Confucius said: To restrain oneself and return to propriety is benevolence. So this self-denial means to restrain one's behavior within the scope of "propriety". So next, Confucius said, "Don't look at anything that's not ritual, don't hear anything that's not ritual, don't say anything that's not ritual, don't do anything that's not ritual." This is restraint in Confucian theory.

Restraint and temperance are both rational control of personal desires. Desire is like sea water, the more you drink, the thirstier you become. Therefore, the so-called restraint in one's behavior actually means that one must restrain one's desires, do not indulge in sexual desires, and do not do whatever one wants.

Those who hold power and occupy high positions often forget about their own conduct and use words to replace the law. Most people who become rich overnight and have a net worth of millions spend a lot of money to make a way forward. In fact, these behaviors are all about indulgence and self-destruction. A very simple truth: Human desire for food and sex can be said to be the fundamental desire. If you indulge yourself without restraint, overeat, and gluttony without restraint; if you have sex every day and have orgasms every day, I believe that it will not be necessary. How long will it take before you say goodbye to your health?

Sima Guang said that it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. He used this frugal attitude to conduct his life, and also used ancient metaphors to describe the present, and wrote a "Zi Zhi Tong Jian". In the American novel "Shogun", General Tonaga, based on Tokugawa Ieyasu, is a model of extreme restraint: every time he spends, he sets a limit in his mind, but when he tells his subordinates to execute it, But always reduce it by half - only with this kind of moderation can we finally win the battle between the shogunate, and this is also true.