Modern man lives under the illusion that he knows what he wants, while he actually wants what he is supposed to want.

Those desires that do not bring pain if they are not satisfied are not necessary; and they are easily thrust aside whenever to satisfy them appears difficult or likely to cause injury.

Make us, not fly to dreams, but moderate desire.

It is impossible to abolish either with a law or an axe the desires of men.

Desire projected itself visually: his fancy, not quite yet lulled since morning, imaged the marvels and terrors of the manifold earth.

Man is a mixture of desires that extend beyond his knowledge and often result in action conflicting with rationality.

We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.

The wretched are in this respect fortunate, that they have the strongest yearnings after happiness; and to desire is in some sense to enjoy.

Catastrophe and desire are linked in our lives as the moon is linked to that reflected light from the sun which enables the eye to see it.

It seems to me that the most universal revolutionary wish now or ever is a wish for heaven, a wish by a human being to be honored by angels for something other than beauty or usefulness.

I look at what I have not and think myself unhappy; others look at what I have and think me happy.

In real life wishing, divorced from willing, is sterile and begets nothing.

Often, the thing we pursue most passionately is but a substitute for the one thing we really want and cannot have.

How few are our real wants! and how easy is it to satisfy them! Our imaginary ones are boundless and insatiable.

Other people's appetites easily appear excessive when one doesn't share them.

There are mornings when all men experience with fatigue a flush of tenderness that makes them horny.

Longing, the hope for fulfillment, is the one unwavering passion of the world's commerce.

Mankind, why do ye set your hearts on things That, of necessity, may not be shared?

The desire for imaginary benefits often involves the loss of present blessings.

Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.