4 Maccabees 1:30

30 For reason is the guide of the virtues, but over the emotions it is sovereign. Observe now first of all that rational judgment is sovereign over the emotions by virtue of the restraining power of self-control.

4 Maccabees 1:30 In-Context

28 Just as pleasure and pain are two plants growing from the body and the soul, so there are many offshoots of these plants,
29 each of which the master cultivator, reason, weeds and prunes and ties up and waters and thoroughly irrigates, and so tames the jungle of habits and emotions.
30 For reason is the guide of the virtues, but over the emotions it is sovereign. Observe now first of all that rational judgment is sovereign over the emotions by virtue of the restraining power of self-control.
31 Self-control, then, is dominance over the desires.
32 Some desires are mental, others are physical, and reason obviously rules over both.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.