What Shaw Says

Abstinence

Self-denial is not a virtue: it is only the effect of prudence on rascality.

George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Anglo-Irish playwright, critic. Man and Superman, “Maxims for Revolutionists: Virtues and Vices” (1903).

See also:

Alcohol: Abstinence
Asceticism
Blake on Lust
Hugo on Saints