“We ought not to desire the impossible.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
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
“We ought not to desire the impossible.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) 19th-20th century Spanish writer and philosopher
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), VII : Love, Suffering, Pity
“Nothing prevents us being natural so much as the desire to appear so.”
François de La Rochefoucauld book Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
Rien n'empêche tant d'être naturel que l'envie de le paraître.
Maxim 431.
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims (1665–1678)
Cesare Pavese (1908–1950) Italian poet, novelist, literary critic, and translator
This Business of Living (1935-1950)
“There is nothing which we receive with so much reluctance as advice.”
Joseph Addison (1672–1719) politician, writer and playwright
No. 512 (17 October 1712).
The Spectator (1711–1714)
“I have so much of desire that desire itself is my fulfillment.”
Subhash Kak (1947) Indian computer scientist
The Secrets of Ishbar (1996)