Desire
Outline · 2 ›
1.The nature of desire and its place in action
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 19–20Man is full of wants and loves those who can satisfy them.read · scan
- p. 21Lust is the source of all our actions.read · scan
- p. 109–110Man is only a king of lust and must take its ways.read · scan
- p. 115–116Lust and force are the source of all our actions: lust causes voluntary, force involuntary ones.read · scan
David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human UnderstandingVol. 37
- p. 299–300Love, hate, desire and will are counted among lively impressions.read · scan
1a.Appetite and aversion as motions toward and away from objects
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 219Telemachus says men would first choose their father's return if they might have all their will.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 153Distinguishes a wish from desire, saying the honour should not excite excessive desire yet ought not be rejected.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 293Nisus asks whether the gods inspire his ardor or whether desire makes gods of itself.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 147Natural desires exemplified by the sheep stirred by pasture.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 222Lovers of money, glory or an art deny themselves food and sleep.read · scan
- p. 237Men pursue things they suppose suitable and profitable to their nature.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 8–9The infant wills to express its wishes but cannot, and avenges frustration with tears.read · scan
- p. 26–27Motives such as love of a wife, estate or livelihood explain murder.read · scan
- p. 171Desire is named among the four perturbations of the mind.read · scan
The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49
- p. 283–284Sigurd says whatever he desires is granted him; he asks for a horse.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 216Desire is spiritual motion, like fire rising, that never rests before enjoying what it loves.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 48–49Kings lacking a predominant desire set hearts on toys and arts, as Nero, Domitian did; small profits cheer the mind.read · scan
- p. 117Better to deal with men in appetite than with those already where they would be; persuade through knowing their ends.read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34
- p. 313Attributing appetite for rest to falling bodies is absurd projection of human feeling.read · scan
- p. 319Regulated thought is directed by desire and design, seeking means to an end; Respice finem.read · scan
- p. 337–338Defines appetite and aversion as motions toward and away from an object; desire is love in the object's absence, aversion is hate.read · scan
- p. 338–339Whatever is the object of a man's appetite he calls good, and the object of aversion evil.read · scan
- p. 339–340Desire of riches is covetousness and desire of office is ambition, blamed according to the means.read · scan
- p. 343–344Voluntary actions arise from appetites like covetousness, ambition and lust or from aversion and fear.read · scan
- p. 412–413Private appetite measures good and evil in the state of nature.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 57Distinguishes mere wishing (absolute demand) from effectual demand backed by willingness to pay.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and DorotheaVol. 19
- p. 368Our wishes often hide from us the object we truly wish for.read · scan
Friedrich von Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of ManVol. 32
- p. 241–242The sensuous instinct, arising from physical existence, impels man toward change and confines him to the moment.read · scan
- p. 242The sensuous instinct binds the spirit to the world of sense and gives existence its content, though it prevents perfection.read · scan
- p. 275–276Savage's every desire is rage; he lives between grasping desire and terror, finding rest only in exhaustion.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25
- p. 292Liberty consists in doing what one desires; one does not desire to fall into the river.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Origin of SpeciesVol. 11
- p. 261The young cuckoo's ejection is a blind desire, an instinct without intention.read · scan
1b.Self-love and self-interest as the spring of action
Marcus Tullius Cicero, On FriendshipVol. 9
- p. 20Rejects the view that friendship is born of want, weakness and poverty.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 247–248We accept any comfort and find it hard to be freed from ourselves.read · scan
Sir Philip Sidney, The Defense of PoesyVol. 27
- p. 5Self-love makes whatever we are party to seem gorgeous; Pugliano's affection outruns his arguments.read · scan
Thomas Hobbes, Of Man, Being the First Part of LeviathanVol. 34
- p. 402All voluntary actions are said to tend to the agent's own benefit.read · scan
- p. 406–407Every gift is given with intention of good to oneself, since voluntary acts aim at one's own good.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 13Self-love desires to reproduce the effects seen on stage.read · scan
- p. 130–131Lust ordered into a fair code of benevolence.read · scan
- p. 151Lust is harnessed for public good but only as a false image of love.read · scan
Alexander Pope, Solitude; On a Certain Lady at Court; Essay on ManVol. 40
- p. 415Self-love is the spring of motion; pleasure and pain are its desire and aversion.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 88–90Private interest dominates members once party goal is gained, breaking parties into divisions.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Profession of Faith of a Savoyard VicarVol. 34
- p. 272–273All actions aim at our good, but only if moral good counts can virtuous acts be explained.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 19Self-love and self-interest, not benevolence, move men to serve one another's wants.read · scan
- p. 83Emulation and desire of gain prompt workers to overwork; hard labour brings an almost irresistible desire for relaxation.read · scan
- p. 269–270Passion for present enjoyment is momentary; the desire of bettering our condition is calm, lifelong and prompts saving.read · scan
- p. 302Private profit is the sole motive determining how capital is employed, regardless of the public's gain.read · scan
- p. 333Individual self-interest and unease at separation from capital drive merchants' choices.read · scan
- p. 333–335Only for the sake of profit does anyone employ capital in industry.read · scan
- p. 335Self-interest motivates the merchant, not intention to promote public interest.read · scan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for ScandalVol. 18
- p. 187–188Lady Sneerwell's passion for Charles drives her vexation, contrasted with Joseph's merely interested motive toward Maria.read · scan
1c.The universal desire for happiness
See also: Happiness 1a
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 175–176All men will to be happy, and this universal longing shows they must already know the thing.read · scan
- p. 177–178Men seek joy by different means but share one end; universal certain will implies certain knowledge.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 230–232The desire of bliss is present from the first, but opposed by inclination that Heaven's ordinance sets against it.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 42–43Man wants to be great, happy, perfect and esteemed, yet sees himself otherwise.read · scan
- p. 136Universal desire of happiness underlies every action.read · scan
- p. 136–137The natural universal desire for good shows the good must be possessed by all without diminution or envy.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 401Desire of happiness is natural to all, and pleasing objects move the will as powerfully as true happiness would.read · scan
George Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between Hylas and PhilonousVol. 37
- p. 283–284We desire or shun nothing except as it makes part of happiness or misery.read · scan
George Long, The Philosophy of AntoninusVol. 2
- p. 344–345Men mistake gratification of their strongest passion for seeking happiness.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 90–91Enjoyments taken in passing suffice; making them the principal object renders them insufficient.read · scan
1d.Natural wants and imaginary or artificial wants
See also: Wealth 7b
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 266Pliny confesses a fondness for what he has built himself.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 345–346The idle boy is moved by the prospect of fine clothes and food.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 179Asks why a man should desire more garments when they would neither warm nor adorn him better.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 236Natural human desire to esteem things far-sought and rare while despising common things at hand.read · scan
- p. 274Man most covets things difficult to obtain; gentry shun plentiful metal for costly Venice glassread · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 292–293Mercy longs for the looking-glass and is ashamed to ask; the longing is called a virtue.read · scan
- p. 293–294Mercy's longing is granted by the Shepherds, who give the young women what they desire.read · scan
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning EducationVol. 37
- p. 86Distinguishes wants of fancy from natural wants; a child must not get what he craves.read · scan
- p. 86–87Natural wants must be relieved but wants of fancy never gratified; children should be indifferent to things nature made indifferent.read · scan
William Penn, More Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 389–390Men are as eager to be rich as to live, craving superfluity.read · scan
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality among MankindVol. 34
- p. 177We covet knowledge because we covet enjoyment; savage desires do not go beyond physical wants.read · scan
- p. 202–203Leisure led to conveniences that degenerated into real wants.read · scan
- p. 226Our wants and pleasures change objects; the citizen courts death to live and seeks immortality.read · scan
John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1
- p. 274Imaginary wants from an evil spirit lead men to exact more from others and cause suffering.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 167Desire for food is limited by the stomach, but desire for conveniences and ornaments has no boundary.read · scan
- p. 175Rich people prize objects for the ostentation of possessing what nobody else can afford.read · scan
- p. 181Luxury and fashion increase competition for rarities, driving prices extravagantly high.read · scan
- p. 488Demand for houses, whether for business, pleasure and society, or mere vanity and fashion, raises ground-rents in the capital.read · scan
- p. 551Frivolous passions for luxury and pageantry move sovereign, nobles and republican senates alike.read · scan
Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of MoralsVol. 32
- p. 307Reason multiplies wants and fails to satisfy them.read · scan
Edward Jenner, The Three Original Publications on Vaccination Against SmallpoxVol. 38
- p. 143–145Love of splendour, luxury and amusement leads man to familiarise himself with animals.read · scan
Friedrich von Schiller, Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of ManVol. 32
- p. 289Man demands the superfluous beyond nature's needs, first of matter, then of aesthetic form.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 351–352Artificial wants, love of show and insatiable passion to outdo others lead laborers to sell their minds for gain.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Man the ReformerVol. 5
- p. 52–53Satirizes the infirm who crave endless luxuries; elegance lies in having few wants and serving them oneself.read · scan
Oliver Wendell Holmes, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1367–1369The catalogue of wants comically shows desire under pretense of moderation.read · scan
Outline · 2 ›