Marquis de Sade · 784 pages
Rating: (3K votes)
“The man who alters his way of thinking to suit others is a fool.”
“Destruction, hence, like creation, is one of Nature's mandates.”
“Nature has endowed each of us with a capacity for kindly feelings: let us not squander them on others.”
“The completest submissiveness is your lot, and that is all;”
“If God permits virtue to be persecuted on earth, it is not for us to question his intentions. It may be that his rewards are held over for another life, for is it not true as written in Holy Scripture that the Lord chastenenth only the righteous! And after all, is not virtue it's own reward?”
“Not my manner of thinking but the manner of thinking of others has been the source of my unhappiness.”
“The reasoning man who scorns the prejudices of simpletons necessarily becomes the enemy of simpletons; he must expect as much, and laugh at the inevitable. A traveler journeys along a fine road. It has been strewn with traps. He falls into one. Do you say it is the traveler’s fault, or that of the scoundrel who lays the traps?”
“There is not a living man who does not wish to play the despot when he is stiff: it seems to him his joy is less when others appear to have as much fun as he; by an impulse of pride, very natural at this juncture, he would like to be the only one in the world capable of experiencing what he feels: the idea of seeing another enjoy as he enjoys reduces him to a kind of equality with that other, which impairs the unspeakable charm despotism causes him to feel.”
“How to Offend Other Cultures When it comes to inadvertently offending other cultures, Americans usually take first prize. As mentioned, most Americans don't have a passport and believe the rest of the world thinks like them and wants to be like them.”
“I watched my life as if it were happening to someone else. My son died. And I was hurt, but I watched my hurt, and even relished it, a little, for now I could write a real death, a true loss. My heart was broken by my dark lady, and I wept, in my room, alone; but while I wept, somewhere inside I smiled.”
“The word 'tradition' covered it all, as it covered so many things, some useful, some foolish.”
“Fuuuuuuuuuuck." Kynan scrubbed his face. "I could use a double shot of whiskey right now."
"I'm sure Flicka keeps hard liquor behind the bar."
"Flicka?"
"I don't want to say her name."
"So you're calling her horse names?" Ky coked a dark eyebrow. "I can't wait to see how she reacts to Mr. Ed.”
“I turned my head to look at the Ascian. It was clear that he had been listening attentively, but I could not be certain of what his expression meant beyond that. “Those who write the approved texts,” I told him, “cannot themselves be quoting from approved texts as they write. Therefore even an approved text may contain elements of disloyalty.” “Correct Thought is the thought of the populace. The populace cannot betray the populace or the Group of Seventeen.” Foila called, “Don’t insult the populace or the Group of Seventeen. He might try to kill himself. Sometimes they do.” “Will he ever be normal?” “I’ve heard that some of them eventually come to talk more or less the way we do, if that’s what you mean.” I could think of nothing to say to that, and for some time we were quiet. There are long periods of silence, I found, in such a place, where almost everyone is ill. We knew that we had watch after watch to occupy; that if we did not say what we wished to say that afternoon there would be another opportunity that evening and another again the next morning. Indeed, anyone who talked as healthy people normally do—after a meal, for example—would have been intolerable.”
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