quotations about desire
If you desire many things, many things will seem but a few.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Poor Richard's Almanack, 1736
We trifle when we assign limits to our desires, since nature has set none.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
Man's many desires are like the small metal coins he carries about in his pocket. The more he has the more they weight him down.
SATYA SAI BABA
Sai Baba: Man of Miracles
Love and Desire contended for primacy, "Without me," said Love, "was nothing created." "Nor without me," answered Desire, "was anything begotten." Then Love admitted Desire to his companionship; but, when they walk together, Love always goes first.
RICHARD GARNETT
De Flagello Myrtes
My wants are many, and, if told,
Would muster many a score;
And were each wish a mint of gold,
I still would want for more.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
The Quincy Patriot, Sep. 25, 1841
If you have desired your object only for one day, your love perhaps will not last more than three nights.
HONORÉ DE BALZAC
Physiology of Marriage
My thoughts of longing are like the smoke grass,
That grows always in profusion, winter or spring!
LI BAI
"To His Three Friends"
Desires are central to the soul's unfolding and should not be dismissed before giving them careful attention.
THOMAS MOORE
Soul Mates
Women believe -- or at least often pretend to believe -- that all our tenderness for them springs from desire; that we love them when we have not for a time enjoyed them, and dismiss them when we are sated, or to express it more precisely, exhausted. There is no truth in this idea, though it may be made to appear true. When we are rigid with desire, we are apt to pretend a great tenderness in the hope of satisfying that desire; but at no other time are we in fact so liable to treat women brutally, and so unlikely to feel any deep emotion but one.
GENE WOLFE
The Claw of the Conciliator
It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive. There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger after them. How can we ever be satisfied without them until our feelings are deadened?
GEORGE ELIOT
The Mill on the Floss
I'm touched with desire
What don't I do?
I'll throw the logs on the fire
I'll build my world around you
BOB DYLAN
"Beyond the Horizon"
Naked I seek the camp of those who desire nothing.
HORACE
Odes