Is it not of the imagination that the sharpest pleasures arise?

Prejudice is the sole author of infamies: how many acts are so qualified by an opinion forged out of naught but prejudice!

Wolves which batten upon lambs, lambs consumed by wolves, the strong who immolate the weak, the weak victims of the strong: there you have Nature, there you have her intentions, there you have her scheme: a perpetual action and reaction, a host of vices, a host of virtues, in one word, a perfect equilibrium resulting from the equality of good and evil on earth.

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.

Any enjoyment is weakened when shared.

To judge from the notions expounded by theologians, one must conclude that God created most men simply with a view to crowding hell.

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