My passions, concentrated on a single point, resemble the rays of a sun assembled by a magnifying glass: they immediately set fire to whatever object they find in their way.
Marquis De SadeRead
Either kill me or take me as I am, because I'll be damned if I ever change.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a strong insistence on authenticity and self-acceptance.
Marquis De Sadeβs quote reflects a deep commitment to being true to oneself, emphasizing that one should either accept a person as they truly are or not at all. It illustrates the idea that personal integrity and authenticity are paramount, and it challenges the notion of change imposed by others, suggesting that change must come from within, if at all.
In practice
In a motivational speech about embracing oneβs true self.
My passions, concentrated on a single point, resemble the rays of a sun assembled by a magnifying glass: they immediately set fire to whatever object they find in their way.
So long as the laws remain such as they are today, employ some discretion: loud opinion forces us to do so; but in privacy and silence let us compensate ourselves for that cruel chastity we are obliged to display in public.
Happiness is an abstraction, it is a product of the imagination, it is a way of being moved, which depends entirely on our way of seeing and feeling.
Are your convictions so fragile that mine cannot stand in opposition to them? Is your God so illusory that the presence of my Devil reveals his insufficiency?
The mechanism that directs government cannot be virtuous, because it is impossible to thwart every crime, to protect oneself from every criminal without being criminal too; that which directs corrupt mankind must be corrupt itself; and it will never be by means of virtue, virtue being inert and passive, that you will maintain control over vice, which is ever active: the governor must be more energetic than the governed.
Prejudice is the sole author of infamies: how many acts are so qualified by an opinion forged out of naught but prejudice!
Greed's worst point is its ingratitude.
The three Divine are in this hierarchy, First the Dominions, and the Virtues next;_x000D_ _x000D_ And the third order is that of the Powers. The in the dances twain penultimate_x000D_ _x000D_ The Principalities and Archangels wheel; The last is wholly of angelic sports._x000D_ _x000D_ These orders upward all of them are gazing,_x000D_ _x000D_ And downward so prevail, that unto God_x000D_ _x000D_ They all attracted are and all attract.
Was there ever a time when the majority was right?
I guess it's wrong always to be worrying about tomorrow. Maybe we should think about today..." "No, that's giving up... I'm still hpoing that yesterday will get better.
Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people, who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow the seeds of discontent amongst them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary. Without them, in our incomplete state, there would be no advance towards civilization.
There is a world inside the world.
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