Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp -- or what's a heaven for? --Robert Browning

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy. --Charlie McCarthy

Better murder an infant in its cradle than nurse an unacted desire --William Blake

Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought. --Thucydides

I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it. --Mae West

I never resist temptation, because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me. --George Bernard Shaw

I'm a simple man. All I want is enough sleep for two normal men, enough whiskey for three, and enough women for four. --Joel Rosenberg

It is good to be without vices, but it is not good to be without temptations. --Walter Bagehot

It's not peace I want, not mere contentment. It's boundless joy and ecstasy for me. --Kugell

Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I accomplish. --Michelangelo

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. --Oscar Wilde

There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your heart's desire. The other is to gain it. --George Bernard Shaw

Think, and be careful what thou art within; For there is sin in the desire of sin; Think, and be thankful, in a different case; For there is grace in the desire of grace. --John Byrom

Those who flee temptation generally leave a forwarding address. --Lane Olinghouse

We do not succeed in changing things according to our desire, but gradually our desire changes. --Marcel Proust

Whatever you want too much you can't have, so when you really want something, try to want it a little less. --Joel Rosenberg

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. --Alexander Graham Bell