Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.
Lust
Lust, like a lawless headlong flood,
Impregnated with ooze and mud,
Descending fast on every side,
Once mingles with the sacred tide,
Farewell the soul-enliv’ning scene!
The banks that bore a smiling green,
With rank defilement overspread,
Bewail their flow’ry beauties dead.
—William Cowper
Base lust,
With all her powders, paintings, and best pride,
Is but a fair house built by a ditch side.
—Thomas Middleton
Lusts are like agues; the fit is not always on, and yet the man is not rid of the disease; and some men’s lusts, like some agues, have not such returns as others.
—Herbert Spencer
Our headlong lusts, like a young fiery horse,
Start and flee raging in a violent course.
—Isaac Watts