quotations about passion
Let all of life be an unfettered howl.
VLADIMIR NABOKOV
The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov
A man without passion is only a latent force, only a possibility, like a stone waiting for the blow from the iron to give forth sparks.
HENRI-FREDERIC AMIEL
Journal Intime
The soul is never perfectly secure from the influence of passion; the occasional tranquility she seems to enjoy, is rather relaxation than imperturbable triumph.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
It is difficult to say which is the greatest evil--to have too violent passions, or to be wholly devoid of them. Controlled with firmness, guided by discretion, and hallowed by the imagination, the passions are the vivifiers and quickeners of our being. Without passion there can be no energy of character. Indeed, the passions are like fire, useful in a thousand ways, and dangerous only in one--through their excess.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
What passion cannot Music raise and quell?
JOHN DRYDEN
St. Cecilia's Day
All passion becomes strength when it has an outlet.
GEORGE ELIOT
Adam Bede
If ardent passions push not men on to lofty enterprise, calm wisdom never will accomplish it.
VITTORIO ALFIERI
Timoleon
Everyone's got to be passionate about something, or they're not worth shit.
JOSEPH FINDER
Paranoia
Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for the time, leave us the weaker ever after.
ALEXANDER POPE
"Thoughts on Various Subjects"
To be exempt from the passions with which others are tormented, is the only pleasing solitude.
JOSEPH ADDISON
The Spectator, March 5, 1711
Many people in reasoning on the passions make a continual appeal to common sense. But passion is without common sense, and we must frequently discard the one in speaking of the other.
WILLIAM HAZLITT
Characteristics
Passion is hugely contagious, while the ersatz variety leaves everyone switched off. It also leaves many a lad with a potato clock he doesn't want and can't palm off on his sister for love nor money.
ROWAN PELLING
"Giving science toys to boys is not the worst of it -- we all secretly try to control our kids with gifts", The Telegraph, December 11, 2016
Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping ... waiting ... and though unwanted ... unbidden ... it will stir ... open its jaws, and howl. It speaks to us ... guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments ... the joy of love ... the clarity of hatred ... and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd truly be dead.
ANGELUS
"Passion", Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Human passion is a heavy working charge of electricity, which runs safely and profitably through the cable reason; but, if the cable is broken, the current becomes dangerous.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
Passion is not well bred.
JEANETTE WINTERSON
Written on the Body
As a storm conceals the glories of the sun and defaces the beauty of the landscape, even so do maddening passions deform the soul, bearing along with their impetuous waves both pestilence and death.
WILLIAM SCOTT DOWNEY
Proverbs
I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life.... If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.
ROALD DAHL
My Uncle Oswald
Give me that man
That is not passion's slave.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Hamlet
When the heart is still disturbed by the relics of a passion it is proner to take up a new one than when wholly cured.
FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
When the mind is clouded with passions, it is odds but a man misses his way.
WELLINS CALCOTT
Thoughts Moral and Divine