Topic

Desires

Aristotle opens: all men by nature desire knowledge — which is either true or the most philosophical self-deception in the collection. Blake observes that desire is limited by perception; you cannot want what you have not seen. Saint-Exupéry reframes the problem entirely: teach them to yearn for the sea and they will build the ship without being told. Epictetus: wealth consists in few wants, not great possessions. Addison finds plenty of people who wish to be devout but none who wish to be humble. Lichtenberg studies desire through what a man's mistress reveals about his actual dreams. The collection is as interested in the structure of desire — what creates it, shapes it, and genuinely satisfies it — as in any particular object of want.

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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife

Source: Pride and Prejudice (1813)

Love and desire are the spirit's wings to great deeds.

I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

You can't make a silk purse out of sow's ear

You must become an old man in good time if you wish to be an old man long

Always leave something to wish for; otherwise you will be miserable from your very happiness

Happiness does not lie in happiness, but in the achievement of it.

The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring. And that is not happiness

Life everlasting in a state of happiness is the greatest desire of all men

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men

In every living thing there is the desire for love

Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live

It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble

This life is a hospital in which every patient is possessed with a desire to change his bed

Those who restrain their desires, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained

Man's desires are limited by his perceptions; none can desire what he has not perceived.