
“We ought not to desire the impossible.”
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Maxim 559 [Mimi et aliorum sententiae 677]
Sentences, The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave
Quod vult habet, qui cupere quod sat est potest.
“We ought not to desire the impossible.”
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), VII : Love, Suffering, Pity
The Thirteenth Revelation, Chapter 30
“Nothing prevents us being natural so much as the desire to appear so.”
Rien n'empêche tant d'être naturel que l'envie de le paraître.
Maxim 431.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)
This Business of Living (1935-1950)
“There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.”
No. 512 (17 October 1712).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“I have so much of desire that desire itself is my fulfillment.”
The Secrets of Ishbar (1996)