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We like the politicians have become the slaves of our own desires. We have forgotten that we can be more than that. That there are other sides to human nature. Adam Curtis, The Century of the Self IV: Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering, BBC 2002
Ever let the fancy roam,
Pleasure never is at home. John Keats, Fancy, 1820
O sweet Fancy! let her loose;
Summer’s joys are spoilt by use. ibid.
The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way. Robert Kiyosaki
Seeking what is true is not seeking what is desirable. Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
Believe me, for certain men at least, not taking what one doesn't desire is the hardest thing in the world. Albert Camus, The Fall
The desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews
Not to be born is best for man. W H Auden, Death’s Echo, 1937
Yet he who reigns within himself, and rules
Passions, Desires, and Fears, is more than King. John Milton, Paradise Regain’d, Book II 466 - 467
I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self. Aristotle, doubted quotation
It is of the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it. Aristotle, Politics
Men go to far greater lengths to avoid what they fear than to obtain what they desire. Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code
The greatest crimes do not arise from a want of feeling but from an over-sensitivity for ourselves and an over-indulgence to our own desires. Edmund Burke
It is wonderful to have someone praise you, to be desired. Marilyn Monroe
The starting point of all achievement is desire. Napoleon Hill
The problem, Buddha taught, is desire. Dave Grubin, The Buddha II, PBS 2010
There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable. Mark Twain
Desire is the essence of a man. Baruch Spinoza
Thus when we fondly flatter our desires,
Our best conceits do prove the greatest liars. Michael Drayton, 1563-1631
There is nothing like desire for preventing the things one says from bearing any resemblance to what one has in one’s mind. Marcel Proust
Is it not strange that desire should so many years outlive performance? William Shakespeare, II Henry IV II iv 283
Question your desire. William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream I i 67, Theseus to Hermia et al
Stars, hide your fires,
Let not light see my black and deep desires. William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Macbeth I iv 50-51, Macbeth
Can one desire too much of a good thing? William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Globe Theatre, Rosalind, Sky Arts 2012
Let your desires be ruled by reason. [Appetitus Rationi Pareat] Cicero
Desire is the key to motivation: but its determination and committed to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek. Mario Andretti
Wealth and rank are what people desire. But unless they are attained in the right way they may not be possessed. Confucius
You have taken over the job of taking over creating desire. And have transformed people into constantly moving happiness machines. Machines which have become the key to economic progress. Herbert Hoover, address to advertisers & public relations men
To understand the stable citizen you have to know that modern man quite often tries to work off his frustrations by spending on self-gratification. Modern man is internally ready to fill out his self-image by purchasing products which complement it. Ernest Dichter, psychoanalyst
Life is made up of desires that seem big and vital one minute and little and absurd the next. I guess we get what’s best for us in the end. Alice Caldwell Rice, A Romance of Billy-Goat Hill, 1912
Human behaviour flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge. Plato
When we start deceiving ourselves into thinking not that we want something or need something, not that it is a pragmatic necessity for us to have it, but that it is a moral imperative that we have it, then is when we join the fashionable madmen, and then is when the thin whine of hysteria is heard in the land, and then is when we are in bad trouble. John Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, 1968
And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand. Genesis 39:7&8
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12
The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul. Proverbs 13:19
What do you want a meaning for? Life is a desire, not a meaning. Charlie Chaplin
The discipline of desire is the background of character. John Locke
Desire nothing, give up all desires and be happy. Swami Sivananda
To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves. Federico García Lorca, Blood Wedding and Yerma
If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with. L Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
I desire the things which will destroy me in the end. Sylvia Plath
I have a deeply hidden and inarticulate desire for something beyond the daily life. Virginia Woolf, Moments of Being
Desire is both imitative (we like what others like) and competitive (we want to take away from others what they have). As children, we wanted to monopolize the attention of a parent, to draw it away from other siblings. This sense of rivalry ... makes people compete for the attention. Robert Greene, The Art of Seduction
Those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained. William Blake
If you desire many things, many things will seem but a few. Benjamin Franklin
We always long for the forbidden things, and desire what is denied us. Francois Rabelais
From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate. Socrates
There is a road from the eye to heart that does not go through the intellect. G K Chesterton