“Sade's atheism was heavily influenced by the work of two materialist philosophers of the Enlightenment: La Mettrie's Man Machine (1748) and Baron d'Holbach's The System of Nature (1770).”— John Phillips (2015), How to Read Sade (pg. #)
“Sade had an interesting philosophy: since criminal sexual acts exist, they are a part of natural human behavior. It can be argued that to de Sade, these acts were actually natural and, to him, the expression of his love or passion. The Marquis had an IQ which proved him to be a genius. He was a very rational and intelligent man, and yet, in his mind, his way of life was his reality. It was said to be a sickness and he could not distinguish between what was right in his mind and what was accepted in society. He automatically allowed his id to control his actions, seeking instant gratification and control. The Marquis went on to father three children, remaining in and out of jail until 1803 for his indecencies and the women he murdered. He finally died in 1814 in an insane asylum.”— Anon (c.2005), “The Enigma of the Marquis de Sade” (Ѻ)
Etchings by Marquis Sade and his sexual pleasure based Epicurean philosophy adventures, about which he had legal and political views on. |
“Religion — as noted by Marquis de Sade (1797), Novalis (1798), Marx (1843), and Dirac (1927) — is but an opiate or opium for the mind; and like all drugs, it can be replaced, upgraded, or in some cases treated, with a better or less symptomatic one.”— Libb Thims (2014), personal note, Sep 17
“Justine may be the most read and it follows the life of a young woman whose life is filled with one sadist after another throughout the book. Justine can be considered an advanced graduate course compared to the recent popular book 50 Shades of Gray. The Philosophy in the Bedroom is another erotic tale of the corruption of a young girl. One perverse woman, with help from corrupt men, teaches her every kind of sexual perversion that can be imagined.”— Joseph Truncale (2015), Amazon review, Mar 3 (Ѻ)
“To refuse me Jean-Jacques’ Confessions, now there’s an excellent thing, above all after having sent me Lucretius and the dialogues of Voltaire; that demonstrates great judiciousness, profound discernment in your spiritual guides. Alas, they do me much honor in reckoning that the writings of a deist can be dangerous reading for me; would that I were still at that stage.”— Marques de Sadi (1783), “Letter to Madame de Sade”, Vincennes prison; in: Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings (pg. 133) [2]
“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 Sade (c.1795) (Ѻ)
“The idea of god is the sole wrong for which I cannot forgive mankind.”— Marquis de Sade (c.1795) (Ѻ)
“Sex is as important as eating or drinking and we ought to allow the one appetite to be satisfied with as little restraint or false modesty as the other.”— Marquis de Sade (c.1795) (Ѻ)
“Social order at the expense of liberty is hardly a bargain.”— Marquis de Sade (c.1795) (Ѻ)