A true saying it is, ‘Desire hath no rest;‘ is infinite in itself, endless; and as one calls it, a perpetual rack, or horse-mill, according to Austin, still going round as in a ring.

Robert Burton
About This Quote

With this quote, William Shakespeare captures a truth that has been around for centuries. Desire is a driving force so strong that it cannot be controlled. It is endless. If you desire something, you will find a way to get it.

For example, if someone wants to become a professional basketball player, they will spend hours practicing their shot and perfecting their moves until they are ready to play at the highest level of competition. In that moment, whatever desire they have will be realized.

Source: The Anatomy Of Melancholy: What It Is, With All The Kinds, Causes, Symptoms, Prognostics, And Several Cures Of It. In Three Partitions; With Their Several Sections, Members, And Subsections, Philosophically, Medically, Historically Opened And Cut Up

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own. - Robert A. Heinlein
  2. Happiness [is] only real when shared - Jon Krakauer
  3. Part of the problem with the word 'disabilities' is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear or walk or do other things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can't feel? Or talk about their feelings? Or... - Fred Rogers
  4. Top 15 Things Money Can’t BuyTime. Happiness. Inner Peace. Integrity. Love. Character. Manners. Health. Respect. Morals. Trust. Patience. Class. Common sense. Dignity. - Roy T. Bennett
  5. Even if you cannot change all the people around you, you can change the people you choose to be around. Life is too short to waste your time on people who don’t respect, appreciate, and value you. Spend your life with people who make you... - Roy T. Bennett
More Quotes By Robert Burton
  1. A true saying it is, ‘Desire hath no rest;‘ is infinite in itself, endless; and as one calls it, a perpetual rack, or horse-mill, according to Austin, still going round as in a ring.
  2. No Centaurs here, or Gorgons look to find, My subject is of man, and human kind.
  3. They are proud in humility proud that they are not proud.
  4. If the world will be gulled let it be gulled.
  5. Hope and patience are two sovereign remedies for all the surest reposals the softest cushions to lean on in adversity.
Related Topics