“A ruling passion gives to a shelf of novels the unity of a system.” — Graham Greene Copy Share Image
The ruling passion, be it what it will. The ruling passion conquers reason still. — Alexander Pope Copy Share Image
Search then the ruling passion: This clue, once found, unravels all the rest. — Alexander Pope Copy Share Image
love of truth, ordinary common truth recognizable to everyone, is the ruling passion of the novel. — Mary McCarthy Copy Share Image
The love of letters is the forlorn hope of the man of letters. His ruling passion is the love of fame. — William Hazlitt Copy Share Image
When you find out a man's ruling passion, beware of crossing him in it. — William Hazlitt Copy Share Image
“Honesty, like any inclination, can become a ruling passion, a monomania almost.” — Sena Jeter Naslund Copy Share Image
My idea of a delicious time is to read a book that is wonderful. But the ruling passion of my life is… — Bell Hooks Copy Share Image
In men, we various ruling passions find; In women, two almost divide the kind Those, only fixed, they first or last obey,… — Alexander Pope Copy Share Image
The desire of reward is one of the strongest incentives of human conduct; ... the best security for the fidelity of mankind… — Alexander Hamilton Copy Share Image
In how large a proportion of creatures is existence composed of one ruling passion, the most agonizing of all sensations--fear. — Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton Copy Share Image
The desire of perfection became the ruling passion of their soul; and it is well known, that while reason embraces a cold… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
Search then the ruling passion; there alone, The wild are constant, and the cunning known; The fool consistent, and the false sincere;… — Alexander Pope Copy Share Image
Since the age of 15 poetry has been my ruling passion and I have never intentionally undertaken any task or formed any… — Robert Graves Copy Share Image
The law of England is much more severe upon offences against property than against the person, as becomes a people whose ruling… — H. Rider Haggard Copy Share Image
This position will not be disputed, so long as it is admitted that the desire of reward is one of the strongest… — Alexander Hamilton Copy Share Image
It is to deny, what the history of the world tells us is true, to suppose that men of ambition and talents… — Abraham Lincoln Copy Share Image
The love of liberty was the ruling passion of these Germans; the enjoyment of it, their best treasure; the word that expressed… — Edward Gibbon Copy Share Image
... the whole of society in Washington is to some degree political. It is like no other capital city known to me,… — Storm Jameson Copy Share Image
Madness is consistent; which is more than can be said for poor reason. Whatever may be the ruling passion at the time… — Laurence Sterne Copy Share Image
The ruling passion of the age is to convert wealth into debt in order to derive a permanent future income from it… — Frederick Soddy Copy Share Image
Curiosity, which may or may not eventuate in something useful, is probably the most outstanding characteristic of modern thinking ... Institutions of… — Abraham Flexner Copy Share Image
One desire has been the ruling passion of my life. One high motive has acted like a spur upon my mind and… — Abraham Kuyper Copy Share Image
“Every passion that acts upon mankind has a peculiar mode of operation. Many of them are temporary and fluctuating; they admit of… — Thomas Paine Copy Share Image
When a man gives himself up to the government of a ruling passion,--or, in other words, when his HOBBY-HORSE grows head- strong,--farewell… — Laurence Sterne Copy Share Image
Freud was way off base in considering sex the fundamental motivation. The ruling passion in men is minding each other's business. — Robert Frost Copy Share Image
