Desire
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10.Curiosity and the desire to know
10a.Curiosity as a forbidden or fatal desire
See also: Knowledge 8d
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 165–166The Sirens tempt Odysseus with promise of wisdom and knowledge of all things.read · scan
- p. 166–167Odysseus longs to hear the Sirens and asks to be unbound, while his crew restrain him.read · scan
Euripides, The BacchaeVol. 8
- p. 405–408Pentheus' eager longing to spy on the Bacchae's mysteries; Dionysus remarks how quickly he falls to such craving.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 26Willed to do what he liked only because it was forbidden.read · scan
- p. 189Curiosity is a vain desire, the lust of the eyes, veiled as knowledge, seeking to try things through the flesh.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 11–12Wife's importunate curiosity overcomes all pleas, even at cost of her husband's life.read · scan
- p. 94The blind men lament that their impertinent curiosity cost them their ease.read · scan
- p. 95The narrator's insistent curiosity overrides warnings about the affliction awaiting him.read · scan
- p. 98–99Curiosity about the forbidden closet overcomes him and he cannot wait even one more day.read · scan
- p. 196The damsel, curious about the youth's reputation, says she has a desire to see him and rises to look.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 308–309Anselmo, though possessing all that makes men happy, is tormented by a strange, extravagant desire he cannot suppress.read · scan
- p. 312–313Anselmo's inordinate desire to test his wife strays from all reason.read · scan
- p. 319Anselmo likens his craving to the disease of women who long to eat earth; he insists on satisfying it.read · scan
- p. 320Anselmo's indiscreet desire drives him to arrange the trial.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor FaustusVol. 19
- p. 221–224Faustus demands a wife, courtesans, and books of spells, planets and plants, driven by lust and insatiable curiosity.read · scan
- p. 237–238The Emperor longs to see Alexander and asks Faustus to satisfy his desire.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of MacbethVol. 46
- p. 368–369Macbeth insists on knowing whether Banquo's issue will reign, threatening the witches.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 165Satan is tormented by unfulfilled desire and resolves to excite in Adam and Eve a desire for forbidden knowledge.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 14–15Man's chief malady is restless curiosity about what he cannot understand.read · scan
- p. 60–61Curiosity is vanity: we wish to know in order to talk.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Preface to ShakespeareVol. 39
- p. 247The allurements of emendation are nearly irresistible; conjecture brings the joy and pride of invention.read · scan
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household TalesVol. 17
- p. 50The girl's craving to know what lies behind the forbidden door gnaws at her until she gives in.read · scan
- p. 57Young king's overpowering curiosity insists on opening the forbidden room; he cannot rest until he sees itread · scan
- p. 133The queen's curiosity and restlessness lead her to bribe servants for the secret of the ball of yarn.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 359–360The bell's deep tone draws both boys with strange power; they must proceed.read · scan
10b.The natural desire to know and its noble ends
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 327–329We neglect nearby wonders because curiosity is excited by remote things and easy gratification dampens desire.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 153Great philosophers' unsatisfied desire to know becomes eternal grief.read · scan
- p. 246Dante's wish to question Virgil rises and falls like a young stork wanting to fly but not venturing.read · scan
- p. 250Lust is punished; the spirits' burning thirst for Dante's answer is compared to that of a man for cooling water.read · scan
- p. 255Virgil smiles at Dante as at a child who eyes the fruit and yields.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, ParadiseVol. 20
- p. 285New sound and great light inflame Dante with keen desire to know their cause.read · scan
- p. 297Natural desire to know would be given in vain if unattainable; it urges us on from height to height.read · scan
- p. 301–304Dante's vehement desire to know the spirits' state.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 206–207Rest from inordinate desire of knowledge and from love of things seen.read · scan
Benvenuto Cellini, The Autobiography of Benvenuto CelliniVol. 31
- p. 127Cellini's intense longing to learn necromancy and his pleasures used to drown his passion.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discovery of GuianaVol. 33
- p. 316Journey undertaken more from desire to discover than from reason.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Dr. John DonneVol. 15
- p. 333He suspects himself of over-earnest desire of the next life and calls immoderate desire of learning the worst voluptuousness.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 136Uriel praises the desire to know God's works as leading to no blame.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 222–223Our curiosity seeks variety; God satisfies it while leading to the one needful thing.read · scan
Edmund Burke, A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and BeautifulVol. 24
- p. 29Curiosity is a sharp but easily satisfied appetite for novelty, restless and ever shifting its object.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and DorotheaVol. 19
- p. 339–340Curiosity draws man first to the novel, then the useful, finally the good which ennobles him.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 286Explorers feel expectation and strong desire to reach summits and to learn whether any human visited a wild spot.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 113Contrasts mean and noble curiosity, from prying servant to explorer and questioning of heaven.read · scan
Robert Louis Stevenson, Samuel PepysVol. 28
- p. 293Pepys's insatiable curiosity and eager pursuit of pleasures, travel, music and study.read · scan
10c.Wanderlust and the longing to travel or return home
See also: Exploration 1b · Diversion 12a
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 141–142Odysseus and his men long for their homeland, and he asks Circe to fulfil her promise of a way home.read · scan
- p. 174Odysseus, eager to return home, watches the sun and longs for its setting like a ploughman for his supper.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 143–144Hearing Egypt praised, he is sleepless with longing, cannot eat, and weeps until his father lets him travel.read · scan
- p. 243Though happy at home, Sindbad feels a longing to travel again for trade and the sight of new lands.read · scan
- p. 250Though prosperous, his soul grows desirous of travel and gain again, 'the soul being prone to evil'.read · scan
- p. 260Though comfortable, Sindibad's wicked soul urges him to travel again from longing for other peoples and gain.read · scan
- p. 273Forgetting past sufferings in joy and gain, Sindbad's mind again urges him to travel and see other lands.read · scan
- p. 282Sindbad's soul longs again for travel and commerce despite past sufferings, forgetting his troubles in comfort.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 106Ulysses' zeal to explore the world overcame love of son, father and wife.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 175The evening hour wakens longing in sailors and pilgrims for farewells and home.read · scan
Traditional BalladsVol. 40
- p. 182–184Robin longs for the greenwood and his old archery life, and asks leave to return.read · scan
- p. 184–186Robin longs for Bernysdale, unable to sleep or eat, and vows a pilgrimage.read · scan
Sir Thomas More, UtopiaVol. 36
- p. 135–137Fervent longing to see home is diminished by agreeable conversation; Peter knows the narrator desires news of strange lands.read · scan
- p. 137He gave up his patrimony out of desire to see and know far countries, caring more for travel than for dying.read · scan
Sir Francis Drake, Sir Francis Drake RevivedVol. 33
- p. 170–171Drake has long longed to see the South Sea and resolves to sail it.read · scan
Edward Haies, Sir Humphrey Gilbert's Voyage to NewfoundlandVol. 33
- p. 294The voyage has won Gilbert's heart to the north, and he refuses land grants there.read · scan
Allan Cunningham, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 782–783Refrain of longing for home and native country, 'hame fain wad I be'.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 239–240The youngest princess longs to hear of the world of men above, her chief pleasure.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 54He cared little for riches and honours but felt exclusion from Parliament and longed for country and travel.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 976–977Hungry heart of roaming, yearning to seek.read · scan
- p. 983–985Longing to escape to tropic islands where passions have scope, away from the march of mind.read · scan
- p. 993–994Those who eat the lotos lose all wish to strive and long only for rest and their island home.read · scan
- p. 996–998The mariners swear an oath to wander no more and to live reclined.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 172Dana longs for the Alert's arrival and a chance to return home and decide his own course.read · scan
- p. 312Crew's eager longing for a sail or land in desolate seas, and dashed hopes when it proves ice.read · scan
- p. 339–341The captain, newly married and long absent, presses sail from desire to get home.read · scan
- p. 349–350Sailors long for shore and talk of their plans, church, the bush, grog-shop, each imagining life after the voyage.read · scan
Henry David Thoreau, WalkingVol. 28
- p. 404–405Each sunset inspires a longing to go to a West as distant and fair as where the sun goes down.read · scan
- p. 418–419His desire for knowledge is intermittent, while his desire for unknown atmospheres is constant.read · scan
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