“Resisting a desire is easier than bearing what the desire brings with it.”

Ibn al-Qayyim then lists what giving in can cost, one clause at a time: a pain or a punishment; a greater pleasure it cuts off; time whose loss becomes regret; a reputation it dents; wealth it spends; standing it lowers; a blessing it strips away that was sweeter than the desire. The arithmetic is the argument: the patience you refuse now is paid back later at a worse rate.