Desires are but pain and torment, and enjoyment is sweet because it delivers us from them.

From that moment our love became sad, and sadness is a disease which gives the death-blow to affection.

The same principle that forbids me to lie does not allow me to tell the truth.

The mind of a human being is formed only of comparisons made in order to examine analogies, and therefore cannot precede the existence of memory.

By recollecting the pleasures I have had formerly, I renew them, I enjoy them a second time, while I laugh at the remembrance of troubles now past, and which I no longer feel.

The pleasure I gave my lovers was a four fifth of the pleasure I experienced.

To lead a blameless life you must curb your passions , and whatever misfortune may befall you cannot be ascribed by anyone to want of good luck, or attributed to fate; these words are devoid of sense, and all fault will rightly fall on your own head.