the spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak

alternative the spirit is strong but the flesh is weak

1. Synonym of the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

   He made a good monk, however. Not that he is perfect. Of course, he would never go near a woman, but then, you know. . . . Oh, well, what can one do? The spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak.

   1929 September, Gleb Botkin, chapter 16, in The God Who Didn’t Laugh, New York, N.Y.: Payson & Clarke Ltd, →OCLC, pages 92–93

   2 more examples

   It should be the peculiar pleasure of each district to attend to its own battle-fields, jealous of any outside aid, other than by voluntary contributions. But if there is not enough patriotism for this in the districts—if the Whig blood has been cooled by amalgamation, or though it still may run pure and the spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak—if from any of these causes the whole or a portion of the districts fail to carry out this measure, then the State should take the matter in hand and do what the districts had failed to do.

   1858 September 11, the Lancaster Ledger, quotee, “The Battle-Fields of Our State”, in Rob[er]t A. Thompson, editor, Keowee Courier, volume X, number 8, Pickens, S.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, page [3], column 1

   The Most Significant Other travels on business from time to time, leaving me without adult supervision. The spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak and, by extension, so is the stomach. With red meat teasing and taunting at nearly every neighborhood eatery, what’s a one-time AAV meat addict supposed to do?

   2009 November 22, Sam Alcorn, “This is season for giving taste buds a workout”, in The Sunday Item, Sunbury, Pa., →OCLC, page E3, column 3

   Synonyms: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak