One weeps not save when one is afraid, and that is why kings are tyrants.

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

Consider the problem from the point of view of evil, evil being almost always pleasure's true and major charm; considered thus, the crime must appear greater when perpetrated upon a being of your identical sort than when inflicted upon one which is not, and this once established, the delight automatically doubles.

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.

Sexual pleasure is, I agree, a passion to which all others are subordinate but in which they all unite.

Let not your zeal to share your principles entice you beyond your borders.

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