Libertinism Quotes

“The ditch once covered over, above it acorns shall be strewn, in order that the spot become green again, and the copse grown back thick over it, the traces of my grave may disappear from the face of the earth as I trust the memory of me shall fade out of the minds of all men save nevertheless for those few who in their goodness have loved me until the last and of whom I carry away a sweet remembrance with me to the grave."
Last Will and Testament (1806)”
― Marquis de Sade

“Because what she disliked in men was not their eroticism, but their assumption that women had none. Which left women with nothing to be but housemaids.”
― Marian Engel, Bear

“For – as everyone knows – in libertinism bad taste is a potent force. ("A Woman's Vengeance")”
― Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, Les Diaboliques

“O álcool e as mulheres me proporcionaram, devo confessar, o único consolo de que era digno. Confio-lhe este segredo, caro amigo, e não tenha receio de valer-se dele. Compreenderá, então, que a verdadeira libertinagem é libertadora, porque não impõe qualquer obrigação. Na libertinagem, só se possui a si próprio; ela permaneceu, pois, a ocupação preferida dos grandes apaixonados por sua própria pessoa. É uma selva, sem futuro nem passado, e, sobretudo, sem promessas nem sanção imediata. Os lugares nos quais ela se exercita são separados do mundo. Deixam-se, ao entrar, tanto o medo quanto a esperança. A conversa não é obrigatória; o que se vem procurar pode ser obtido sem palavras e, muitas vezes, até sem dinheiro. Ah! Eu lhe peço, deixe-me prestar uma especial homenagem às mulheres desconhecidas e esquecidas que então me ajudaram. Ainda hoje, mistura-se à lembrança que guardei delas algo semelhante a respeito.”
― Albert Camus

“Theocracy is the destruction of human freedom in the name of God. Libertinism is the destruction of moral norms in the name of liberty. Neither will do.”
― Robert Sirico, Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy

“By appealing to his imagination, a pornographic novel brings the reader’s body into play; libertine fiction appeals only to his mind. The goal of the former is erotic pleasure, or rather the desire to experience erotic pleasure, which the pornographic novel, obviously, cannot satisfy by itself. It is in this regard merely an intermediary, a stimulant, a kind of literary pimp.

With libertine fiction, the goal is that of overcoming the prejudices of some of the characters, which are assumed to be the same as those of the reader. The reader is somewhat the equivalent of the fictional object of seduction.”
― Jean-Marie Goulemot