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Desire: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

The thing we long for, that we are For one transcendent moment.— LOWELL — Longing.

Oh! could I throw aside these earthly bands That tie me down where wretched mortals sigh- To join blest spirits in celestial lands!— PETRARCH — To Laura in Death.

Sonnet XLV. Can one desire too much of a good thing?— Shakespeare — As You Like It. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 123.

Had doting Priam checked his son's desire, Troy had been bright with fame and not with fire. Rape of Lucrece. L. 1,490. I do desire we may be better strangers.— Shakespeare — As You Like It. Act III. Sc. 2. L. 274.

I have Immortal longings in me.— Shakespeare — Antony and Cleopatra. Act V. Sc. 2. L. 282.

Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow.— Shakespeare — Midsummer Night's Dream. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 36.

No more of that, Hal, an thou lovest me.— Shakespeare — Henry IV. Pt. I. Act II. Sc. 4. L. 312.

Speak but one rhyme, and I am satisfied; Cry but-"Ay me!" pronounce but "love" and "dove."— Shakespeare — Romeo and Juliet. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 9.

The desire of the moth for the star, Of the night for the morrow, The devotion to something afar From the sphere of our sorrow.— SHELLEY — To One Word is too

Often Profaned. We grow like flowers, and bear desire, The odor of the human flowers.— R. H. STODDARD — The Squire of Low Degree. The Princess Answers. I. L. 13.

But O! for the touch of a vanish'd hand, And the sound of a voice that is still!— TENNYSON — Break, Break, Break.

Nitimur in vetitum semper, cupimusque negata. We are always striving for things forbidden, and coveting those denied us.— OVID — Amorum. III. 4. 17.

Velle suum cuique est, nec voto vivitur uno. Each man has his own desires; all do not possess the same inclinations.— PERSIUS — Satira. V. 53.