Desire Quote by André Aciman
““Or are "being" and "having" thoroughly inaccurate verbs in the twisted skein of desire, where having someone's body to touch and being that someone we're longing to touch are one and the same, just opposite banks on a river that passes from us to them, back to us and over to them again in this perpetual circuit where the chambers of the heart, like the trapdoors of desire, and the wormholes of time, and the false-bottomed drawer we call identity share a beguiling logic according to which the shortest distance between real life and the life unlived, between who we are and what we want, is a twisted staircase designed with the impish cruelty of M. C. Escher.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: Call Me By Your Name, 2007
Explores the intertwining of being and having in desire, likening it to an endless, paradoxical loop.
In simple terms: Desire blurs identity and possession.
Key Takeaway
Recognize desire’s cyclical nature.
Themes
desire
identity
philosophy
Mood
introspective
poetic
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- intimate relationships
- self‑reflection
- artistic creation
Key Concepts
existentialism
psychology
Questions to Reflect On
- How does desire shape self‑perception?
- Can you break the loop of longing?
A Different Perspective
Complexity may cause confusion.
![“Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three [great teachers] did not tell - they catalyzed a burning desire to know. Under their influence, the horizons sprung wide and fear went away and the unknown became knowable. But most important of…” quote by John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/84c/john-steinbeck-71_art_teaching-might-even-be-the-greatest-of-t_1738.jpg)
