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
What this quote means
The quote expresses a strong insistence on authenticity and self-acceptance.
Marquis De Sade’s 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.
Themes
AuthenticitySelf-AcceptanceChangeIntegritySelf
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about embracing one’s true self.
More from Marquis De Sade
All quotes →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.
Marquis De SadeRead
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.
Marquis De SadeRead
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?
Marquis De SadeRead
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.
Marquis De SadeRead
Prejudice is the sole author of infamies: how many acts are so qualified by an opinion forged out of naught but prejudice!
Marquis De SadeRead
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