Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
You are what your deep driving desire is.
—The Upanishads Sacred Books of Hinduism
All that spirits desire, spirits attain.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
I was taught that everything is attainable if you are prepared to give up, to sacrifice, to get it. Whatever you want to do, you can do it, if you want it badly enough, and I do believe that. I believe that if I wanted to run a mile is four minutes I could do it. I would have to give up everything else in my life, but I could run a mile in four minutes. I believe that if a man wanted to walk on water and was prepared to give up everything else in life, he could do that.
—Stirling Moss (1929–2020) English Motor-Racing Driver, Broadcaster
Plant the seed of desire in your mind and it forms a nucleus with power to attract to itself everything needed for its fulfillment.
—Robert Collier (1885–1950) American Self-Help Author
Desire is proof of the availability…
—Robert Collier (1885–1950) American Self-Help Author
Can anything be so elegant as to have few wants, and to serve them one’s self?
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
You can really have everything you want, if you go after it, but you will have to want it. The desire for success must be so strong within you that it is the very breath of your life—your first though when you awaken in the morning, your last thought when you go to bed at night…
—Charles E. Popplestone
I respect the man who knows distinctly what he wishes. The greater part of all mischief in the world arises from the fact that men do not sufficiently understand their own aims. They have undertaken to build a tower, and spend no more labor on the foundation than would be necessary to erect a hut.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Those who restrain their desires, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.
—William Blake (1757–1827) English Poet, Painter, Printmaker
Your desires and true beliefs have a way of playing blind man’s bluff. You must corner the inner facts…
—David Seabury (1885–1960) American Psychologist
The greatest wealth is a poverty of desires.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Unbridled gratification produces unbridled desire.
—Common Proverb
Try to eliminate the word SHOULD from your vocabulary. And try doing so without replacing it with OUGHT or YOU BETTER.
—Unknown
How badly do you want it?
—George E. Allen (1896–1973) American Sportsperson
People seek within a short span of life to satisfy a thousand desires, each of which is insatiable.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
It is no longer enough to be lusty. One must be a sexual gourmet.
—George Will (b.1941) American Columnist, Journalist, Writer
Better return and make a net, than to go down to the stream and merely wish for fish.
—Chinese Proverb
As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
We make ourselves rich by making our wants few.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
A desire arises in the mind. It is satisfied immediately another comes. In the interval which separates two desires a perfect calm reigns in the mind. It is at this moment freed from all thought, love or hate. Complete peace equally reigns between two mental waves.
—Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963) Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher
To educate the intelligence is to expand the horizon of its wants and desires.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Lust’s passion will be served; it demands, it militates, it tyrannizes.
—Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) French Political leader, Revolutionary, Novelist, Poet, Critic
Did you ever hear of a man who had striven all his life faithfully and singly toward an object, and in no measure obtained it? If a man constantly aspires, is he not elevated? Did ever a man try heroism, magnanimity, truth, sincerity, and find that there was no advantage in them-that it was a vain endeavor?
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
The battle is all over except the “shouting” when one knows what is wanted and has made up his mind to get it, whatever the price may be.
—Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American Author, Journalist, Attorney, Lecturer
The distance between success and failure can only be measured by one’s desire.
—Unknown
The desire is thy prayers; and if thy desire is without ceasing, thy prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
People will insist on treating the mons Veneris as though it were Mount Everest. Too silly!
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
You need to be right, you need to make money, you need to be successful. It’s the neediness that’s the problem. Instead, become that which attracts those things.
—David R. Hawkins (1927–2012) American Physician, Author
O lyric Love, half angel and half bird. And all a wonder and a wild desire.
—Robert Browning (1812–89) English Poet
A burning desire is the greatest motivator of every human action. The desire for success implants “success consciousness” which, in turn, creates a vigorous and ever-increasing “habit of success.”
—Paul J. Meyer
It is not from nature, but from education and habits, that our wants are chiefly derived.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
When desire dies, fear is born.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Manifest plainness, embrace simplicity, reduce selfishness, have few desires.
—Laozi (fl.6th Century BCE) Chinese Philosopher, Sage
Our necessities are few, but our wants are endless.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long to return.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Inventor, Architect
Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them.
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
You can have anything you want—if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, have anything you desire, accomplish anything you set out to accomplish—if you will hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.
—Robert Collier (1885–1950) American Self-Help Author
Desire for security keeps littleness little and threatens the great with smallness.”
—Unknown
He can feel no little wants who is in pursuit of grandeur.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
I do want to get rich but I never want to do what there is to do to get rich.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
Happy the man who early learns the wide chasm that lies between his wishes and his powers.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
The desire of power in excess caused angels to fall; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall; but in charity is no excess, neither can man or angels come into danger by it.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
Appetite, with an opinion of attaining, is called hope; the same, without such opinion, despair.
—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) English Political Philosopher
If your desires be endless, your cares and fears will be so, too.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
No person can arise above his real desire. Desires are of value only when they drive us to action. Will and work must accompany desire. Then high resolve is born. Desire is the design that will spurs us into achievement.
—Indian Proverb
Supply always comes on the heels of demand.
—Robert Collier (1885–1950) American Self-Help Author