“Voluptuaries of all ages, of every sex, it is to you only that I offer this work; nourish yourselves upon its principles: they favor your passions, and these passions, whereof coldly insipid moralists put you in fear, are naught but the means Nature employs to bring man to the ends she prescribes to him; harken only to these delicious promptings, for no voice save that of the passions can conduct you to happiness.”

— Marquis de Sade, Philosophy in the Bedroom

To Libertines
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 1, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Voluptuaries of all ages, of every sex, it is to you only that I offer this work; nourish yourselves upon its principle…" by Marquis de Sade?

Marquis de Sade30

French novelist and philosopher 1740–1814

Related quotes

“Passion does not blind. No. Passion is sanity, and the woman you love, she is the only person you will ever really understand.”

E.M. Forster (1879–1970) English novelist

“There is only one passion, the passion for happiness.”

Denis Diderot (1713–1784) French Enlightenment philosopher and encyclopædist

"Will, Freedom”
Elements of Physiology (1875)

“Get wealth if you can by honorable means, and if it do not cost too much. A true cultivation of the mind is fitted to forward you in your worldly concerns, and you ought to use it for this end. Only, beware lest this end master you; lest your motives sink as your condition improves; lest you fall victims to the miserable passion of vying with those around you in show, luxury, and expense. Cherish a true respect for yourselves. Feel that your nature is worth more than every thing which is foreign to you.”

William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) United States Unitarian clergyman

Self-Culture (1838)

“I taught him, 'he quavered, "to trust in love. I said:'when love comes, that is reality.' I said: 'Passion does not blind. No. Passion is sanity, and the woman you love, she is the only person you will ever really understand.”

E.M. Forster book A Room with a View

Source: A Room with a View

“By annihilating the desires, you annihilate the mind. Every man without passions has within him no principle of action, nor motive to act.”

Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715–1771) French philosopher

En anéantissant les désirs, on anéantit l'âme, & tout homme sans passion n'a en lui ni principe d'action, ni motif pour se mouvoir.
A Treatise on Man: His Intellectual Faculties & His Education, Vol. I (1773)