--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Life is short. But desire, desire is long." description: "\"Life is short. But desire, desire is long.\" — Jane Hirshfield" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jane-hirshfield-2649_desire_life-is-short-but-desire-desire-is-long_2839468.png" --- # Life is short. But desire, desire is long. ![“Life is short. But desire, desire is long.” quote by Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jane-hirshfield-2649_desire_life-is-short-but-desire-desire-is-long_2839468.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jane-hirshfield-2649_desire_life-is-short-but-desire-desire-is-long_2839468.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jane-hirshfield-2649_desire_life-is-short-but-desire-desire-is-long_2839468.png) > “Life is short. But desire, desire is long.” [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life is brief, yet desire endures, highlighting the tension between temporal existence and lasting longing. **In simple terms:** Life is short, desire lasts. Key Takeaway Recognize enduring desires beyond fleeting time. Themes impermanence longing time Mood thoughtful melancholic Type philosophical poetic When to use this quote - career planning - relationship goals - artistic pursuits Key Concepts existential psychology Questions to Reflect On - What long‑term desires shape your life? - How do you balance fleeting moments with lasting goals? A Different Perspective Desire can cause dissatisfaction. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Desire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life is short](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-is-short/) ## Related quotes > [And my desire,' he said, 'is a desire that is as long as a year; but it is love given to an echo, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/and-my-desire-he-said-is-a-desire-that-is-as-long-as-a-year-but-it-is/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The secret to desire in a long-term relationship](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/the-secret-to-desire-in-a-long-term-relationship/) [Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/) > [It is vanity to desire a long life and to take no heed of a good life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-a-kempis/it-is-vanity-to-desire-a-long-life-and-to-take-no-heed-of-a-good-life/) [Thomas a Kempis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-a-kempis/) > [“Maintaining a desire long enough until it comes to fruition is necessary.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-redhead/maintaining-a-desire-long-enough-until-it-comes-to-fruition-is/) [Steven Redhead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-redhead/) > [What I've learned is that life is too short and movies are too long.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-leary/what-i-ve-learned-is-that-life-is-too-short-and-movies-are-too-long/) [Denis Leary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-leary/) > [My life is short. I can't listen to banality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/v-s-naipaul/my-life-is-short-i-can-t-listen-to-banality/) [V. S. Naipaul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/v-s-naipaul/) > [“Life is short, and that's why, I don't test people; because we all fail tests sometimes, but that is supposed to be okay! I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-joybell-c/life-is-short-and-that-s-why-i-don-t-test-people-because-we-all-fail/) [C. JoyBell C](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-joybell-c/) > [“Life is short. Be sure to make your mark.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-r-johannes/life-is-short-be-sure-to-make-your-mark/) [S.R. Johannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-r-johannes/) > [“Life is short, but wide.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-wells/life-is-short-but-wide/) [Rebecca Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-wells/) > [“because life is short and it's better when you speak your heart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mimi-strong/because-life-is-short-and-it-s-better-when-you-speak-your-heart/) [Mimi Strong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mimi-strong/) > [Life is short. Smile while you have teeth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danish/life-is-short-smile-while-you-have-teeth/) [Danish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danish/) > [“Life is short. The world is big. It awaits your exploration. If you're not living on the edge, you're just taking up way too…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-beaver/life-is-short-the-world-is-big-it-awaits-your-exploration-if-you-re/) Paul Beaver > [Life is short is what some n\* said, not if you measure life - by how one lives and what he did.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nas/life-is-short-is-what-some-n-said-not-if-you-measure-life-by-how-one/) [Nas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nas/) > [Life is short, so go for things you enjoy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darcey-bussell/life-is-short-so-go-for-things-you-enjoy/) [Darcey Bussell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darcey-bussell/) > [Life is short, death is forever](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/life-is-short-death-is-forever/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) ## More by Jane Hirshfield > [I don't have a cell phone (though for years I've kept saying, "soon").](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-don-t-have-a-cell-phone-though-for-years-i-ve-kept-saying-soon/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [I once was asked to contribute to a mushroom poem anthology. I didn't have anything, and so instead ended up writing the introduction. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-once-was-asked-to-contribute-to-a-mushroom-poem-anthology-i-didn-t/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Everything has two endings- a horse, a piece of string, a phone call. Before a life, air. And after. As silence is not silence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/everything-has-two-endings-a-horse-a-piece-of-string-a-phone-call/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [A certain amount of housekeeping also goes on in my poems. I wash doorknobs, do dishes, mop floors, patch carpets, cook.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/a-certain-amount-of-housekeeping-also-goes-on-in-my-poems-i-wash/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Self carries grief as a pack mule carries the side bags, being careful between the trees to leave extra room.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/self-carries-grief-as-a-pack-mule-carries-the-side-bags-being-careful/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [My job as a human being as well as a writer is to feel as thoroughly as possible the experience that I am part…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/my-job-as-a-human-being-as-well-as-a-writer-is-to-feel-as-thoroughly/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [I want to preserve a certain unknowing about my own poems - perhaps because unknowing is in itself a useful poetic thirst. To move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-want-to-preserve-a-certain-unknowing-about-my-own-poems-perhaps/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Habit, laziness, and fear conspire to keep us comfortably within the familiar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/habit-laziness-and-fear-conspire-to-keep-us-comfortably-within-the/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [In order to gain anything, you must first lose everything](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/in-order-to-gain-anything-you-must-first-lose-everything/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [The same words come from each mouth differently.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/the-same-words-come-from-each-mouth-differently/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Metaphors think with the imagination and the senses. The hot chili peppers in them explode in the mouth and the mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/metaphors-think-with-the-imagination-and-the-senses-the-hot-chili/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Your fate is to be yourself, both punishment and crime.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/your-fate-is-to-be-yourself-both-punishment-and-crime/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Near even a candle, the visible heat. So it is with a person in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/near-even-a-candle-the-visible-heat-so-it-is-with-a-person-in-love/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [At some point I realized that you don't get a full human life if you try to cut off one end of it, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/at-some-point-i-realized-that-you-don-t-get-a-full-human-life-if-you/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [Immensity is always there, but we so often become numb to it, or deceive ourselves into thinking our own lives and selves are what's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/immensity-is-always-there-but-we-so-often-become-numb-to-it-or/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) [Explore all 156 Jane Hirshfield quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) ## More Desire quotes > [I put myself in the student's place and remember the frustrations, doubts, determination, and desires I felt when I was going through the initial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-martinez/i-put-myself-in-the-student-s-place-and-remember-the-frustrations/) Ted Martinez > [Passion is what you need to be good, an unforgiving passion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-easton/passion-is-what-you-need-to-be-good-an-unforgiving-passion/) [David Easton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-easton/) > [I want the municipality to be a helping hand to the man with a desire of sympathy, to help the fallen when it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-burns/i-want-the-municipality-to-be-a-helping-hand-to-the-man-with-a-desire/) [John Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-burns/) > [Ye youths and virgins, when your generous blood Has drunk the warmth of fifteen summers, now The loves invite; now to new rapture wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-armstrong/ye-youths-and-virgins-when-your-generous-blood-has-drunk-the-warmth/) [John Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-armstrong/) > [I have observed this in my experience of slavery, - that whenever my condition was improved, instead of its increasing my contentment, it only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-douglass/i-have-observed-this-in-my-experience-of-slavery-that-whenever-my/) [Frederick Douglass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-douglass/) > [“THE ESSENCE OF YOUR DESIRE IS A FEELING”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-laporte/the-essence-of-your-desire-is-a-feeling/) [Danielle LaPorte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-laporte/) > [On the brink of being satiated, desire still appears infinite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-rostand/on-the-brink-of-being-satiated-desire-still-appears-infinite/) [Jean Rostand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-rostand/) > [If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-there-is-any-period-one-would-desire-to-be-born-in-is-it-not-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [He caught her, she fell, he caught her in his arms, he held her tightly unconscious of what he was doing. He held her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/he-caught-her-she-fell-he-caught-her-in-his-arms-he-held-her-tightly/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [ Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three \[great teachers\] did not… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-steinbeck/teaching-might-even-be-the-greatest-of-the-arts-since-the-medium-is/) [John Steinbeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-steinbeck/) > [“The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dewey/the-deepest-urge-in-human-nature-is-the-desire-to-be-important/) [John Dewey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dewey/) > [In discovering books, you became free to explore the full range of human motives, desires, secrets, and lies. All my life, people have scolded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/in-discovering-books-you-became-free-to-explore-the-full-range-of/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) > [I have never been in, nor have I had any strong particular desire to be in, what is termed a costume drama, but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-freeman/i-have-never-been-in-nor-have-i-had-any-strong-particular-desire-to/) [Martin Freeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-freeman/) > [Now I am in the place I call this wide wide Heaven because it includes all my simplest desires but also the most humble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-sebold/now-i-am-in-the-place-i-call-this-wide-wide-heaven-because-it/) [Alice Sebold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-sebold/) > [“from THE DEVIL YOU KNOW : She wanted him too. He could see it in the rapid rise of her breasts. He could smell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emery-lee/from-the-devil-you-know-she-wanted-him-too-he-could-see-it-in-the/) [Emery Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emery-lee/) [Browse all 15,155 Desire quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desire/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Life is short. But desire, desire is long.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jane Hirshfield" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/life-is-short-but-desire-desire-is-long/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Desire" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/life-is-short-but-desire-desire-is-long/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jane-hirshfield-2649_desire_life-is-short-but-desire-desire-is-long_2839468.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jane-hirshfield-2649_desire_life-is-short-but-desire-desire-is-long_2839468.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/202/jane-hirshfield-2649_desire_life-is-short-but-desire-desire-is-long_2839468.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Life is short. But desire, desire is long.” — Jane Hirshfield", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jane Hirshfield", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Life is short. But desire, desire...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/life-is-short-but-desire-desire-is-long/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/life-is-short-but-desire-desire-is-long/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```