchemy that turns problems into blessings, and the unexpected into gifts.
Melody Beattie
#83. His eyes widened and he sucked in a small portion of his bottom lip as if trying to control his temper which she had no doubt was brutally savage. He didn't back off, only let out a short puff of air.
"Oh, I'm good with brats. I've broken dozens of them.
Madison Thorne Grey
#84. All human suffering is a variation on this theme - trying to control the waves, trying to control our present-moment experience so it conforms to our ideas and concepts of how it should be. If you want to suffer, compare this moment with your image of how it should be! I
Jeff Foster
#85. You enjoy things less when you are always trying to control things instead of just living.
Kaza Kingsley
#86. People believe that if you can shut your Tourette's off for a period of time, then you can always shut it off. I try to explain to people that if I spent my whole life trying to control my tics, that's all I would have time for.
Dash Mihok
#87. Sometimes he wondered if man's instincts had changed in that time and always concluded that they hadn't. At least in the basic, most primal ways. As far as he could tell, man had always been aggressive, always striving to dominate, trying to control the world and everything in it.
Nicholas Sparks
#88. Worrying meant you were trying to control something you had no business trying to control
Martha Woodroof
#89. I am tired of trying to hold things together that cannot be held. Trying to control what cannot be controlled. I am tired of denying myself what I want for fear of breaking things I cannot fix. They will break no matter what we do.
Erin Morgenstern
#90. I was also trying to control my mouth from opening and asking what was happening at the same time control my body from hurling itself in his arms.
Kristen Ashley
#91. You cultivate the subconscious by meditation, by sitting in silence and by not trying to control your thoughts. Then go someplace where you haven't been before, or go for a walk, a run, and look for signs of grace-an epiphany, something that comes to you.
Joyce Carol Oates
#92. Everyone is trying to control their own unhappiness.
Paulo Coelho
#93. An insane person is, basically, someone that isn't true to himself and lives between the reality he understands and the distorted perspective of it that he's trying to control. And the bigger this gap is, the more you can be sure to be in front of a neurotic or psychotic individual.
Daniel Marques
#94. The best managers figure out how to get great outcomes by setting the appropriate context, rather than by trying to control their people.
Reed Hastings
#95. And by letting go of trying to control the uncontrollable ... you ironically increase ... the probability of getting what you want.
Michael Neill
#96. It may seem paradoxical, but you really do experience greater happiness when you choose to stop trying to control everything. And on a spiritual level, you evolve by learning the power of surrender and of love.
Susan Barbara Apollon
#97. Can you deal with the most vital matters by letting events take their course? Can you step back from you own mind and thus understand all things? Giving birth and nourishing, having without possessing, acting with no expectations, leading and not trying to control: this is the supreme virtue.
Laozi
#98. Equanimity's strength derives from a combination of understanding and trust. It is based on understanding that the conflict and frustration we feel when we can't control the world doesn't come from our inability to do so but rather from the fact that we are trying to control the uncontrollable.
Sharon Salzberg
#99. Trying to control information in the network age is about as successful as pissing into the wind.
Keith Henson
#100. It is only cowards who reduce the tremendously valuable capacity of wondering to questions. The really brave, the courageous person, leaves it as it is. Rather than changing it into a question, he jumps into the mystery. Rather than trying to control it, he allows the mystery to possess him.
Osho
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