DESIRE
Addison, Joseph
It should be an indispensable rule in life to contract our desires to our present condition, and whatever may be our expectations to live within the compass of what we actually possess.—It will be time enough to enjoy an estate when it comes into our hands; but if we anticipate our good fortune we shall lose the pleasure of it when it arrives, and may possibly never possess what we have so foolishly counted on.
Balguy, John
When a man's desires are boundless, his labors are endless.—They will set him a task he can never go through, and cut him out work he can never finish.—The satisfaction he seeks is always absent, and the happiness he aims at is ever at a distance.
Bovee, Christian Nestell
We trifle when we assign limits to our desires, since nature hath set none.
Bruyere, Jean de la
He who can wait for what he desires takes the course not to be exceedingly grieved if he fails of it; he on the contrary who labors after a thing too impatiently thinks the success when it comes is not a recompense equal to all the pains he has been at about it.
Burke, Edmund
Those things that are not practicable are not desirable. There is nothing in the world really beneficial that does not lie within the reach of an informed understanding and a well protected pursuit. There is nothing that God has judged good for us that he has not given us the means to accomplish, both in the natural and the moral world. If we cry, like children, for the moon, like children we must cry on.
Burton, Richard E.
A wise man will desire no more than he may get justly, use soberly, distribute cheerfully, and leave contentedly.
The passions and desires, like the two twists of a rope, mutually mix one with the other, and twine inextricably round the heart; producing good, if moderately indulged; but certain destruction, if suffered to become inordinate.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius
The thirst of desire is never filled, nor fully satisfied.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
There is nothing capricious in nature; and the implanting of a desire indicates that its gratification is in the constitution of the creature that feels it.
Hall, Joseph
Everyone would have something, such perhaps as we are ashamed to utter. The proud man would have honor; the covetous man, wealth and abundance; the malicious, revenge on his enemies; the epicure, pleasure and long life; the barren, children; the wanton, beauty; each would be humored in his own desire, though in opposition both to God's will, and his own good.
Heber, Reginald
In moderating, not in satisfying desires, lies peace.
Helvetius, Claude Adrien
By annihilating the desires, you annihilate the mind.—Every man without passions has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act.
Henry, Matthew
Inordinate desires commonly produce irregular endeavors. If our wishes be not kept in submission to God's providence, our pursuits will scarcely be kept under the restraints of his precepts.
Hobbes, Thomas
Our nature is inseparable from desires, and the very word desire—the craving for something not possessed— implies that our present felicity is not complete.
Horace
However rich or elevated we may be, a nameless something is always wanting to our imperfect fortune.
Irving, Washington
Every desire bears its death in its very gratification.—Curiosity languishes under repeated stimulants, and novelties cease to excite surprise, until at length we do not wonder even at a miracle.
Johnson, Samuel
Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion; he whose real wants are supplied, must admit those of fancy.
Where necessity ends, desire and curiosity begin; no sooner are we supplied with everything nature can demand, than we sit down to contrive artificial appetites.
Jonson, Ben
The soul of man is infinite in what it covets.
Manton, Thomas
Desires are the pulses of the soul;—as physicians judge by the appetite, so may you by desires.
Rochefoucauld, Francois, Duc de la
It is much easier to suppress a first desire than to satisfy those that follow.
Before we passionately desire anything which another enjoys, we should examine as to the happiness of its possessor.
Sidney, Sir Philip
Unlawful desires are punished after the effect of enjoying; but impossible desires are punished in the desire itself.
Swift, Jonathan
The stoical schemes of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.
Warwick, Arthur
The reason that so many want their desires is that their desires want reason.—He may do what he will, who will do but what he may.
