Desire quotes
4.5K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
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Browse quotes that often appear alongside desire — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
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"In God's name, Monsieur, let us remain indifferent; let us strive to be equally attached to whatever obedience marks out for us, be it agreeable or disagreeable. By the grace of God, we belong to Him; what else should we desire except to please Him?"
"All my life I have been haunted by the obsession that to desire a thing or to love a thing intensely is to place yourself in a vulnerable position, to be a possible, if not a probable, loser of what you most want. Let's leave it like that."
"I have often thought with wonder of the great goodness of God; and my soul has rejoiced in the contemplation of His great magnificence and mercy. May He be blessed for ever! For I see clearly that He has not omitted to reward me, even in this life, for every one of my good desires."
"As all-consuming as a young girl's fancies were ... a woman's desires could be twice as dangerous."
"Our desires always increase with our possessions. The knowledge that something remains yet unenjoyed impairs our enjoyment of the good before us."
"It is not the desire of new acquisitions, but the glory of conquests, that fires the soldier's breast; as indeed the town is seldom worth much, when it has suffered the devastations of a siege."
"Where necessity ends, desire and curiosity begin; and no sooner are we supplied with everything nature can demand than we sit down to contrive artificial appetites."
"The desires of man increase with his acquisitions."
"The present time is seldom able to fill desire or imagination with immediate enjoyment, and we are forced to supply its deficiencies by recollection or anticipation."
"Every man makes a god of his own desire"
"I spent an hour looking at pots and carpets in the museums the other day, until the desire to describe them became like the desire for the lusts of the flesh."
"I’m the thing you most desire, you represent the thing I least desire, death. It’s just the opposite of love."
"Let others laugh when you sacrifice desire to duty, if they will. You have time and eternity to rejoice in."
"No man is born without ambitious worldly desires."
"The abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire in those colonies, where it was unhappily introduced in their infant state."
"The power of making war often prevents it, and in our case would give efficacy to our desire of peace."
"God’s wealth circulates in my life, it flows to me in avalanches of abundance. All my needs, desires and goals are met instantaneously, for I am one with God and he is everything!"
"Real love, the Bible says, instinctively desires permanence."
"Lack of desire is the greatest riches."
"The greater part of progress is the desire to progress."
