Marquis de Sade

There is no God, Nature sufficeth unto herself; in no wise hath she need of an author.

Chimerical and empty being, your name alone has caused more blood to flow on the face of the earth than any political war ever will.

An enjoyment that is shared is enfeebled. This is a recognised truth; if you try to give enjoyment to the object of your pleasures, you will soon have to recognise the fact that you are doing so at your own expense. There is no passion more egotistical than lechery; there is none that must be served more severely; one must absolutely think only of oneself.

When she's abandoned her moral center and teachings...when she's cast aside her facade of propriety and lady-like demeanor...when I have so corrupted this fragile thing and brought out a writhing, mewling, bucking, wanton whore for my enjoyment and pleasure.....enticing from within this feral lioness...growling and scratching and biting...taking everything I dish out to her.....at that moment she is never more beautiful to me.

Fuck! Is one expected to be a gentleman when one is stiff?

We are no guiltier in following the primative impulses that govern us than is the Nile for her floods or the sea for her waves.

The only way to a woman's heart is along the path of torment.

All universal moral principles are idle fancies.

Either kill me or take me as I am, because I'll be damned if I ever change.

My manner of thinking, so you say, cannot be approved. Do you suppose I care? A poor fool indeed is he who adopts a manner of thinking for others!

There is no good or evil in nature, only force and necessity. It is men, in their arrogance, who dare to dictate laws to the universe, calling natural impulses 'virtue' or 'vice.' But nature knows no virtue; it knows only instinct.

I have no God, no morality, no law but my will. I reject the poison that they call religion, for it is nothing but a chain that binds the soul, a vile invention of the cowardly man to escape the torment of his existence. They call it virtue, they call it salvation, but I know it for what it is—a lie, a deceit, a tool to keep us submissive. I am free, and it is only in freedom that we are truly human. No divine being, no lawgiver in the heavens, will tell me how to live my life. I am my own god, and I find the meaning of life not in the bowing before the altar, but in the unshackled pursuit of my desires.

My only regret is that I was born into a world of cowards, who tremble at the sight of truth.

Nothing we can do outrages Nature directly. Our acts of destruction give her new vigour and feed her her energy, but none of our wreckings can weaken her power.

Lewd women, let the voluptuous Saint-Ange be your model; after her example, be heedless of all that contradicts pleasure's divine laws, by which all her life she was enchained.

After demonstrating that theism is unsuitable for a republican government, I find it crucial to prove that French morals are likewise inappropriate.

Fear and ignorance, you will continue, are two mainstays of any and all religions.

Is it not a strange blindness on our part to teach publicly the techniques of warfare and to reward with medals those who prove to be the most adroit killers?

No lover, if he be of good faith, and sincere, will deny he would prefer to see his mistress dead than unfaithful.

Social order at the expense of liberty is hardly a bargain.