Good for society, our laws are very bad for the individuals whereof it is composed; for, if they one time protect the individual, they hinder, trouble, fetter him for three quarters of his life.
MARQUIS DE SADEGood for society, our laws are very bad for the individuals whereof it is composed; for, if they one time protect the individual, they hinder, trouble, fetter him for three quarters of his life.
MARQUIS DE SADEChimerical and empty being, your name alone has caused more blood to flow on the face of the earth than any political war ever will.
MARQUIS DE SADEThere is no God, Nature sufficeth unto herself; in no wise hath she need of an author.
MARQUIS DE SADENever lose sight of the fact that all human felicity lies in man’s imagination, and that he cannot think to attain it unless he heeds all his caprices.
MARQUIS DE SADEA poor fool indeed is he who adopts a manner of thinking to suit other people!
MARQUIS DE SADEThread of their days without pity, and in the midst of life, without ever concerning themselves with this fatal moment, living as though they were to exist for ever, they disappear into the obscure cloud of immortality, uncertain of the fate which lies in store for them.
MARQUIS DE SADETo judge from the notions expounded by theologians, one must conclude that God created most men simply with a view to crowding hell.
MARQUIS DE SADEThe most extraordinary, the most bizarre acts, those which most arrantly seem to conflict with every law, every human institution.
MARQUIS DE SADEOne is never so dangerous when one has no shame, than when one has grown too old to blush.
MARQUIS DE SADESocial order at the expense of liberty is hardly a bargain.
MARQUIS DE SADEFear not lest precautions and protective contrivances diminish your pleasure: mystery only adds thereto.
MARQUIS DE SADEIf God permits virtue to be persecuted on earth, it is not for us to question his intentions. It may be that his rewards are held over for another life, for is it not true as written in Holy Scripture that the Lord chastenenth only the righteous! And after all, is not virtue it’s own reward?
MARQUIS DE SADELust is to the other passions what the nervous fluid is to life; it supports them all, lends strength to them all ambition, cruelty, avarice, revenge, are all founded on lust.
MARQUIS DE SADEWolves which batten upon lambs, lambs consumed by wolves, the strong who immolate the weak, the weak victims of the strong.
MARQUIS DE SADEIt is not my mode of thought that has caused my misfortunes, but the mode of thought of others.
MARQUIS DE SADEVirtue can procure only an imaginary happiness; true felicity lies only in the senses, and virtue gratifies none of them.
MARQUIS DE SADE