He has what he desires who can limit his desires to what is enough.
Love is the desire to give, not to receive, something.
There is no desire more natural than the desire for knowledge.
Desire is the essence of a man.
Man is a creation of desire, not a creation of need.
My third maxim was to try always to conquer myself rather than fortune, and to alter my desires rather than change the order of the world.
We must observe that in each one of us there are two ruling and leading principles, which we follow whithersoever they lead; one is the innate desire for pleasures, the other an acquired opinion which strives for the best. These two sometimes agree within us and are sometimes in strife; and sometimes one, and sometimes the other has the greater power.
This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined.
Let your desires be governed by reason.
It is desire that creates the desirable, it is the project that poses the end.
Nothing retains less of desire in art, in science, than this will to industry, booty, possession.
A clever man ought to so regulate his interests that each will fall in due order. Our greediness so often troubles us, making us run after so many things at the same time, that while we too eagerly look after the least we miss the greatest.
Freedom in general may be defined as the absence of obstacles to the realization of desires.
Not necessity, not desire - no, the love of power is the demon of men. Let them have everything - health, food, a place to live, entertainment - they are and remain unhappy and low-spirited: for the demon waits and waits and will be satisfied.
