Obsession is essential for achieving an extraordinary life, driving one to relentlessly pursue their dreams until they become reality.
However, obsession can have downsides, as shown by a University of Michigan study where 44% of romantically-involved individuals experienced partner obsession, leading to anxiety and depression.
Obsession differs from love: while love is selfless, obsession seeks control, often ignoring the beloved’s desires and intolerant of rejection.
Obsessive individuals often see others in black-and-white terms, ignoring their complexity. Recognizing and managing obsession is crucial for mental health.
Let’s go through some of the quotes about Obsession.
Best Obsession Quotes
Thoughts are an obsession without meditation. ~ Osho.
When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love. ~ J.K. Rowling.
I desire very little, but the things I do consume me. ~ Beau Taplin.
Aptitude plus obsession equals greatness. ~ Josh Bezoni.
Love is an obsession. It has that quality to it. But there are healthy obsessions, and mine is one of them. ~ Pamela Stephenson.
Fame has become this obsession for people, which kind of creeps me out. ~ Zoe Kravitz.
Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment. ~ Claude Monet.
Obsession is the single most wasteful human activity, because with an obsession you keep coming back and back and back to the same question and never get an answer. ~ Norman Mailer.
A man obsessed with ambition is not capable of knowing the truth at all. Eyes full of ambition never see what is; they only see what they want to see. ~ Shree Rajneesh.
I love when people become obsessed with Downtown. ~ Jessica Brown.
No one changes the world who isn’t obsessed. ~ Billie Jean King.
Your ability to use the principle of autosuggestion will depend, very largely, upon your capacity to concentrate upon a given desire until that desire becomes a burning obsession. ~ Napoleon Hill.
Women have this obsession with shoes. ~ Alexandra Paul.
Determination becomes obsession and then it becomes all that matters. ~ Jeremy Irvine.
An obsession is intrusive because it does not require a permit to walk into the brain. ~ Jose Ortega Y Gasset.
Obsession is a young man’s game, and my only excuse is that I never grew old. ~ Michael Caine.
The painter’s obsession with his subject is all that he needs to drive him to work. ~ Lucian Freud.
A man with an obsession is a man who has very little sales resistance. ~ C. S. Lewis.
Famous Obsession Quotes
Some people who are obsessed with food become gourmet chefs. Others become eating disorders. ~ Marya Hornbacher.
An obsession is where something will not leave your mind. ~ Eric Clapton.
Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing. ~ Elie Wiesel.
It is his one obsession, and so much of him has become absorbed in it that his view of life and the world becomes very restricted. ~ Alfred Henry.
It’s similar to the way you feel cuddling an infant or a kitten, when you want to squeeze it so hard you’d kill it… ~ Zoe Heller.
An obsession is intrusive because it does not require a permit to walk into the brain. ~ Jose A. Yaryura-Tobias
You become what you think about all day long. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Well, if you think about it, I think you’ll see that the object of your obsession is invariably something negative which you have no control over. ~ Ron Vawter.
You start living for the obsession alone. You want to arrive somewhere regardless of whether you’re enjoying the road or not. ~ Paulo Coelho.
Good requires motivation, great requires obsession. ~ M. Cobanli.
Follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly. ~ Franz Kafka.
Dancing is my obsession. My life. ~ Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Powerful Obsession Quotes
‘Mad’ is a term we use to describe a man who is obsessed with one idea and nothing else. ~ Ugo Betti.
I think life’s an irrational obsession. ~ Sean Penn.
To do anything to a high level, it has to be a total obsession. ~ Conor McGregor.
The more you’re obsessed with something the better chance you have of achieving it. ~ Frank Zane.
An obsession with control generally seems to reflect a fear of uncertainty. ~ Henry Mintzberg.
I wish I knew how to quit you. ~ Annie Proulx.
Popular Obsession Quotes
The sin of pride may be a small or a great thing in someone’s life and hurt vanity a passing pinprick, or a self-destroying or ever-murderous obsession. ~ Iris Murdoch.
Obsessional does not necessarily mean sexual obsession, not even obsession for this, or for that in particular; to be an obsessional means to find oneself caught in a mechanism. ~ Jacques Lacan.
An obsession is an idea which you must get out of your mind if you are not to go out of your mind. ~ Evan Esar.
Obsession is the wellspring of genius and madness. ~ Michel de Montaigne.
Until your mission is an obsession, nothing will change. ~ Robin Sharma.
Our current obsession with creativity is the result of our continued striving for immortality in an era when most people no longer believe in an after-life. ~ Arianna Huffington.
Profound Obsession Quotes
Positive obsession is about not being able to stop just because you’re afraid and full of doubts. Positive obsession is dangerous. It’s about not being able to stop at all. ~ Octavia Butler.
I probably do have an obsessive personality, but striving for perfection has served me well. ~ Tom Ford.
Each obsession is a knot in your being. Once it is opened, great energy is released. ~ Shree Rajneesh.
Evil men, obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience, must be taken very seriously and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply. ~ George W. Bush.
All extremes of feeling are allied with madness. ~ Virginia Woolf.
Obsession led me to write. It’s been that way with every book I’ve ever written. I become completely consumed by a theme, by characters, by a desire to meet a challenge. ~ Anne Rice.
Obsession is just another round on the merry-go-round of unfinished business. ~ Dale Andrews.
My obsession is to make women beautiful. When you create with that in mind, things can’t go out of fashion. ~ Azzedine Alaia.
Obsessions are essentially secondary to the depression, and usually clear up when the depression lifts. ~ Padmal de Silva.
The world was collapsing, and the only thing that really mattered to me was that she was alive. ~ Rick Riordan.
I know that everybody is so obsessed with this idea of fame, and they think that I’m obsessed. In all honesty, I’m just doing me. ~ Aubrey O’Day.
Obsession is an attractive thing. People who are really, really interested and good at one thing and smart are attractive, if they’re men. ~ Meryl Streep.
Obsession is the rocket fuel of our creativity. ~ Jordan Ritter.
Obsession is extreme and hard to imagine with the rational mind that it has a science-fiction-like quality to it-it’s almost as if obsessed one has taken over by a replica, a pod, a facsimile of the rational person. ~ Susan Cheever.
But to be self-obsessed is simply not o.k. for the most important country in the world, the United States, which affects every other country in the world. ~ Christiane Amanpour.
Top Obsession Quotes
As entrepreneurs, we must constantly dream and have the conviction and obsession to transform our dreams into reality, to create a future that never existed before. ~ Clara Shih.
The obsession with instant gratification blinds us from our long-term potential. ~ Mike Dooley.
To express an obsession is to project it outside yourself. To hunt it down, to exorcize it. obsessions are the demons of a world without faith. ~ E.M. Cioran.
To obsess too virulently is to walk alone in anxiety. But to obsess too little is to wall oneself off from one’s own creativity. ~ Eric Maisel.
You know you’re already my obsession. ~ Pat Benatar.
In boxing, it is about the obsession of getting the most from yourself, wanting to dominate the world like a hungry young lion. ~ Anthony Joshua.
Everyone has their own definition of a healthy lifestyle, and mine has come to mean making health a priority but not an obsession. ~ Daphne Oz.
Our culture’s obsession with vintage objects has rendered us unable to separate history from nostalgia. People want heart. They want a chaser of emotion with their aesthetics. ~ Sloane Crosley.
To do anything to a high level, it has to be a total obsession. ~ Conor MacGregor.
An obsession with untold stories is a source of energy. ~ Greil Marcus.
For the poet, poetry is a pure obsession, a sequence of questions which have no answers, of demands that have no satisfaction other than the satisfaction of obsession itself. ~ T.R. Hummer.
Obsession is a commitment; you have to believe in it, because it soon takes you over. ~ Lennard J. Davis.
I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary. ~ Margaret Atwood.
The obsession with time is really an obsession with perfection. ~ Julia Cameron.
An obsession is a way for damaged people to damage themselves more. ~ Mark Barrowcliffe.
Once you’ll find the way you’ll be bound. It’ll obsess you. But believe me, it’ll be a magnificent obsession. ~ Paul Cavanagh.
Short Obsession Quotes
There’s a lot of obsession about people’s personal ambitions. ~ Mary Ann Shaffer.
Obsessions are the only things that matter. ~ Patricia Highsmith.
A great artist has a unique vision, obsession. They are someone willing to fail flamboyantly. ~ Jerry Saltz.
Without obsession, life is nothing. ~ John Waters.
Keeping up is the mark of a fluctuating mind that pursues nothing personal, that is unsuited to obsession, that continual impasse. ~ E.M. Cioran.
So these were the 78 quotes about Obsession.
If these quotes and sayings connect with you, check out our other posts on being unique quotes and social anxiety quotes.
What Is an Obsession?
Obsessions are persistent, intrusive thoughts, urges, or mental images that can cause significant anxiety and distress.
While everyone may experience such intrusive thoughts occasionally, especially during stressful times, they are particularly intense and frequent in individuals with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
For those with OCD, these obsessions are not only distressing but also lead to compulsions—repetitive behaviors or rituals performed to manage the anxiety caused by these thoughts.
Although most people recognize their obsessive thoughts as excessive, they often feel powerless to control them.
Compulsions serve to temporarily alleviate the distress associated with these obsessions, but they can significantly interfere with daily functioning.
What are the common types of Obsessions?
Obsessions in OCD typically revolve around themes that provoke intense anxiety, including contamination, causing harm, perfectionism, unwanted sexual thoughts and religious fears.
People may worry about germs, disease, or inadvertently causing accidents or offenses.
These obsessions often compel them to perform rituals like excessive cleaning or repeated checking to alleviate distress.
For instance, contamination fears might lead to rigorous hand-washing, while fears of harm could cause someone to avoid driving.
Perfectionism in OCD isn’t just about neatness but can involve an overwhelming need for order and fear of making mistakes, potentially disrupting daily life and work.
Intrusive thoughts, a common obsession, involve distressing and unwanted mental images or ideas about aggression, sexuality, or blasphemy, significantly impacting a person’s well-being.
Obsessions and compulsions can be so pervasive that they severely interfere with personal relationships and professional responsibilities.
What are the causes of Obsessions
The exact causes of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are not completely understood, but a combination of various factors is believed to contribute to the disorder. These include:
- Genetic Factors: There is evidence suggesting a genetic component to OCD, as it tends to run in families. Research indicates that about 45%–65% of OCD symptoms may be attributed to genetic influences.
- Brain Structure and Function: Studies have shown differences in the brains of those with OCD, particularly in areas related to impulse control, emotional regulation and decision-making, suggesting that neurological factors play a role.
- Behavioral Theories: Behaviors learned in response to intense anxiety, such as compulsions performed to alleviate this stress, can become habitual and characteristic of OCD.
- Cognitive Aspects: OCD may develop when a person gives too much importance to intrusive thoughts, leading to extreme stress and repetitive behaviors to prevent perceived dangers.
- Environmental Triggers: Stressful life events such as trauma, abuse, or significant life changes like childbirth can trigger OCD in individuals predisposed to the condition.
- Biological Theories: Some theories suggest abnormalities in neurotransmitters, like serotonin, may be involved, though it’s unclear if these are causes or effects of OCD.
- Infection-Related Onsets: In some cases, particularly in children, symptoms may appear suddenly following an infection, which can cause an autoimmune response affecting the brain, known as PANS.
The interaction of these factors along with personal experiences like a history of trauma or having a parent with OCD contributes to the onset of the disorder.
How to Manage Obsession
Managing obsessions effectively involves a blend of personal strategies and support mechanisms.
First and foremost, seeking support through peer groups or therapy can provide a sense of community and access to resources for those experiencing obsessive thoughts.
It’s crucial to avoid substances like drugs and alcohol, which can exacerbate symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is essential. This includes practicing good sleep hygiene, such as having a consistent bedtime and reducing screen time before sleep, as poor sleep can intensify intrusive thoughts. Regular physical activity not only diverts your mind from obsessive patterns but can also decrease the severity of OCD symptoms.
Using self-help resources like workbooks, online programs and smartphone apps can help monitor and alter obsessive thought patterns. Techniques like mindfulness, meditation and yoga are invaluable for staying grounded and present, helping to manage the overwhelming nature of obsessive thoughts.
Stress management is another critical component. Reducing overall stress through relaxation and mindfulness can prevent or diminish the frequency of obsessive thoughts.
Practical steps include creating physical and mental distance from the source of obsession, actively redirecting your focus towards work, relationships, or hobbies and strengthening real-life connections that provide emotional support and distraction.
To break the cycle of obsession, it’s beneficial to recognize and challenge any unhelpful interpretations of your thoughts.
Techniques like reality checking, calculating the actual risks and understanding that having certain thoughts does not make them true can recalibrate your thinking. These methods encourage a more balanced and rational perspective, aiding in the reduction of obsessive compulsions.
Overall, while managing obsessions is challenging, various strategies and tools can empower you to regain control and focus more on living a fulfilling life.
