Romanticism, like the Rousseauist Swinging Sixties, misunderstands the Dionysian as the pleasure principle, when it is in fact the gross continuum of pleasure-pain. Worshiping nature and seeking political and sexual freedom, Romanticism ends in imaginative entrammelment of every kind. Perfect freedom is intolerable and therefore impossible.

— Camille Paglia Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990)

More quotes by Camille Paglia

Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990)

Sex, Art and American Culture : New Essays (1992)

Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990)

Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990)

Sex, Art and American Culture : New Essays (1992)

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