“ No lover, if he be of good faith, and sincere, will deny he would prefer to see his mistress dead than unfaithful. ”

“ There is no more lively sensation than that of pain its impressions are certain and dependable, they never deceive as may those of the pleasure women perpetually feign and almost never experience. ”

“ Happiness is ideal, it is the work of the imagination. ”

“ Happiness lies neither in vice nor in virtue but in the manner we appreciate the one and the other, and the choice we make pursuant to our individual organization. ”

“ All, all is theft, all is unceasing and rigorous competition in nature the desire to make off with the substance of others is the foremost - the most legitimate - passion nature has bred into us and, without doubt, the most agreeable one. ”

“ Your body is the church where Nature asks to be reverenced. ”

“ Destruction, hence, like creation, is one of Nature's mandates. ”

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

“ Truth titillates the imagination far less than fiction. ”

“ The imagination is the spur of delights... all depends upon it, it is the mainspring of everything now, is it not by means of the imagination one knows joy? Is it not of the imagination that the sharpest pleasures arise? ”