"It's so much better to desire than to have"
About this Quote
The intent here isn’t anti-joy; it’s an argument for the productive power of wanting. Desire is a kind of narrative engine: it keeps us moving, editing ourselves into better versions, projecting meaning onto another person or a future self. “Have” is resolution, and resolution can be a letdown because it collapses possibility into facts. Once you possess the thing, you also inherit its limits, its maintenance, its ordinariness. Fantasy is lightweight; ownership is heavy.
The subtext is almost a warning against consumer logic applied to emotion. Modern culture trains us to treat love, success, even identity as acquisitions. Aimee flips that: the ache is the point, not the purchase. It’s also a sly nod to performance itself. Actors live inside the gap between what’s real and what’s imagined; they know how potent the almost can be.
Context matters: Aimee’s screen persona often carried a composed, enigmatic intensity, the kind that makes longing feel elegant rather than pathetic. The line defends that elegance. It insists that yearning isn’t failure. It’s a way of staying alive to possibility.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Aimee, Anouk. (2026, January 16). It's so much better to desire than to have. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-so-much-better-to-desire-than-to-have-121169/
Chicago Style
Aimee, Anouk. "It's so much better to desire than to have." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-so-much-better-to-desire-than-to-have-121169/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"It's so much better to desire than to have." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/its-so-much-better-to-desire-than-to-have-121169/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.










