Miserable creatures, thrown for a moment on the surface of this little pile of mud, is it decreed that one half of the flock should be the persecutor of the other? Is it for you, mankind, to pronounce on what is good and what is evil?

Every principle is a judgment, every judgment the outcome of experience, and experience is only acquired by the exercise of the senses . . .

Virtue can procure only an imaginary happiness; true felicity lies only in the senses, and virtue gratifies none of them.

Any enjoyment is weakened when shared.

It has, moreover, been proven that horror, nastiness, and the frightful are what give pleasure when one fornicates. Beauty is a simple thing; ugliness is the exceptional thing. And fiery imaginations, no doubt, always prefer the extraordinary thing to the simple thing.

I've already told you: the only way to a woman's heart is along the path of torment. I know none other as sure.

Religions are the cradles of despotism.