Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings Quotes

“The man who alters his way of thinking to suit others is a fool.”
― Marquis de Sade, Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings

“Destruction, hence, like creation, is one of Nature's mandates.”
― Marquis de Sade, Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings

“Nature has endowed each of us with a capacity for kindly feelings: let us not squander them on others.”
― Marquis de Sade, Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings

“The completest submissiveness is your lot, and that is all;”
― Marquis de Sade, Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings

“Not my manner of thinking but the manner of thinking of others has been the source of my unhappiness.”
― Marquis de Sade, Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings

“If 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 Sade, Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings

“The reasoning man who scorns the prejudices of simpletons necessarily becomes the enemy of simpletons; he must expect as much, and laugh at the inevitable. A traveler journeys along a fine road. It has been strewn with traps. He falls into one. Do you say it is the traveler’s fault, or that of the scoundrel who lays the traps?”
― Marquis de Sade, Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings

“Whether or not it is dangerous to read Sade is a question that easily becomes lost in a multitude of others and has never been settled except by those whose arguments are rooted in the conviction that reading leads to trouble. So it does; so it must, for reading leads nowhere but to questions.”
― Richard Seaver, The Marquis de Sade: The Complete Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and other writings

“There is not a living man who does not wish to play the despot when he is stiff: it seems to him his joy is less when others appear to have as much fun as he; by an impulse of pride, very natural at this juncture, he would like to be the only one in the world capable of experiencing what he feels: the idea of seeing another enjoy as he enjoys reduces him to a kind of equality with that other, which impairs the unspeakable charm despotism causes him to feel.”
― Marquis de Sade, Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings

“A pretty girl ought simply to concern herself with fucking, and never with engendering. No need to touch at greater length on what pertains to the full business of population, from now on we shall address ourselves principally, nay, uniquely to those libertine lecheries whose spirit is in no way reproductive.”
― Marquis de Sade, Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings