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Desire Quotes

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Desire Quotes

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.”

Source: Wit and Wisdom of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle: Being a Treasury of Thousands of Glorious, Inspiring and Imperishable Thoughts, Views and Observations of the Three Great Greek Philosophers, Classified Under about Four Hundred Subjects for Comparative Study

“Provide yourself with such work for your hands as can be done, if possible, both during the day and at night, so that you are not a burden to anyone, and indeed can give to others, as St. Paul the Apostle advises (cf. I Thess. 2:9; Eph. 4:28). In this manner you will overcome the demon of listlessness and drive away all the desires suggested by the enemy; for the demon of listlessness takes advantage of idleness. 'Every idle man is full of desires' (Prov. 13:4 LXX).”

Ifs Men Giving Done Hands Christian Desire Night Enemy Advantage Overcoming Burden Demon Orthodox Idle Idleness Advise Apostles Orthodox Christian Cfs Apostle Paul

Author:Evagrius Ponticus

“Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments; any enlargement of wishes is therefore equally destructive to happiness with the diminution of possession, and he that teaches another to long for what he never shall obtain is no less an enemy to his quiet than if he had robbed him of part of his patrimony”

Source: Works: With an Essay on His Life and Genius

“I don't think you see your minds. I think you see your thoughts; you see your desires; you see your relatives, friends, lovers, enemies. I don't think you see your mind. You think of the mind as the clutter.”

Thinking Mind Desire Enemy Ignorance Lovers Clutter

Author:Frederick Lenz

“A man makes inferiors his superiors by heat; self control is the rule. Anger is an uncontrollable feeling that betrays what you are when you are not yourself. Anger is that powerful internal force that blows out the light of reason. Know this to be the enemy: it is anger, born of desire.”

Knows Men Self Reason Feelings Light Desire Force Born Powerful Enemy Anger Blow Superiors Heat Internals Betray Self Control Inferiors Uncontrollable

Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Demons frighten us because we set ourselves up to be frightened. We are overly attached to our reputations and possessions. When we love and desire what we should be rejecting, we are in conflict with our true selves. That's when the negative energies catch us and use our weapons against us. Instead of taking up what we have to defend ourselves, we put our swords in the hands of our enemies and make them attack us.”

Should Self Use Hands Desire Energy Enemy Conflict Weapons Negative Possession Reputation Demon Attachment Frightened True Self Rejecting Negative Energy

Author:Teresa Giudice

“The shadow is not a problem to be solved or an enemy to be conquered, but a fertile field to be cultivated. When we dig our hands into its rich soil we will discover the potent seeds of the people we most desire to be.”

People Problem Hands Desire Enemy Rich Fields Shadow Seeds Soil Fertile

Book:The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self

Source: The Shadow Effect: Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self

“It is an approved maxim in war, never to do what the enemy wishes you to do, for this reason alone, that he desires it.”

War Reason Desire Wish Enemy Maxims Wish You Approved My Wish

Book:Napoleon's Military Maxims

Source: Napoleon's Military Maxims

“Virtue is the habit of acting according to wisdom. GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ, "Felicity", Leibniz: Political Writings Virtue is harder to be got than knowledge of the world; and, if lost in a young man, is seldom recovered. JOHN LOCKE, Some Thoughts Concerning Education However wicked men may be, they do not dare openly to appear the enemies of virtue, and when they desire to persecute her they either pretend to believe her false or attribute crimes to her.”

“All who are not lunatics are agreed about certain things. That it is better to be alive than dead, better to be adequately fed than starved, better to be free than a slave. Many people desire those things only for themselves and their friends; they are quite content that their enemies should suffer. These people can only be refuted by science: Humankind has become so much one family that we cannot ensure our own prosperity except by ensuring that of everyone else. If you wish to be happy yourself, you must resign yourself to seeing others also happy.”

People Ifs Should Desire Certain Suffering Wish Enemy Alive Seeing Slave Prosperity Feds Humankind

Author:Bertrand Russell

“However wicked men may be, they do not dare openly to appear the enemies of virtue, and when they desire to persecute her they either pretend to believe her false or attribute crimes to her.”

Men Believe May Desire Enemy Virtue Crime Dare Wicked Attributes Wicked Man

Author:Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“How much reverence has a noble man for his enemies!--and such reverence is a bridge to love.--For he desires his enemy for himself, as his mark of distinction; he can endure no other enemy than one in whom there is nothing to despise and very much to honor! In contrast to this, picture "the enemy" as the man of ressentiment conceives him--and here precisely is his deed, his creation: he has conceived "the evil enemy," "the Evil One," and this in fact is his basic concept, from which he then evolves, as an afterthought and pendant, a "good one"--himself!”

Men Facts Desire Evil Enemy Creation He Man Honor Concepts Mark Endure Deeds Noble Evolve Bridges Distinction Despise Reverence Contrast Afterthought Noble Man Pendants

Book:Basic Writings of Nietzsche

Source: Basic Writings of Nietzsche

“To demand of strength that it should not express itself as strength, that it should not be a desire to overcome, a desire to throw down, a desire to become master, a thirst for enemies and resistances and triumphs, is just as absurd as to demand of weakness that it should express itself as strength.”

Should Desire Enemy Masters Demand Weakness Overcoming Resistance Absurd Triumph Thirst

Book:On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo

Source: On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo

“Man's desire for the approval of his fellows is so strong, his dread of their censure so violent, that he himself has brought his enemy (conscience) within his gates; and it keeps watch over him, vigilant always in the interests of its master to crush any half-formed desire to break away from the herd.”

Men Desire Strong Interest Half Enemy Watches Break Masters Conscience Fellows Violent Crush Gates Approval Dread Herds Vigilant Censure

Author:W. Somerset Maugham

“Allah said, 'A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.'”

World Said Desire Enemy Land This World Killing Driven Violent Prophet Goods Manifest Collecting Muhammad Slaughter Captives Ransom

Author:Ibn Ishaq

“Three enemies that will weaken your ministry over time: Self-indulgence, bitterness, and carelessness. Strong people discipline their desires, restrain their reactions, and keep their commitments.”

People Self Desire Three Strong Enemy Discipline Commitment Reactions Bitterness Ministry Indulgence Carelessness Self Indulgence Strong People

Author:Rick Warren

“Those desiring to escape from suffering hasten right toward suffering. With the very desire for happiness, out of delusion they destroy their own happiness as if it were an enemy”

Ifs Desire Suffering Enemy Delusion

Author:Shantideva

“No sincere desire of doing good need make an enemy of a single human being; that philanthropy has surely a flaw in it which cannot sympathize with the oppressor equally as with the oppressed.”

Needs Humans Desire Human Beings Enemy Flaws Sincere Philanthropy Oppressed Doing Good Benevolence Oppressors

Book:Poems

Source: Poems

“When it comes time to protecting the homeland, the United States of America must be right 100 percent of the time. And the enemy, which desires to strike us again, only has to be right once.”

States America Desire United Enemy United States Percent Strikes United States Of America Homeland

Author:George W. Bush

“When we seek reconciliation with our enemies, it is commonly out of a desire to better our own condition, a being harassed and tired out with a state of war, and a fear of some ill accident which we are willing to prevent.”

War States Desire Enemy Conditions Willing Tired Ill Accidents Reconciliation

Author:Francois de La Rochefoucauld