Passion is the cause of blindness, of not seeing, of not knowing, of loss of insight: it is joined with vexation, it does not conduce to Nibbâna.
- Anguttara Nikâya

Restraint with the eye is good,
good is restraint with the ear.
Restraint with the nose is good,
good is restraint with the tongue.
Restraint with the body is good,
good is restraint with speech.
Restraint with the heart is good,
good is restraint everywhere.
A monk everywhere restrained
is released from all suffering & stress.

- Dhammapada [25]

By day shines the sun;
by night, the moon;
in armour, the warrior;
in jhana, the Brahmin.
But all day & all night,
every day & every night,
the Awakened One shines
in splendour.

- Dhammapada [26]

All the delightful things of the world–sweet sounds, lovely forms, all the pleasant tastes and touches and thoughts–these are all agreed to bring happiness if they are not grasped and possessed.
But if you regard them merely as pleasures for your own use and satisfaction and do not see them as passing wonders, they will bring suffering.
- Sutta Nipata

“But what makes these ‘experts’ preach their opinion and call it truth?” asked the inquirer. “Is it an inheritance of humankind to do this, or is it merely something they gain satisfaction from?”

“Apart from consciousness,” answered the Buddha, “no absolute truths exist. False reasoning declares one view to be true and another view wrong. It is delight in their dearly held opinions that makes them assert that anyone who disagrees is bound to come to a bad end. But no true seeker becomes embroiled in all this. Pass by peacefully and go a stainless way, free from theories, lusts and dogmas.”

- Majjhima Nikaya

Defilements are like a cat. If you feed it, it will keep coming around. Stop feeding it, and eventually it will not bother to come around anymore.

- Ajahn Chah, “Still Forest Pool”

“Great Teacher,” said Upashiva, “when one is free from attachment and craving, when everything is let go and one depends on emptiness, will one be permanently in that state?”

“When you are free from craving for sense pleasures and when you are aware of emptiness, you are free in a supreme way and that will not change. It is like a flame struck by a gust of wind. In a flash the flame has gone out. Similarly, the person is suddenly free and no more words can be said. When all the ways of being a self are let go and when all phenomena are seen to be empty, then all the ways of describing this have also vanished.”

- Sutta Nipata

Sakuladayi the Wanderer asked the Buddha: “What is the past and what is the future?”

“Let the past be,” answered the Buddha, “and forget the future. I will teach you that which is now.”

When this condition is, that condition comes to be,
With the arising of this, that arises,
When this is not here, that does not come into existence,
With the ceasing of this, that too ceases.

- Majjhima Nikaya

Though in thought we range throughout the world,
We’ll nowhere find a thing more dear than self.
So, since others hold the self so dear,
He who loves himself should injure none.
- Samyutta Nikaya

Guard against anger
erupting in body;
in body, be restrained.
Having abandoned bodily misconduct,
live conducting yourself well in body.

Guard against anger
erupting in speech;
in speech, be restrained.
Having abandoned verbal misconduct,
live conducting yourself well in speech.

-Dhammapada [17]