“If I had a desire, it would be to be free from desire.”

“If I had a prayer, it would be this: “God spare me from the desire for love, approval, and appreciation. Amen.””

“(…) Desiring a state of freedom from desire will not set you free. Nothing can set you free, because you are free. See yourself with desireless clarity, that is all.”

“There are two kinds of freedom to be found in our world: the freedom of desires, and the freedom from desires. Our modern Western culture only recognizes the first of these, freedom of desires. It then worships such a freedom by enshrining it at the forefront of national constitutions and bills of human rights. One can say that the underlying creed of most Western democracies is to protect their people's freedom to realize their desires, as far as this is possible. It is remarkable that in such countries people do not feel very free. The second kind of freedom, freedom from desires, is celebrated only in some religious communities. It celebrates contentment, peace that is free from desires. It is remarkable that in such abstemious communities like my monastery, people feel free.”

“The trouble with Buddhism?-- in order to free oneself of all desire, one has to desire to do so.”

“The world is going on because not all can be free of desires. People with desires are born again and again.”

“I remember thinking that walking on the beach as a free man is pretty desirable.”

“Sometimes she did not know what she feared, what she desired: whether she feared or desired what had been or what would be, and precisely what she desired, she did not know.”

“Properly understood, then, the desire to act justly derives in part from the desire to express most fully what we are or can be, namely free and equal rational beings with the liberty to choose.”

“So long as there is desire or want, it is a sure sign that there is imperfection. A perfect, free being cannot have any desire.”