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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests navigating societal constraints with discretion while finding private means of self-expression and freedom.
Marquis De Sade's quote addresses the tension between public constraints imposed by societal laws and personal desires. He advocates for a careful balance between outward conformity and inner freedom, implying that while one may have to suppress true feelings in public due to societal expectations, it is essential to seek solace and self-expression in private, where authentic emotions can be explored without judgment. This reflects a broader commentary on the conflict between societal norms and individual liberties.
Themes
SocietyDiscretionPrivacyFreedomExpression
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about societal norms and personal expression during a philosophy class.
More from Marquis De Sade
All quotes →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
Imperious, choleric, irascible, extreme in everything, with a dissolute imagination the like of which has never been seen, atheistic to the point of fanaticism, there you have me in a nutshell, and kill me again or take me as I am, for I shall not change.
Marquis De SadeRead
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