…desire is a flame that has reduced to ashes uncounted
lifetime harvests of the learned, a devouring fire that even the vast sea of
their accumulated knowledge could never quench. How often has it happened that
an individual who was graced with every attribute of humanity and wore the
jewel of true understanding, nevertheless followed after his passions until his
excellent qualities passed beyond moderation and he was forced into excess. His
pure intentions changed to evil ones, his attributes were
no longer put to uses worthy of them, and the power of his desires turned him
aside from righteousness and its rewards into ways that were dangerous and
dark. A good character is in the sight of God and His chosen ones and the
possessors of insight, the most excellent and praiseworthy of all things, but
always on condition that its center of emanation should be reason and knowledge
and its base should be true moderation.
('Abdu'l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization)
