Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos

“When one woman strikes at the heart of another, she seldom misses, and the wound is invariably fatal.”

“You may conquer her love of God: you will never overcome her fear of the devil.”

“It has become necessary for me to have this woman, so as to save myself from the ridicule of being in love with her: for to what lengths will a man not be driven by thwarted desire?”

“...it is not for the illusion of a moment to govern the choice of a lifetime.”

“He'd call me false and faithless and I've always had a weakness for those two words; next to cruel, they're the nicest words for a woman to hear, and not so hard to earn.”

“Don't you remember that love, like medicine, is only the art of encouraging nature?”

“Will you, then, never grow weary of being unjust?”

“Now, I'm not going to deny that I was aware of your beauty. But the point is, this has nothing to do with your beauty. As I got to know you, I began to realise that beauty was the least of your qualities. I became fascinated by your goodness. I was drawn in by it. I didn't understand what was happening to me. And it was only when I began to feel actual, physical pain every time you left the room that it finally dawned on me: I was in love, for the first time in my life. I knew it was hopeless, but that didn't matter to me. And it's not that I want to have you. All I want is to deserve you. Tell me what to do. Show me how to behave. I'll do anything you say.”

“Humanity is not perfect in any fashion; no more in the case of evil than in that of good. The criminal has his virtues, just as the honest man has his weaknesses.”

“How characteristic of your perverse heart that longs only for what happens to be out of reach.”