Passion can be destructive, or it can push a person to noble deeds. The words of great people about this phenomenon of emotional life shed light on its nature.
Schiller's words
The following quote about passion was delivered by the great German poet Friedrich Schiller :
When we passionately love someone who deserves our contempt, we painfully feel the shackles of nature.
It often happens that a person experiences a bright feeling towards those who are completely unworthy of it. But how can one order the heart? Most often this cannot be done. And in this case, a person’s passion plays a cruel joke with him - because it was then, according to Schiller, that the limitations that his inner nature imposes on a person are most acutely felt. What to do in this case? It may be necessary to prevail over this nature.
Opinion Laroshfuko
And this quote about passion belongs to the pen of Francois IV de Larochefoucauld. This statement says that every passion can lead to errors. He said:
Any passion pushes mistakes, but love pushes the most stupid ones.
A person who is too keen on some idea becomes as if obsessed. He forgets about other areas of life, about the need to pay attention, for example, to his health, or his family. As a result, this leads to significant problems in those areas that have been forgotten due to this passion.
But as for love, here people get into the most annoying troubles. For example, a man may fall in love with a girl who will “drive him by the nose” because of money. When he discovers her true motives, it turns out that she has already received everything she needs from him. Or a woman blinded by passion can leave her family and children for a new love. After some time, these ardent emotions will cool off, but there will be no turning back. She will remain without the support of loved ones, as she succumbed to momentary passion.
Life Force Giving Movement
The following quote about the passion that belongs to Voltaire, in poetic form describes the benefits of the enthusiastic aspirations of man.
Passion is the winds blowing the sails of a ship; the wind, however, sometimes drowns the ship, but without it the ship could not sail.
Often you can hear the opinion that any passion is evil. Many believe that moderation in everything should be the best philosophy in life. On the one hand, there is a rational grain in this opinion. After all, showing moderation, a person does not commit unnecessary actions. He preserves logic and a clear mind in any life situation.
Passion can really be compared with strong winds. Sometimes they become stormy, and in this case, the metaphorical “ship” of a person’s life can break, drown. Often, because of strong emotions, you can lose the support of loved ones, work, and a good reputation.
But on the other hand, Voltaire in his quote about passion is right: it is emotional passion and fervor that allow a person to move forward. Being overcome by a strong desire to achieve a specific goal, he moves faster towards it. In this case, his aspirations, no matter what they touch, will move him forward to the cherished dream.
Saying by Ludwig Feuerbach
Quotes about passions show that they are not always fatal to humans. On the contrary, in some cases, strong aspiration allows you to achieve those goals that in the ordinary state require very great effort. This is evidenced by a quote belonging to L. Feuerbach:
In an enthusiastic state, a person is able to do something that is otherwise directly impossible. Passions work miracles, that is, actions that exceed the strength of an organ in a normal, unemotional state.
Often in a state of strong emotional arousal, a person is capable of such acts that would be impossible for him without these emotions. Physical forces in the normal state would not be enough to do such things. It is strong experiences that force one to move forward, to achieve even those goals that seem distant and practically unattainable.
In this sense, a quote about Feuerbach’s passion reveals the same facet of this experience as Voltaire’s words. These statements demonstrate that, without passions and desires, a person’s life would be empty, aimless. The fuse and strong aspirations, on the contrary, are an indispensable "fuel", allowing to achieve sometimes impossible goals.
About managing yourself
Many quotes about passions teach how to get the better of them, and how not to succumb to their powerful influence. For example, one such statement is the following, by Henry Shaw:
Virtue does not consist in the absence of passions, but in the management of them.
People can boast that they have no desires, and they are completely detached from the temptations of this world. But such a virtue is highly doubtful. After all, a person needs much more courage in order to become higher than his passions, and not just abandon them. Those who do not suppress their emotions, but reasonably manage them, actually live a much richer and more saturated life. Moreover, such a person will not suffer from the devastating consequences of emotions that have come off the coast.
Quotes about passion and temptation
A lot of statements on this subject apply to the field of sensual passions. Some consider them destructive. Others, on the contrary, believe that it is precisely this kind of passion that gives a person a sense of fullness of life.
The opinion reflecting the critical mood is expressed in the words of the French writer Emile Zola: "There is no sin heavier than passions." Indeed, many tend to condemn overly strong experiences that overshadow the mind, and deny the ability to sensibly assess the situation.
But there are other statements about passions of this kind. Some words condemn strong feelings, others give recommendations on how to deal with them. Here are some of these quotes:
It is passion that gives kisses a sweetness; it is love that makes a kiss an action. Christian Bowie
In the fight against seductive thoughts, it can be useful to look for societies of people more virtuous than yourself. Epictetus
I can resist everything except temptation. Oscar Ould
Love and passion are experiences that are an integral part of human nature. You can not blame them unequivocally. And whether they are good or bad, helps to understand the statements of prominent personalities.