Harry Bisseker Quotes

“Avoid at all times the habit of handling the organs.”

“Be careful that your bowels act regularly and thoroughly at least once a day.”

“Be careful, as far as you are able, to sleep on your side.

Lying on the back or on the stomach encourages these discharges.”

“Do not let yourself fall into a second sleep after you have been called in the morning.

Probably more than half these discharges take place after 6 and 7 A.M. and it is very frequently in the second or third 'doze' that they occur.”

“Do not take a heavy meal late at night, and avoid all intoxicating drinks.

Instead drink two goblet full of cold water upon rising and two more upon retiring.

Make these four goblet of cold water a rule of your life.”

“Go in for cold baths frequently – never less often than once a week, and preferably once a day.”

“If possible, always have a bed to yourself.

It is important, also, to sleep on a hard mattress and to make your bed-clothes as light as you possible can.

Have no counterpane or quilt on the bed.”

“If the discharges come to you too frequently, bathe the organs with cold water on rising in the morning.”

“See that your room is well ventilated. You should always sleep with your window open, winter and summer.”

“Spend at least two hours every day in the open air, taking care to get regular physical exercise of a vigorous kind.”

“There are a good many simple plans by which, the frequency of night discharges may be reduced.

One important help consists in keeping the body in as healthy a state as possible.”

“Try your utmost to keep away thoughts that are not perfectly modest.

Impure ideas are generally ready to present themselves to most boys' minds.

In whatever way the are suggested – whether by indecent pictures, 'smutty' talk, or by the boy's own imagination – the mental influence which they produce quite apart from their moral dangers, has a direct effect upon the physical formation of the s*men.

And so freedom from all questionable thoughts is likely to diminish the number of nightly discharges.”

“A continued yielding to the practice has been known to bring about distinct and grave mental unbalance.”

“A father, I say, is as a rule a boy's best confidant.”

“A more serious consequence is the weakening of the general mental force. A slave to the habit, for example begins to discover after a time that his mind has not the same grip of things as it used to have.

It is less alert. It cannot tackle hard problems with the old ease. It has taken on itself a taint of indolence, and prefers to pass over difficulties instead of grappling with them. The memory, moreover, grows uncertain and less and less tenacious.

In a word, the whole staying powers of the mind are as grievously reduced as were those of the body, and on every effort it undertakes, the brain brings to bear far les strength of application and of quiet self-control than it would otherwise have commanded.”

“A runner's pace is noticeably lessened by the habitual practice of this abuse of the body.

The same thing is true of any athlete's staying powers.

That is why before any big athletic contest a keen trainer of a team will use every means at his disposal to prevent his men from any indulgences of this sort.”

“As there is a weakening of the moral sense, so there is also a weakening of the will-power.

The plea that a boy often makes is that he does not intend to become a slave to this habit of abusing his body.

All that he intends to do is to indulge in it for a time, and then give it up once for all.

That is one of the easiest things in the world to say, but it is one of the hardest things in the world to do.”

“Boys often fall into this serious evil without knowing that it is a serious evil.

This is the complaint of hundreds of men today.

They see clearly now how injurious the habit is, and yet, when as boys they first yielded to it, they did not realise that they were doing any definite harm.”

“His chance of victory will be greatly increased if he will try to keep his mind engaged as much as possible.

If unoccupied, it will naturally turn to thoughts of the vice, and with the thoughts will come the temptation.

He should be careful therefore, while the fight is particularly hard, to be always doing something – working, playing games, reading, talking.”

“If a boy means to conquer the habit by far the most important step is that of making up his mind in real earnest that he wil do so.

If his mind is only half made up, he is almost certain to fall back.

The hold that the habit gets over its victims becomes so terribly strong that half-and-half measures are useless.”

“Indulgence in this particular habit is able to change the whole moral condition of a boy.

It is not long before he begins under this influence to lose that frankness which is one of life's greatest charms. For the victim of this sin tends to grow secretive in disposition.

Instead of looking you squarely in the face, as of old, he becomes shifty and suspicious, and no longer gives the impression of being open and candid in his dealings.

That means of course that he loses the respect and confidence of those with whom he associates, and is himself regarded with distrust and suspicion.”

“It is a curious fact, but it is a fact, that many a danger is lessened for us as soon as somebody else knows that we are threatened by it.”

“Just as the draining away of the s*men destroys the body and the brain, so also it gradually destroys the will.

Each time the habit is practiced the will is left so much weaker for future resistance.

And so it happens that, should the habit be indulged beyond a certain point, a boy loses his power of resisting it and it holds him a slave in spite of himself.”

“Let me sum up the effects of any or all of which may follow habitual indulgence in this seemingly harmless but yet fearfully dangerous practice.

The effects on the body may be a weakening physical frame, which interferes with the possession of perfect health;

a weakening of the muscular system, which will hinder the possibility of the highest athletic achievement;

and a weakening of the nervous system, which diminish the whole enjoyment of life.”

“No boy can yield to the habit of this abuse of his body without running great physical risks.

Not merely will it weaken his general condition and so hinder his athletic ambitions, but also, if carried on long enough, it will seriously affect his entire health.”

“One common result is the development of an excessive sensitiveness of mind, which reveals itself sometimes in the form of shyness and at other times in the form of an unhealthy morbidness.

The boy whose mind is affected in this manner gets into the way of shunning company. He prefers to be alone to an altogether unwholesome extent.

Such a disposition narrows down his scope of life, and has an adverse influence upon his mental health.”

“Our moral sense – that which distinguishes for us between right and wrong – is the most important of all our natural endowments.

The tendency of this habit is to destroy this altogether. You will find that any boy who is really given up to the habit grows in time either careless of or blind to moral distinctions.”

“Should you be tempted by any other boy to indulge in it, turn from him as from one who is offering you the deadliest of all deadly poisons.

For to yield to his suggestion is to poison yourself in every part of your nature.

Should you know any other fellow to be guilty of the practice, make a frank an manly attempt to save him.

For to do this might very well be to save his life in every sense of the word.”

“The effect of the habit in question upon the muscles and the staying force is such that it has ruined many a man's chance of big athletic distinction.”

“The effects on the life may be a morbid spirit of exclusiveness, which will prevent breadth of life and the highest mental health;

a weakening of brain-force, which will destroy alertness, memory, and other qualities essential to a succesful career;

and, in extreme cases, a tendency to actual disease.”