Marquis de Sade (real name Donatien Alfonse Francois) was born June 2, 1740 and died on December 2, 1814 at 74 years old. He was born in Paris, France to an aristocratic family and was distantly related to the Princess of Conde. He was his parents’ only surviving child and had a rough child. His father ran off from the family when he was young and his mother did not take the abandonment well and became a nun. So after his mother became a nun, Marquis de Sade had to be raised by servants.
Luckily for him, the servants catered to his every need and he ended up becoming spoiled. It also affected his attitude towards people and he became angry very easily and often demanding. He went to college for four years and wore multiple hats during his lifetime. He was a philosopher, writer, politician, and an aristocrat. He was elected to the National Convention in 1790 and served as a representative of the left wing party. He was a member of the piques section which was infamous for having radical opinions.
Marquis de Sade is most well known for the novels he wrote during his career. His most famous novels include Justine, Juliet, Philosophy In The Bedroom, and The 120 Days Of Sodom. De Sade liked to write books about sadistic sexuality including pain and domination in the bedroom. He has made some controversial and interesting quotes during his lifetime.
Marquis De Sade was incarcerated in various prisons and an insane asylum for approximately 32 years of his life. Many of his most famous works were written by him while he was confined in prison. The featured image above shows him depicted in his prison sell.
Marquis de Sade Quotes
Here are quotes from Marquis de Sade.
1. “You will have no choice but to murder me or accept me for who I am because I will never change who I am.”
2. “We were blessed with kindness so let’s not waste it on other people.”
3. “The woman already chose the man she wanted to take her virginity. She wasn’t worried about whether he was different from any other man.”
4. “The best way to get through to a woman is to cause her pain. I don’t see any other way to get through to her.”
5. “A lot of celebrities are nothing more than idiots.”
6. “People can’t tolerate the way I feel about things. What’s wrong with it? Anyone who changes the way they feel about things is an idiot. The way I see things is a reflection of who I am. It’s who I am on the inside. I don’t go against my feelings and don’t plan to do it. It makes me feel good to know that you don’t approve of how I handle things. The things that make me happy are more meaningful than life itself.”
7. “You have to broaden your horizons to get what you want in this world. You have to give in to your pleasures in order to get what you want. You may come across bad things, but something good will happen in the end.”
8. “Lust can be described as ambition, pain, greed, and revenge.”
9. “As long as laws are a factor, try to be as discreet as possible. Strong opinions are why we have to be discreet. When we are in private, we can be as cruel as we want.”
10. “Nothing is more pleasurable to me than pain. You can rely on pain and it won’t trick you the way women can. Women who don’t know pain can bring pleasure never get to experience how enjoyable it can be.”
11. “Sex is something pleasurable that unites everyone.”
12. “People go through many emotions when having sex. When you’re scared, it makes sex more pleasurable. Beautiful sex is safe and boring. The dirtiness of sex can be exciting. Always try to make sex more imaginative and not boring.”
13. “Happiness is for the idealistic. It takes a lot of imagination to be happy.”
14. “You don’t approve of the way I think. Do you think that bothers me? Only an idiot would worry about the way someone else thinks.”
15. “Anyone who feels they have to change their opinions is a complete fool. Think for yourself and don’t concern yourself with anyone else.”
16. “When I concentrate on my beliefs it can look like the sun in a magnifying glass. My feelings will get rid of anything that stand in the way of what I want.”
17. “A man with logic immediately becomes an enemy to someone who doesn’t have any logic. He must see the war coming and accept it.”
18. “We have to know our vices before we could know our virtue.”
19. “Having sex is just as important as eating to survive. We should feed our sexual desire without feeling ashamed.”
20. “In order to get pleasure, we must go through pain.”
21. “A man would rather see his woman die than cheat on him with anyone.”
22. “My thinking is not what caused me pain. My pain was caused by the way other people think.”
23. “Imitating is as natural as breathing. People usually try to be like the people they admire. If you imitate the actions of other people, you may end up failing. It happened to me.”
24. “A dangerous person isn’t the one who has no regrets. It’s the one who was too embarrassed to live their life.”
25. “Nature has two voices. One of the voices condemns while the other one commands.”
26. “I think if God really existed, the world wouldn’t be as evil. If evil does rule, it was at God’s hands or he couldn’t prevent it from happening. I don’t find myself being afraid of a God who is vengeful or weak. I have no trouble going against Him. I don’t care about His punishment.”
27. “I have justified my actions with logical reasoning. I never worried about any doubts. I have hardened my heart of anything that got in the way of me getting what I wanted.”
28. “I want my ideas to be considered. If you don’t listen to all of them, at least listen to some of them. If you listen to some, I will feel accomplished and satisfied.”
29. “It’s not illegal to have crazy ideas in life.”
30. “There are bad people everywhere. Luckily there are good people who are around too.”
31. “Evil is something that can’t be taught. It was already inside of you. It will continue to exist even when the world no longer exists.”
32. “Cruelty shouldn’t be considered a vice. It is the first thing we are taught in life.”
33. “People may think you’re cruel, but it’s just the way you were taught to behave.”
34. “Joy loses something when other people feel the same way.”
35. “It’s crazy to be afraid of people who don’t have any self-control.”
36. “Do you think your beliefs are more valuable than mine because they are different from each other? Are you so insecure because my evilness outweighs your goodness?”
37. “If the punishment doesn’t redeem you, it will make you worse than you were before the crime.”
38. “If God was willing to destroy his own son, I can only imagine what he has in store for me.”
39. “The only thing that can make you happy is something that excites you. The only thing that can excite you is crime.”
40. “Do not have children. Nothing can be more disappointing than having a child. Pregnancy can be dangerous. It can ruin your body, change your attitude, and it’s a dark cloud that destroys your relationship with your husband.”
41. “ Murder is horrible, but sometimes it’s a necessary evil. Sometimes you need murder to be able to suffer in a Republican state. Is murder a crime? If it’s not a crime, why do people get punished for it? If it is a crime, why would you repeat it by punishing someone through murder?”
Conclusion
Marquis de Sade had quite an interesting life. In addition to his career, he had a wild personal life. He was heavily into S&M sexuality. He had affairs with young prostitutes as well as his staff members, relations with men and women, and even an illicit affair with his wife’s sister. She lived with the couple while he was seeing her. The police investigated De Sade because he abused prostitutes and was known for drugging them.
He abused children and his staff. His wife was aware of his actions and ended up getting in trouble with him. He raped prisoners while he was incarcerated. De Sade was supposed to be executed while in prison, but he managed to avoid it. He even escaped prison only to be recaptured. During his lifetime, he was in an insane asylum because of everything he did. His family were the ones who declared him legally insane. When he was about 70, he got involved with a teenager. He was with the teenager for about four years until he died.
Overall, Marquis de Sade was a very controversial man during his lifetime. He was referred to as a rapist and a pedophile. His quotes were sexual in nature, and the term “sadism” is derived from his name and he is the one that popularized the notion of some people deriving sexual pleasure from inflicting pain during sexual activity. The quotes are shocking and interesting at the same time, especially if you think about cultural norms and standards during the century that they were written in.
Image Credit: Unknown author / Public domain, PD-US
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