I write what I see, the endless procession to the guillotine. Were all lined up, waiting for the crunch of the blade... the rivers of blood are flowing beneath our feet... Ive been to hell, young man, youve only read about it.

The completest submissiveness is your lot, and that is all.

Don't have children: they deform women's bodies and turn into an enemy 20 years later.

Lust 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.

Can we become other than what we are?

The ultimate triumph of philosophy would be to cast light upon the mysterious ways in which Providence moves to achieve the designs it has for man.

I don't know what the heart is, not I: I only use the word to denote the mind's frailties.