Baruch Spinoza Desire Quotations

Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.

Desire is the essence of a man.

I shall consider human actions and desires in exactly the same manner, as though I were concerned with lines, planes and solids.

Men who are ruled by reason desire nothing for themselves which they would not wish for all mankind.

Desire nothing for yourself, which you do not desire for others.

Ambition is the immoderate desire for power.

Surely human affairs would be far happier if the power in men to be silent were the same as that to speak. But experience more than sufficiently teaches that men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more easily than their words.

Schisms do not originate in a love of truth, which is a source of courtesy and gentleness, but rather in an inordinate desire for supremacy.