Longing Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old longing quotes, longing sayings, and longing proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Longing is not always a reciprocal thing. Kate Dicamillo
The yearning for an afterlife is the opposite of selfish: it is love and praise for the world that we are privileged, in this complex interval of light, to witness and experience. John Updike
Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living. Jim Elliot
Desire makes everything blossom; possession makes everything wither and fade. Marcel Proust
Passing into higher forms of desire, that which slumbered in the plant, and fitfully stirred in the beast, awakes in the man. Henry George
The longing for peace is rooted in the hearts of all men. But the striving, which at present has become so insistent, cannot lay claim to such an ambition as leading the way to eternal peace, or solving all disputes among nations. Alva Myrdal
Feeling and longing are the motive forces behind all human endeavor and human creations. Albert Einstein
There is a space between man's imagination and man's attainment that may only be traversed by his longing. Kahlil Gibran
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself. Oscar Wilde
If some longing goes unmet, don't be astonished. We call that life. Anna Freud
The longing for light is the longing for consciousness. Carl Jung
Art is longing. You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope that you will. Anselm Kiefer
We are all wondering the earth, alone, longing to be longed for. William C. Hannan
Only longing can fill with more of itself. Virginia Woolf
Every person has a longing to be significant; to make a contribution; to be a part of something noble and purposeful. John C. Maxwell
Desires are central to the soul's unfolding and should not be dismissed before giving them careful attention. Thomas Moore
Longing, the hope for fulfillment, is the one unwavering passion of the world's commerce. E. L. Doctorow
Our longing is our pledge, and blessed are the homesick, for they shall come home. Isak Dinesen
Longing and desire goes further than instant satisfaction. That's human nature. Anna Sui
The absolute yearning of one human body for another particular body and its indifference to substitutes is one of life's major mysteries. Iris Murdoch
Longing on a large scale makes history. Don DeLillo
Is there anything better than to be longing for something, when you know it is within reach? Greta Garbo
Longing is a compass that guides us through life. We may never get what we really want, that's true, but every step along the way will be determined by it. Joan D. Chittister
One of the deepest longings of the human soul is to be seen. John O'Donohue
The act of longing for something will always be more intense than the requiting of it. Gail Godwin
Longing is like the rosy dawn. After the dawn out comes the sun. Longing is followed by the vision of God. Ramakrishna
It is the future that creates his present. All is an interminable chain of longing. Robert Frost
Longing is like a seed that wrestles in the ground. Emily Dickinson
Longing is the core of mystery. Longing itself brings the cure. The only rule is, suffer the pain. Your desires must be disciplined And what you want to happen in time, sacrificed. Rumi
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence. William Blake