All the passions are nothing else than different degrees of heat and cold of the blood.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Love is when you take away the feeling, the passion, the romance and you find out you still care for that person.
—Indian Proverb
Man’s passions at first are like a cobweb’s thread, at last become like thickest cord.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The real secret of success is enthusiasm. Yes, more than enthusiasm, I would say excitement. I like to see men get excited. When they get excited they make a success of their lives.
—Walter Chrysler (1875–1940) American Engineer, Industrialist
If you have no wish, how can it possibly come true?
—Seth Godin (b.1960) American Entrepreneur
Passions are the gales of life.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
In strong natures, if resistance to temptation is of granite, so the passions that they admit are of fire.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Enthusiasm is the most beautiful work on earth.
—Christian Morgenstern (1871–1914) German Poet, Journalist, Translator, Publisher
Men are not blindly betrayed into corruption, but abandon themselves to their passions with their eyes open; and lose the direction of truth, because they do not attend to her voice, not because they do not understand it.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
As rivers, when they overflow, drown those grounds and ruin those husbandmen, which, whilst they flowed calmly betwixt their banks they fertilized and enriched, so our passions, when they grow exorbitant and unruly, destroy those virtues to which they might be very serviceable whilst kept within their bounds.
—Robert Boyle (1627–91) Anglo-Irish Philosopher, Writer
Hold not conference, debate, or reasoning with any lust; ’tis but a preparatory for thy admission of it. The way is at the very first flatly to deny it.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of the facts and evidence.
—John Adams (1735–1826) 2nd US President, Founding Father, Statesman
It is the passions of men that both do and undo everything.—They are the winds that are necessary to put every thing in motion, though they often cause storms.
—Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657–1757) French Essayist, Polymath, Philosopher
Passion and prejudice govern the world, only under the name of reason.
—John Wesley (1703–91) British Methodist Leader, Preacher, Theologian
Oh, give us the man who sings at his work.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish Historian, Essayist
The only praiseworthy indifference is an acquired one; we must feel as well as control our passions.
—Jean Paul (1763–1825) German Novelist, Philosopher
Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music-the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
It is easy to fly into a passion – anybody can do that – but to be angry with the right person to the right extent and at the right time with the right object and in the right way – that is not easy, and it is not everyone who can do it.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
But this had been a sin of passion, not of principle, nor even purpose.
—Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–64) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Jupiter, not wanting man’s life to be wholly gloomy and grim, has bestowed far more passion than reason—you could reckon the ration as twenty-four to one. Moreover, he confined reason to a cramped corner of the head and left all the rest of the body to the passions.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
Art is moral passion married to entertainment. Moral passion without entertainment is propaganda, and entertainment without moral passion is television.
—Rita Mae Brown (b.1944) American Writer, Feminist
The passions often engender their contraries.—Avarice sometimes produces prodigality, and prodigality, avarice; we are often resolute from weakness, and daring from timidity.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you’ll be fired with enthusiasm.
—Vince Lombardi (1913–70) American Football Coach
Whenever I get to a low point, I go back to the basics. I ask myself, “Why am I doing this?” It comes down to passion.
—Lyn St. James (b.1947) British Auto Racing Driver
Someone’s always saying, “It’s not whether you win or lose,” but if you feel that way, you’re as good as dead.
—James Caan (1940–2022) American Film Actor
The mind by passion driven from its firm hold, becomes a feather to each wind that blows.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Life has always taken place in a tumult without apparent cohesion, but it only finds its grandeur and its reality in ecstasy and in ecstatic love.
—Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French Essayist, Intellectual
Life is enthusiasm, zest.
—Laurence Olivier (1907–89) English Actor, Producer, Director
Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
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