Desire Quotes

“The person is free who lives as they wish, neither compelled, nor hindered, nor limited—whose choices aren’t hampered, whose desires succeed, and who don’t fall into what repels them. Who wishes to live in deception—tripped up, mistaken, undisciplined, complaining, in a rut? No one. These are base people who don’t live as they wish; and so, no base person is free.”
Epictetus, Discourses, via The Daily Stoic (Page 74)

“Mind invented contradictions, invented names; it called some things beautiful, some ugly, some good, some bad. One part of life was love, another murder. How young, foolish, comical this mind was. One of its inventions was time. A subtle invention, a refined instrument for torturing the self even more keenly and making the world multiplex and difficult. For then man was separated from all he craved only by time, by time alone, this crazy invention! It was one of the props, one of the crutches that you had to let go, that one above all, if you wanted to be free.”
Hermann Hesse, Klein And Wagner, via Sunbeams (Page 48)

“When children stick their hand down a narrow goody jar they cant get their full fist out and start crying. Drop a few treats and you will get it out! Curb your desire—don’t set your heart on so many things and you will get what you need.”
Epictetus, Discourses, via The Daily Stoic (Page 69)

“As you grow older you will find that your desires are never really fulfilled. In fulfillment there is always the shadow of frustration, and in your heart there is not a song but a cry. The desire to become—to become a great man, a great saint, a great this or that—has no end and therefore no fulfillment; its demand is ever for the ‘more,’ and such desire always breeds agony, misery, wars. But when one is free of all desire to become, there is a state of being whose action is totally different. It is. That which is has no time. It does not think in terms of fulfillment. Its very being is in its fulfillment.”
J. Krishnamurti, Think On These Things, via Sunbeams (Page 46)

To want nothing makes one invincible—because nothing lies outside your control. This doesn’t just go for not wanting the easy-to-criticize things like wealth or fame—the kinds of folly that we see illustrated in some of our most classic plays and fables. That green light that Gatsby strove for can represent seemingly good things too, like love or a noble cause. But it can wreck someone all the same.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 61)

“What we desire makes us vulnerable. Whether it’s an opportunity to travel the world or to be the president or for five minutes of peace and quiet, when we pine for something, when we hope against hope, we set ourselves up for disappointment. Because fate can always intervene and then we’ll likely lose our self-control in response.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 61)

“Eagerly anticipating some future event, passionately imagining something you desire, looking forward to some happy scenario—as pleasurable as these activities might seem, they ruin your chance at happiness here and now. Locate that yearning for more, better, someday and see it for what it is: the enemy of your contentment. Choose it or your happiness. As Epictetus says, the two are not compatible.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 57)

“It is quite impossible to unite happiness with a yearning for what we don’t have. Happiness has all that it wants, and resembling the well-fed, there shouldn’t be hunger or thirst.”
Epictetus, Discourses, via The Daily Stoic (Page 57)

“‘Sought’ is from the verb to seek; I have always been looking for something. I see that now, for as long as I can recall I harboured fantasies of how some object or experience would heal me, would make me whole. Sometimes before Christmas I would be so euphoric at the prospect of the following day’s gifts that I’d vibrate until it felt like I might shape-shift. What was I imagining the millennium Falcon or whatever it was would bring? What was the inherent drive that was so fiercely engaged? I always felt these artefacts would bring completion. It was like I was born with the yearning to be whole and continually felt that each new object or encounter, particularly if enthusiastically heralded, would bring redemption.”
Russell Brand, Recovery (Page 194)

“The more things we desire and the more we have to do to earn or attain those achievements, the less we actually enjoy our lives—and the less free we are.”
Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic (Page 33)

Chögyam Trungpa Quote on Managing Desire and Being Able To Afford To Relax

“When there is no desire to satisfy yourself, there is no aggression or speed… Because there is no rush to achieve, you can afford to relax. Because you can afford to relax, you can afford to keep company with yourself, you can afford to make love with yourself, to be friends with yourself.”
Chögyam Trungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, via Sunbeams (Page 3)

Beyond the Quote (Day 372)

If you feel like you can’t afford to relax, you should reevaluate what it is exactly that you’re trying to afford. Hustle culture has us working from the minute we get up until the minute we go to bed—and leaves many of us feeling like we STILL didn’t do enough. We stress about the things we didn’t finish, the things we have yet to start, and how we’re going to close the gap between where we are and where we want to be—so that we can finally… relax.

“Don’t chase, don’t beg, don’t stress, don’t be desperate, just relax. When you relax it will come to you. Make your wants, want you.”
Unknown

Beyond the Quote (291/365)

What happens when you relax? You release. You let go of held tension both in the body and the mind. Or, maybe better said, in the mind and then in the body. For, the body is but a puppet of the mind. And in order for the mind to relax what needs to happen? Well, you have to ease your mind away from the regrets of the past and the anxieties of the future and connect to the now. How else can you be truly relaxed if you’re preoccupied thinking and worrying about the past and future? It is only when you are utterly present that you can be truly relaxed. Isn’t it so?

“There is something within every human being that dislikes boundaries, that is longing to become boundless. Human nature is such that we always yearn to be something more than what we are right now. No matter how much we achieve, we still want to be something more. If we just looked at this closely, we would realize that this longing is not for more; this longing is for all. We are all seeking to become infinite. The only problem is that we are seeking it in installments.”
Sadhguru, Inner Engineering (Page 23)

John Leland Quote on Contentment and Why You Should Grab It While You Can

“Contentment had been there for the grasping, if only I had recognized it. Probably it’s there for you. The elders would tell you to grab it while you can, not agitate for something better. They don’t have time for delusions, including the delusion that you have time. They’re too busy loving like there’s no tomorrow, because for any of us, there might not be.”
John Leland, Happiness is a Choice You Make (Page 85)

Beyond the Quote (278/365)

Contentment is here. It’s right here for you and I to grasp. Of this I am sure. It is not a matter of whether it’s there or not for you, but a matter of whether or not you can see it. Whether or not you can recognize it. Whether or not you even know what you’re looking for or how to grasp it.

Naval Ravikant Quote on Desire and How It Works Against Your Pursuit of Happiness

“Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.”
Naval Ravikant, Medium

Beyond the Quote (272/365)

How many contracts of unhappiness have you signed? And how lengthy are the terms for each? Is the contract of your desire going to take you a week to obtain? A month? 12 months? 48 months? 72 months? Or is the contract you signed more like a 30 year mortgage? Are you really okay with being unhappy for that amount of time? …For any amount of time? And for what? A fancy car? A luxury watch? A playboy mansion? How much of your life are you willing to sacrifice for these things?

“Time ripens desires. It validates desires. Maybe you sort of feel like eating a cookie right now. If you get distracted, you’ll most likely lose your desire for that cookie. It didn’t stand the test of time. But when there’s something you want that you’ve kept on wanting for a long time, even if you’ve forgotten how much you want it, then that’s something you really want. And that will be something that will really satisfy you when you get it.”
Mira Kirshenbaum, The Gift of a Year (Page 67)

Witt Lowry Quote on Happiness and Why You Need To Free Yourself From Materialism

“If you’re not happy, you’re forever in debt.”
Witt Lowry, Debt

Beyond the Quote (228/365)

Debt is something, typically money, that’s owed. When you borrow $20 from your friend, you’re in debt to them. Until you pay them back, you will have that debt weighing on your shoulders. That’s why repaying a debt is such a gratifying, lightening feeling. You’re lightening the worry of your load. But, what about the debts that we imaginarily create in our minds? Sounds ridiculous, right? But, think about it.

“The more you desperately want to be rich, the more poor and unworthy you feel, regardless of how much money you actually make. The more you desperately want to be sexy and desired, the uglier you come to see yourself, regardless of your actual physical appearance. The more you desperately want to be happy and loved, the lonelier and more afraid you become, regardless of those who surround you. The more you want to be spiritually enlightened, the more self-centered and shallow you become in trying to get there.”
Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Beyond the Quote (177/365)

The more desperate you are, the more intense your feelings of lack become. Sometimes desperation comes from a lack of a need. These intense feelings are legitimate survival mechanisms designed to keep you alive. When you are desperately hungry, it implies that you would do just about anything for food. When you are desperately ill, it means that you would sacrifice almost anything for health. When you’re desperately sad, it means you would likely try anything for happiness again. But, desperation can be self-imposed from a lack of a want, too.

“To have an impulse and to resist it, to sit with it and examine it, to let it pass by like a bad smell—this is how we develop spiritual strength. This is how we become who we want to be in this world. Only those of us who take the time to explore, to question, to extrapolate the consequences of our desires have an opportunity to overcome them and to stop regrets before they start.”
Ryan Holiday, Stillness is the Key (Page 118)