17 quotes
A person must have lost his mind to believe in God.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
Fear and ignorance, you will continue, are two mainstays of any and all religions.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
Benevolence is more a vice of pride than a true virtue of the soul.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
Modesty is an old-fashioned virtue, which, given your charms, you must certainly do without.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
The law which attempts a man's life [capital punishment] is impractical, unjust, inadmissible. It has never repressed crime—for a second crime is every day committed at the foot of the scaffold.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
Never will a free man bow to the gods of Christianity; never will its dogmas, never will its rites, never its mysteries, never its morals be suitable for a republican.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
After demonstrating that theism is unsuitable for a republican government, I find it crucial to prove that French morals are likewise inappropriate.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
Lewd women, let the voluptuous Saint-Ange be your model; after her example, be heedless of all that contradicts pleasure's divine laws, by which all her life she was enchained.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
Oh, you, who are clutching the sickle, give the tree of superstition its final stroke. Do not be content with hacking off the branches. Tear out by its roots a plant with such noxious effects.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
Let us leave off believing that religion can be useful to man. Instead, let us have good laws, and we can then do without religion.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
Survey the histories of all nations. You will never see them exchange their form of government for a monarchy, given their gradation by superstition; you will always see kings supporting religion, and religion supporting kings.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
No act of possession can be exercised on a free being; it is as unjust to own a wife monogamously as it is to own slaves. All men are born free, all are equal before the law; we must never lose sight of these principles. Hence, no sex is granted the legitimate right to seize the other sex exclusively, and never can any sex or any class possess the other arbitrarily.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
You young maidens, too long constrained by a fanciful Virtue's absurd and dangerous bonds and by those of a disgusting religion, imitate the fiery Eugénie; be as quick as she to destroy, to spurn all those ridiculous precepts inculcated in you by imbecile parents.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
The total annihilation of divine worship, which we are spreading through Europe. We should not be content with shattering scepters, we must smash idols forever. There has never been more than one step from superstition to royalism.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
The philosopher must teach these pupils [French students] that it is far less essential to understand nature than to enjoy and respect its laws; that these laws are both wise and simple; that they are written in all human hearts, and that one need merely question a heart in order to appreciate its impulses.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
The pleasures I tried to deny myself of assailed my mind all the more ardently; and I saw that if a person is born, like me, to debauchery, it is useless to apply restraints: fiery desires will soon shattter them. Ultimately, my dear, I'm an amphibious creature: I love everything, I enjoy everything, I want to try all kinds of pleasures.
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)
We must pity those who have such singular tastes, but never insult them: their lack is a lack in nature. They are no more the masters of arriving in this world with bizarre tastes that we are the masters of arriving bowlegged or shapely. Besides, is a man saying something disagreeable to you when he reveals his desire to enjoy you? Absolutely not! He's paying you a compliment!
Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795)