Kofi Annan Quotes

Sometimes I walk into a situation and I know somebody is going to provoke me - not maybe, I know he will provoke me - I know he will provoke me! And there are times when I simply refuse to be provoked. And the other times you have to use that superior knowledge to carry on at work without distraction, and don't allow yourself to be distracted.

The trick is to learn to contain one's ego, not conceal it.

It takes courage to realize that you are greater than your moods, greater than your thoughts, and that you can control your moods and thoughts.

I don't want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.

Emotional self-control is the result of hard work, not an inherent skill.

I don't like to show my emotions at the board, not because they might give something away to an opponent, but because that's my style: I like to keep it to myself.

The control and understanding of our personal fears is one of the most important undertakings of our lives.

You have to fight the green monster with your mind, not your fists.

I really explored self-awareness and emotions through 'Green Lantern.' It might sound goofy, but I do believe that emotions have power. We're all driven by something, and most of that is emotional reaction. For me, it was about recognizing my self-awareness.

The literature of the inner life is very largely a record of struggle with the inordinate passions of the social self.

It takes so much strength to say to your ego, 'You know what? You're going to keep me lonely, so I have to ignore you.'

I've learned in my life that I have to focus on the things that I can control and what I can control is what comes out of my mouth and how I respond to people.

The essential idea of Stoicism in my interpretation is, you don't control the world around you, you control how you respond. At 19, that's very empowering.

I have to say that to myself a lot - to be patient.

On those days when you don't want to get up, I think, I'm going to get through my entire practice without saying how tired I am or I try not to complain just because I was in a bad mood when I woke up. Even if it's not perfect and I slip up, I can catch myself and make myself of aware of where my mental space is at and move on.

That has always been my character - on the pitch I have a strong temperament, but off the pitch I'm more serene, reflective. I manage to separate out those two things.

Discipline yourself. Be conscious of what you think, and what you like. What gets you mad? What gets you in your feelings? Figure that stuff out and take control of it so nobody else can control you.

I will not try to escape fights if someone tries to poke or trigger me.

Do not call up any that you can not put down.

Everybody gets jolted. You, me, before we die we’ll all get nailed, lots of times. But that doesn’t mean we’ll get turned into witches. You can’t avoid getting zapped, but you can avoid passing the mean energy on. That’s the interesting thing about witches, the challenge of them-- learning not to hit back, or hit somebody else, when they zap you. You can bury the zap, for instance, like the gods buried the Titans in the center of the earth. Or you can be like a river when a forest fire hits it--phshhhhhhhhhhhh! Just drown it, drown all the heat and let it wash away.

All mental discipline and symmetrical growth are from activity of the mind under the yoke of the will or personal power.

Restraint never ruins one's health. What ruins it,is not restraint but outward suppression. A really self-restrained person grows every day from strength to strength and from peace to more peace. The very first step in self-restraint is the restraint of thoughts.

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: ‘To rise above little things’.

Character isn't inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action. If one lets fear or hate or anger take possession of the mind, they become self-forged chains.

When we are foolish, we want to conquer the world. When we are wise, we want to conquer ourselves. That begins when we do what we should no matter how we feel about it.