925 verses about Desires

The belly will eat any meat; Yet is one meat better than another.

The beauty of a woman cheers the countenance; And a man desires nothing so much.

For all things are not profitable for all men, Neither has every soul pleasure in every thing.

Be not insatiable in any luxury, And be not greedy on the things that you eatest.

Your eye shall desire grace and beauty; And above both the green blade of corn.

O death, how bitter is the remembrance of you to a man that is at peace in his possessions, To the man that has nothing to distract him, and has prosperity in all things, And that still has strength to receive meat!

Look not upon every body in regard of beauty, And sit not in the midst of women;

With a crown of gold upon the mitre, having graven on it, as on a signet, HOLINESS, An ornament of honor, a work of might, The desires of the eyes, goodly and beautiful.

You did bow your loins to women, And in your body you were brought into subjection.

My inward part also was troubled to seek her: Therefore I have gotten a good possession.

Say, wherefore are you⌃ lacking in these things, And your souls are very thirsty?

but we walked every man in the imagination of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

And the two elders saw her going in every day, and walking; and they were inflamed with love for her.

And albeit they both were wounded with her love, yet dared not one show another his grief.

For they were ashamed to declare their lust, that they desired to have to do with her.

Yet they watched jealously from day to day to see her.

So when they were gone out, they parted the one from the other, and turning back again they came to the same place; and after that they had asked one another the cause, they acknowledged their lust: and then appointed they a time both together, when they might find her alone.

And it fell out, as they watched a fit day, she went in as aforetime with two maids only, and she was desirous to wash herself in the garden: for it was hot.

Behold, the garden doors are shut, that no man can see us, and we are in love with you; therefore consent to us, and lie with us.

And these wicked men commanded her to be unveiled, (for she was veiled) that they might be filled with her beauty.

So he put him aside, and commanded to bring the other, and said to him, O you seed of Canaan, and not of Judah, beauty has deceived you, and lust has perverted your heart.

And he cast blame on him, because he coveted his kingdom.

so that the priests had no more any zeal for the services of the altar: but despising the sanctuary, and neglecting the sacrifices, they hastened to enjoy that which was unlawfully provided in the palaestra, after the summons of the discus;

By reason whereof sore calamity beset them; and the men whose ways of living they earnestly followed, and to whom they desired to be made like in all things, these they had to be their enemies and to punish them.

If you⌃ fare well, we have our desire: we ourselves also are in good health.

Menelaus informed us that your desire was to return home and follow your own business.

And if I have written well and to the point in my story, this is what I myself desired; but if meanly and indifferently, this is all I could attain to.

and it makes every heart rich, so that a man remembers neither king nor satrap; and it makes to speak all things by talents:

Yes, and if men have gathered together gold and silver and any other goodly thing, and see a woman which is comely in favor and beauty,

they let all those things go, and gape after her, and even with open mouth fix their eyes fast on her; and have all more desire to her than to gold or silver, or any goodly thing whatever.

Yes, many there be that have run out of their wits for women, and become bondmen for their sakes.

and therewithal the king gaped and gazed upon her with open mouth: if she laughed upon him, he laughed also: but if she took any displeasure at him, he was fain to flatter, that she might be reconciled to him again.

And now, O lord the king, this is that which I require, and which I desire of you, and this is the princely generosity that shall proceed from you: I pray therefore that you make good the vow, the performance whereof you have vowed to the King of heaven with your own mouth.

And there I vowed a fast for the young men before our Lord, to desire of him a prosperous journey both for us and for our children and cattle that were with us:

he was so struck with the magnificence of the place, and so wondered at the orderly arrangements of the temple, that he considered entering the sanctuary itself.

The sun’s rays were not yet shed abroad, and the king was waiting for his friends, when Hermon came to him, calling him out, and saying, That his desires could now be realized.

saying, Why have you brought us into this wilderness to kill us? it had been better for us to have served the Egyptians, than to die in this wilderness.

The number of your children, whom you long for, is fulfilled: beseech the power of the Lord, that your people, which have been called from the beginning, may be hallowed.

whereof if you can declare me one, I also will show you the way that you desire to see, and I will teach you wherefore the heart is wicked.

And when I heard these things I fell upon my face, and said to him, It were better that we were not here at all, than that we should come here and live in the midst of ungodliness, and suffer, and not know wherefore.

Then shall it be showed you concerning those things which you desire to see.

whoso then should desire to go into the sea to look upon it, or to rule it, if he went not through the narrow, how could he come into the broad?

Judge you therefore which things are precious and to be desired, whatso is abundant or what is rare.

And I said, O Lord that bear rule, that which is plentiful is of less worth, for that which is more rare is more precious.

And he answered me, and said, Weigh within yourself the things that you have thought, for he that has what is hard to get rejoices over him that has what is plentiful.

The first order, because they have striven with great labor to overcome the evil thought which was fashoned together with them, that it might not lead them astray from life into death.

And you shall mortify it as your creature, and quicken it as your work.

For if you have a desire to have mercy upon us, then shall you be called merciful, to us, namely, that have no works of righteousness.

As for me, I have not forsaken you, neither am I departed from you: but am come into this place, to pray for the desolation of Sion, and that I might seek mercy for the low estate of your sanctuary.

understanding the things that are laid up in the latter days, but not attaining to them.

woe to you, you wretch, because you have made yourself like to her; you have decked your daughters in whoredom, that they might please and glory in your lovers, which have always desired you to commit whoredom withal!

for one man shall desire to see another, or to hear his voice.

As I am going to demonstrate a most philosophical proposition, namely, that religious reasoning is absolute master of the passions, I would willingly advise you to give the utmost heed to philosophy.

If, then, reasoning appears to hold the mastery over the passions which stand in the way of temperance, such as gluttony and lust,

it surely also and manifestly has the rule over the affections which are contrary to justice, such as malice; and of those which are hindrances to manliness, as wrath, and pain, and fear.

For reasoning does not rule over its own affections, but over such as are contrary to justice, and manliness and temperance, and prudence; and yet over these, so as to withstand, without destroying them.

The question, therefore, is, whether reasoning be absolute master of the passions.

Let us determine, then, What is reasoning? and what passion? and how many forms of the passions? and whether reasoning bears sway over all of these?

Of the passions, pleasure and pain are the two most comprehensive; and they also by nature refer to the soul.

And there are many attendant affections surrounding pleasure and pain.

Before pleasure is lust; and after pleasure, joy.

Wrath is an affection, common to pleasure and to pain, if any one will pay attention when it comes upon him.

And there exists in pleasure a malicious disposition, which is the most multiform of all the affections.

In the soul it is arrogance, and love of money, and vaingloriousness, and contention, and faithlessness, and the evil eye.

In the body it is greediness and gormandizing, and solitary gluttony.

As pleasure and pain are, therefore, two growth of the body and the soul, so there are many offshoots of these passions.

For reasoning is the leader of the virtues, but it is the sole ruler of the passions. Observe then first, through the very things which stand in the way of temperance, that reasoning is absolute ruler of the passions.

Now temperance consists of a command over the lusts.

But of the lusts, some belong to the soul, others to the body: and over each of these classes the reasoning appears to bear sway.

For whence is it, otherwise, that when urged on to forbidden meats, we reject the gratification which would ensue from them? Is it not because reasoning is able to command the appetites? I believe so.

Hence it is, then, that when lusting after water-animals and birds, and four-footed beasts, and all kinds of food which are forbidden us by the law, we withhold ourselves through the mastery of reasoning.

For the affections of our appetites are resisted by the temperate understanding, and bent back again, and all the impulses of the body are reined in by reasoning.

And what wonder? if the lusts of the soul, after participation with what is beautiful, are frustrated,

on this ground, therefore, the temperate Joseph is praised in that by reasoning, he subdued, on reflection, the indulgence of sense.

For, although young, and ripe for sexual intercourse, he abrogated by reasoning the stimulus of his passions.

And it is not merely the stimulus of sensual indulgence, but that of every desire, that reasoning is able to master.

For instance, the law says, You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Now, then, since it is the law which has forbidden us to desire, I shall much the more easily persuade you, that reasoning is able to govern our lusts, just as it does the affections which are impediments to justice.

Since in what way is a solitary eater, and a glutton, and a drunkard reclaimed, unless it be clear that reasoning is lord of the passions?

A man, therefore, who regulates his course by the law, even if he be a lover of money, straightway puts force upon his own disposition; lending to the needy without interest, and cancelling the debt of the incoming Sabbath.

And reason appears to be master of the more violent passions, as love of empire and empty boasting, and slander.

For the temperate understanding repels all these malignant passions, as it does wrath: for it masters even this.

For the temperate mind is able, as I said, to be superior to the passions, and to transfer some, and destroy others.

For at the time when God created man, He implanted within him his passions and moral nature.

How, then, a man may say, if reasoning be master of the passions, has it no control over forgetfulness and ignorance?

The argument is exceedingly ridiculous: for reasoning does not appear to bear sway over its own affections, but over those of the body,

in such a way as that any one of you may not be able to root out desire, but reasoning will enable you to avoid being enslaved to it.

For reasoning is not an eradicator, but an antagonist of the passions.

And this may be more clearly comprehended from the thirst of king David.

but the king, being very much thirsty, although he had numerous springs, could not by their means quench his thirst;

but a certain irrational longing for the water in the enemy’s camp grew stronger and fiercer upon him, and consumed him with languish.

Wherefore his bodyguards being troubled at this longing of the king, two valiant young soldiers, reverencing the desire of the king, put on their panoplies, and taking a pitcher, got over the ramparts of the enemies:

But he, though parched with thirst, reasoned that a draught reputed of equal value to blood, would be terribly dangerous to his soul.

Wherefore, setting up reasoning in opposition to his desire, he poured out the draught to God.

For the temperate mind has power to conquer the pressure of the passions, and to quench the fires of excitement,

and to wrestle down the pains of the body, however excessive; and, through the excellency of reasoning, to abominate all the assaults of the passions.

It seems senseless not to enjoy what is pleasant, yet not disgraceful; and from notions of sinfulness, to reject the boons of nature.

Yet it instructs us in temperance, so that we are superior to all pleasures and lusts; and it exercises us in manliness, so that we cheerfully undergo every grievance.

Those things which are convenient to our souls, he has directed us to eat; but those which are repugnant to them, he has interdicted.

Confessedly, therefore, religious reasoning is master of the passions.