It must be soöPlato, thou reason'st well!ö Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror, Of falling into naught? Why shrinks the soul Back on herself, and startles at destruction 'Tis the divinity that stirs within us; 'Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter, And intimates eternity to man. Eternity! thou pleasing, dreadful thought!

-Addison,Joseph
  Cato, act 5, sc.1, l.1^10.

   It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty.

-Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans
  Essays, no.11,'Of Great Place'.

It is a miserable state of mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear.

-Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans
  Essays, no.19,'Of Empire'.

Political economy tracesinanabstract way theeffects of the desire to be rich; and nations must nowadays abound in that passion if theyare to have much poweror respect in the world.

-Bagehot,Walter
  'Preliminaries of Political Economy', collected in Economic Studies (1880).

The desire not to be impinged upon, to be left to oneself, has been the markof high civilisation both on the part of individuals and communities.

-Berlin, Sir Isaiah
  Four Essays on Liberty.

The trouble in modern democracy is that men do not approach to leadership until they have lost the desire to lead anyone.

-Beveridge,William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron
  In the Observer,15  Apr.

And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever sheasked, besidethat whichshehad brought unto the king.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Chronicles 9:12.

Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Job 31:35.

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that gettethunderstanding.For themerchandise of it isbetter than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the thingsthoucanst desirearenottobe compared untoher. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Proverbs 3:13^18.

Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Proverbs13:12.

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because theyare few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low: Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and mournersgo about the streets: Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

-Bible (Old Testament)
Ecclesiastes12:1^7.

Rootless hope and fruitless desire are there; Let them go to the fire, with never a look behind. The world that was ours is a world that is ours no more.

-Binyon, (Robert) Laurence
  'The Burning of the Leaves'.

Ah, sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun, Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveller's journey is done; Where the youth pined away with desire And the pale virgin shrouded in snow Arise from their graves, and aspire Where my sunflower wishes to go.

-Blake,William
  Songs of Experience,'Ah! Sunflower'.

Bring me my bow of burning gold! Bring me myarrows of desire! Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold! Bring me my chariot of fire!

-Blake,William
  Milton, preface. Stanza 3.

And I replied unto all these things which encompass the door of my flesh,'Ye have told me of my god, that ye are not he: tell me something of him'. And theycried all with a great voice,'He made us'.Myquestioning themwasmy mind's desire, and their Beauty was their answer.

-Bridges, Robert Seymour
  The Spirit of Man: The Confessions of St  Augustine.

I reflected how easy it is for a man to reduce women of a certain age to imbecility. All he has to do isgive an impersonation of desire, or better still, of secret knowledge, for a woman to feel herself a source of power.

-Brookner, Anita
  A Family Romance, ch.7.

O lyric love half angel and half bird And all a wonder and a wild desire.

-Browning, Robert
^9  The Ring and the Book, bk.1, l.1391^2.

Gie me ae spark o' Nature's fire, That's a'the learning I desire.

-Burns, Robert
  'Epistle to  J. Lapraik,  An Old Scotch Bard,1  April1785', stanza13.

I tell you naught for your comfort, Yea, naught for your desire, Save that the sky grows darker yet And the sea rises higher.

-Chesterton, G(ilbert) K(eith)
Ballad of the White Horse, bk.1.

The man's desire is for the woman; but the woman's desire is rarely other than for the desire of the man.

-Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
  Table Talk (published1835), entry for 23  Jul.