Desire quotes
4.5K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside desire — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"The truth must essentially be regarded as in conflict with this world; the world has never been so good, and will never become so good that the majority will desire the truth."
"What puts you on the road is your desire to enjoy. What brings you home is being in love"
"If you don't first handle fear and desire, and you get rich, you'll only be a highpay slave."
"We are truth-speakers, we men of Gondor. We boast seldom, and then perform, or die in the attempt. "Not if I found it on the highway would I take it," I said. Even if I were such a man as to desire this thing, and even though I knew not clearly what this thing was when I spoke, still I should take those words as a vow, and be held by them."
"Desire is a pain which seeks easement through possession."
"We do not succeed in changing things according to our desire, but gradually our desire changes."
"Let your desires be ruled by reason."
"Desire is half of life, indifference is half of death."
"That the desires of the majority of the people are often for injustice and inhumanity against the minority, is demonstrated by every page of the history of the world."
"Where there is no desire, there will be no industry."
"Love' is the name for our pursuit of wholeness, for our desire to be complete."
"Some things are up to us [eph' hêmin] and some things are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions–in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is, whatever is not our own doing."
"God, grant us our desires, and grant them quickly."
"A kung fu man lives without being dependant on the opinions of others, and a master, unlike the beginner, holds himself in reserve. He is quiet and unassuming, with no desire to show off."
"What is human in me is not what is best in me. What is human in me is that I desire, and to obtain what I desire, I believe I would crush anything that stood in my way."
"When I desire you a part of me is gone."
"They say 'He cannot be found'. Something that cannot be 'found' is what I desire."
"I once had a thousand desires. But in my one desire to know you all else melted away."
"If you are influenced by the opinions of others, you will have no DESIRE of your own."
"You wouldn't desire something if you didn't have the talent to carry it out."
