Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II Quotes

“We owe more to habit than to Nature, my friend. The latter creates us; the other shapes us.”
― Marquis de Sade, Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II

“Slender and lissome, Zilia had skin of the purest white and features the very emblem of candor and modesty; her large dark blue eyes, more tender than lively, seemed to express love at the height of delicacy, sentiment at its most voluptuous. Her mouth was deliciously formed, her teeth white and beautiful; she seemed a little pale until one's gaze fell upon her and then she burst to life, fresh as a rose. Her brow was noble, her hair, so nicely patterned, ashen blonde in great quantity, elegantly matched by the gracious contours of her veil, streaming across alabaster breasts, always exposed in accord with the fashion of the country—all finally lent this pretty woman the air of a goddess of youth. She had just reached her 16th year, still growing despite all, her arms lithe and fingers to our eyes so very supple and slender.”
― Marquis de Sade, Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II

“For any citizen who does wrong you must have but one objective. If you wish to be fair, let his punishment be useful to him and others; anything that deviates from that aim is infamy.”
― Marquis de Sade, Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II

“Here a philosopher might profit from the study of man, observing with what rapidity a change in atmosphere drives him from one state to another. An hour ago our sailors were drunk and cursing. Now they raised their hands to implore Heaven’s protection. Fear is truly the wellspring of religion and, as Lucretius said, the mother of all cults. Were man gifted with a better constitution and a nature less prone to disorder, we’d never hear talk of gods on earth.”
― Marquis de Sade, Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II

“Just because, there exist no reports of any kind concerning these territories, I imagine you'd be interested in learning a few details concerning the way these people live. I shall understate some things when it comes to introducing indecencies; but, to remain truthful I'll sometimes be obliged to reveal horrors you'll find revolting. How otherwise could I describe the cruelest and most dissolute people on earth?”
― Marquis de Sade, Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II

“Virtue, always more useful to others than to us, is not the essential thing; truth alone serves us and if we find it only by moving away from virtue, is it not better to reach the light by such diversion than remain in the dark and be a good-hearted dupe?”
― Marquis de Sade, Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II

“That men cannot do without the absurd idea of an afterlife is a peculiar mania of mankind.”
― Marquis de Sade, Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II

“Everywhere I saw much vice and little virtue; everywhere I found the vanity, envy, avarice, and intemperance that enslaved the weak to the whims of the strong; everywhere I could divide man into two classes, to be pitied equally. In one, the rich man was a slave to his pleasures; in the other, the poor man a victim of fate—yet I never perceived in one the urge to do better nor in the other the possibility of becoming better, as if both cultivated their common unhappiness and sought only to add shackles to shackles. The wealthiest among them invariably tightened his chains by doubling his desires while the poorest, insulted and mistrusted by the other, received not the slightest encouragement necessary to bear his burden.”
― Marquis de Sade, Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II

“Think again, Frenchman—think and don't be angry if a reasonable stranger traveling through your nation often finds it a center of madness and absurdity.”
― Marquis de Sade, Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II

“For the state is everything here. It nourishes the citizen, raises his children, cares for him, judges and condemns him; and of this state I am merely the first citizen.”
― Marquis de Sade, Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II

“On the altar steps before my eyes was the most horrible scene. The King had just committed a human sacrifice; this palace was also his temple. His just-murdered victims were still palpitating at the feet of the idol. Lacerations covered the wretched victims and blood flowed everywhere, with heads separated from bodies—all of it combined to chill my senses. I flinched from horror.”
― Marquis de Sade, Aline and Valcour, or, the Philosophical Novel, Vol. II