44 Quotes About Desire

In the realm of human experience, desire stands as a powerful force, igniting passion, ambition, and the pursuit of dreams. It has inspired poets, philosophers, and thinkers throughout history, each offering their unique perspective on this compelling emotion. Our collection of the top 44 quotes about desire captures the essence of what it means to yearn, to strive, and to transform longing into action. Whether you're seeking motivation to chase your goals or simply wish to explore the depths of human aspiration, these quotes are sure to resonate with your inner desires and spark a sense of profound reflection. Join us as we delve into the wisdom and insights of those who have eloquently expressed the timeless nature of desire.

1. “Alice suspected Paul couldn’t really picture his father, just like she couldn’t picture Paul when he was away. Maybe that was the case with people you wanted more than was good for you.” - Ann Brashares

2. “Are these things really better than the things I already have? Or am I just trained to be dissatisfied with what I have now?” - Chuck Palahniuk

3. “If I have you for a day, I'll want you for a week. If I have you for a week, I'll want you for another week.” - Michael Stein

4. “Sometimes I think the difference between what we want and what we're afraid of is about the width of an eyelash.” - Jay Mcinerney

5. “No one cared what she wanted. No one had ever cared. And perhaps, worst of all, no one ever would care.” - Dicamillo, Kate

6. “Everybody really wanna be the best. I just wanna be a bit better than them.” - Toba Beta

7. “We want more than there is.” - Jonathan Goldstein

8. “A lot of people get so hung up on what they can't have that they don't think for a second about whether they really want it.” - Lionel Shriver

9. “To write better you must develop your taste for truth. You have to pay more attention to what you really think, feel, see and want.” - Jonathan Price

10. “Man wanted a home, a place for warmth, or comfort, first of physical warmth, then the warmth of the affections.” - Henry David Thoreau

11. “The question, love, is whether you want me enough to take the risk.” - Lisa Kleypas

12. “It isn't sufficient just to want - you've got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt

13. “I love you. I want to do everything with you. I want to marry you and have kids with you and get old with you. And then I want to die the day before you do, so I never have to live without you.” - Stacey Jay

14. “I have done what they expected of me. I have curtsied for my Queen and made my debut. This is what I have anticipated eagerly for years. So why do I feel so unsatisfied? Everyone is merry. They haven't a care in the world. And perhaps that is it. How terrible it is to have no cares, no longings. I do not fit. I feel too deeply and want too much.” - Libba Bray

15. “You can want one thing and have a secret wish for its opposite.” - Deb Caletti

16. “As soon as you stop wanting something, you get it.” - Andy Warhol

17. “But I don't want more things than I need, either.” - Isabel Allende

18. “There was always a way, when one knew what one wanted.” - Donna Woolfolk Cross

19. “Sometimes you don't even know what you want until you find out you can't have it.” - Meghan O'Rourke

20. “They’re like chocolate-chip cookies, though. Can’t have just one.” - Steve Berry

21. “If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever.” - Dan Millman

22. “I want, I don’t want.How can one live with such a heart?” - Margaret Atwood

23. “People left him alone. And that was all he wanted.” - Patrick Suskind

24. “What you focus on expands. So focus on what you want, not what you do not want.” - Esther Jno-Charles

25. “It does seem as if the more one gets the more one wants” - Louisa May Alcott

26. “Create your own miracles, don't just wait for miracles to happen. Infinite possibilities exist by keeping focus on what you really want.” - Steven Redhead

27. “Part of me wanted this more than anything else in the world—to have someone to hang out with, be like everyone else for a while. The rest of me screamed to get the hell out of there, not to get sucked in.” - Rachel Ward

28. “He was still a mystery to me. And God, did I want to play Nancy Drew.” - Cora Carmack

29. “I feel alive when you kiss me.” - Missy Lyons

30. “Never was I supposed to hear the words 'He says he wants to see you.' But now that I have, there's no way to refuse.” - Suzanne Collins

31. “Because we lack a divine Center our need for security has led us into an insane attachment to things. We really must understand that the lust for affluence in contemporary society is psychotic. It is psychotic because it has completely lost touch with reality. We crave things we neither need nor enjoy. 'We buy things we do not want to impress people we do not like'. Where planned obsolescence leaves off, psychological obsolescence takes over. We are made to feel ashamed to wear clothes or drive cars until they are worn out. The mass media have convinced us that to be out of step with fashion is to be out of step with reality. It is time we awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick. Until we see how unbalanced our culture has become at this point, we will not be able to deal with the mammon spirit within ourselves nor will we desire Christian simplicity.” - Richard J. Foster

32. “I don't want to be dying. I want to be dead.” - Lisa Cander

33. “I want something good to die for. . . to make it beautiful to live.” - Stacey T. Hunt

34. “Even if things aren't going the way we want right now, we will always get through it.” - Stacey T. Hunt

35. “I just want you to be happy. If that’s with me or with someone else or with nobody. I just want you to be happy.” - John Green

36. “Id you're finished picking out my flaws,maybe you'd like to tell me what you want now.I have other customers--""You.""What was that?""I Want You.” - Johanna Lindsey

37. “I came running down the stairs that morning, like it was Christmas. My parents were already up. In my family, presents never waited; they were there upon waking. Our family has a problem with what they called delayed gratification. We want what we want when we want it, and we always want it now.” - Neal Shusterman

38. “If you have the woman you love, what more do you need? Well, besides an alibi for the time of her husband’s murder.
” - Dark Jar Tin Zoo

39. “Who people think they are and what people think they want is not really who they are or what they want.” - Laurie Frankel

40. “We want who we want, right? No matter what other people say. No matter what reason or reality we’re faced with. No matter what facts our brains process. The heart’s a stubborn organ.” - Kim Harrington

41. “Better off dead than giving in; not taking what you want.” - Carol Ann Duffy

42. “If you do not waste, you do not want.” - Syed Ather

43. “There's not one good thought in that place. There's nothing but waste and want. I can feel his selfish cravings and an abyss of secrets I hope to never know.” - Steve V. Cypert

44. “Everyone has something they can't live without.” - Cassandra Clare