Want quotes
24.4K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside want — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"It made me wonder if the reasons our lives seem so muddled is because we keep walking into scenes in which we, along with the people around us, have no clear idea what we want."
"People want to join a great story. If you want to lead, tell one with your life."
"I'm not ashamed to say I fear something. Besides me having a fear to fly, I also don't want to scare other people. When I'm on a plane, I don't want to freak out everyone else, too."
"No child wants to fail. Everyone wants to succeed."
"It is not the actual enjoyment of pleasure that we desire. What we want is to test the futility of that pleasure, so as to be no longer obsessed by it."
"From someone who doesn't want to share your destiny, you should neither accept a cigarette"
"If you want to create, you'll create."
"To copy faults is want of sense."
"To copy beauty forfeits all pretense to fame; to copy faults is want of sense"
"Now, what I want is, Facts. . . . Facts alone are wanted in life."
"I don't want a headline saying 'Kennedy suggests this or implies that.'"
"Painting is just like making an after-dinner speech. If you want to be remembered, say one thing and stop."
"I'm a practised writer now. But when I began, I had no idea what this was going to be. I just knew that there was something inside me that wanted me to tell who I was, and that would have come out even if I didn't want it."
"The only plan I have is to not do anything I don't want to do - and to never work just for money."
"They don't want you to vote. If they did, we wouldn't vote on a Tuesday. In November. You ever throw a party on a Tuesday? No. Because nobody would come."
"I'm in show business... I want to hang out with Janet Jackson, not Jesse Jackson."
"Women can have all the evidence but they still want the confession."
"If you want to fly, you have to flap your own wings!"
"I just know that I don't want cheating. I refuse. I deepened myself but I don't believe in myself because my thought is invented."
"We (women) take it for granted that we can do what we want. Not so very long ago, that was not the case."
