There are thorns everywhere, but along the path of vice, roses bloom above them.

There are thorns everywhere, but along the path of vice, roses bloom above them.

Man's natural character is to imitate; that of the sensitive man is to resemble as closely as possible the person whom he loves. It is only by imitating the vices of others that I have earned my misfortunes.

Cruelty, very far from being a vice, is the first sentiment Nature injects in us all.

I assumed that everything must yield to me, that the entire universe had to flatter my whims, and that I had the right to satisfy them at will.

Happiness lies only in that which excites, and the only thing that excites is crime.

Nature, who for the perfect maintenance of the laws of her general equilibrium, has sometimes need of vices and sometimes of virtues, inspires now this impulse, now that one, in accordance with what she requires.