Quotessence
Home / Topics / Desire Quotes

Desire Quotes

Browse 12306 quotes about Desire.

Related topics

IfsMenPeopleWantWorldThinkingKnowsHeartWayNeedsGivingHumansMindMayShouldFeelsDoeSoulMeanPersonsBelieveDreamWishWellsSelfLongArtPassionFirstsActionTryingFeelingsMomentsWritingChildrenReasonStrongBodyInspirationalKindStillsMadeEnoughHas BeensLooksEndsLittlesRealIdeasSpiritLifeStatesHelpingPleasureTwoSpiritualAmbitionObjectsSufferingSeemsFactsFormRealityGoalMatterDifferentWholeNaturalPrayerLoveAchieveFireJoyOrderSometimesUseForceLongingYearsEmotionLove IsCertainCausesChristianEarthPurposeAbilityHandsLyingAblePainChristIndividualMovingTurnsWantedInterestLife IsSecretMightmore

Desire Quotes

“Adam Smith was not a big fan of the pursuit of fame and fortune. His view of what we truly want, of what really makes us happy, cuts to the core of things. It takes him only twelve words to get to the heart of the matter: Man naturally desires, not only to be loved, but to be lovely.”

MenWantHeartMatterBigsDesireViewsCuttingFansFameFortuneCorePursuitLovelyAdamTwelve
Book:How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness
Create image

“Just as the good actor perform well whatever role the poet assigns, so too must the good man perform whatever Fortune assigns. For she, says Bion, just like a poet, sometimes assigns the leading role, sometimes that of the supporting role; sometimes that of a king, sometimes that of a beggar. Do not, therefore, being a supporting actor, desire the role of the lead.”

MenWellsSometimesDesireActorsRolesPoetKingsFortuneGood ManBeggarGood ActorsSupporting RolesSupporting Actors
Author:Bion of Borysthenes
Create image

“My third maxim was to try always to conquer myself rather than fortune, and to change my desires rather than the order of the world, and generally to accustom myself to believing that there is nothing entirely in our power except our thoughts, so that after we have done our best regarding things external to us, everything in which we do not succeed is for us absolutely impossible.”

WorldTryingBelieveDoneDesireOrderChangePowerImpossibleSucceedThirdsFortuneConquerOur ThoughtsMaxims
Author:Rene Descartes
Create image

“If thy desire to raise thy fortunes encourage thy delights to the casts of fortune, be wise betimes, lest thou repent too late; what thou gettest, thou gainest by abused providence; what thou losest, thou losest by abused patience; what thou winnest is prodigally spent; what thou losest is prodigally lost; it is an evil trade that prodigally drives; and a bad voyage where the pilot is blind.”

IfsDesireEvilLostWiseLateRaisesBlindTradeFortuneCastsDelightToo LateGamblingPilotsProvidenceRepentVoyagesBeing Wise
Book:Enchiridon: containing institutions divine, moral
Create image

“[Gambling] is a perfidious passion. ... It is bad for one to win, and bad not to win. ... it ends by setting your blood on fire, and to increase your chances of winning at any cost, your stakes increase frightfully; the desire of winning gets to be a madness. The soul gets sick; it neither sees nor hears anything. No family ties, position, nor fortune, can stand against this passion.”

SoulEndsDesirePassionWinningChanceFireBloodPositionCostSickIncreaseMadnessFortuneSettingSettingsTiesGamblingStakesFamily Ties
Author:Matilde Serao
Create image

“One starts gambling for a joke, out of curiosity, as a little challenge to fortune. One goes on, pricked to the quick by delusions, excited by vague desires that grow. Woe to you if you win anything - an AMBO, a small TERNO! It is all up with you, for your chance of winning seems certain. ... It is the devil's money going back to hell.”

IfsLittlesSeemsDesireCertainWinningGrowsChallengesChanceHellGoes OnJokesDevilFortuneCuriosityExcitedDelusionGamblingVagueWoe
Book:The Land of Cockayne (Matilde Serao) (Literary Thoughts Edition)
Create image

“But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burthens, of political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of discord; nor can it reasonably be presumed that the restoration of British freedom was exempt from tumult and faction. The pre-eminence of birth and fortune must have been frequently violated by bold and popular citizens; and the haughty nobles, who complained that they were become the subjects of their own servants, would sometimes regret the reign of an arbitrary monarch.”

Has BeensSometimesPoliticalDesireHistorySubjectsRegretSourceBirthCitizensAdvantageFortuneBritishServantPerpetualReignArbitraryRestorationEscapingRoman EmpireFactionsMonarchsDiscordObtainingTumultEminenceHaughty
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Create image

“When the desire of wealth is taking hold of the heart, let us look round and see how it operates upon than whose industry or fortune has obtained it. When we find them oppressed with their own abundance, luxurious without pleasure, idle without ease, impatient and querulous in themselves, and despised or hated by the rest of mankind, we shall soon be convinced that if the real wants of our condition are satisfied, there remains little to be sought with solicitude or desired with eagerness.”

IfsWantLooksHeartLittlesRealDesireWealthPleasureConditionsMankindIndustryRemainsFortuneRoundsConvincedSatisfiedEaseHatedAbundanceIdleOppressedImpatientDespisedEagernessLuxuriousSolicitude
Author:Samuel Johnson
Create image

“All I desire is, that my poverty may not be a burden to myself, or make me so to others; and that is the best state of fortune that is neither directly necessitous nor far from it. A mediocrity of fortune, with gentleness of mind, will preserve us from fear or envy; which is a desirable condition; for no man wants power to do mischief.”

MenWantMindMayStatesDesirePovertyConditionsFortuneBurdenEnvyPreservesMediocrityDesirableGentlenessMischief
Author:Seneca the Younger
Create image