Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos Quotes

Moreover it is easier, in the informality of conversation, to achieve that excitement and incoherence which is the true eloquence of love.
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
One must not permit oneself excesses, except with persons whom one wishes soon to leave.
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
It was there, in particular, that I confirmed the truth that love, which we cry up as the source of our pleasures, is nothing more than an excuse for them.
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
Truth to tell, the longer I live, the more I'm tempted to think that the only moderately worthwhile people in the world are you and I.
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
...it is not for the illusion of a moment to govern the choice of a lifetime.
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
Will you, then, never grow weary of being unjust?
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
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?
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
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.
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
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.
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
How characteristic of your perverse heart that longs only for what happens to be out of reach.
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
When one woman strikes at the heart of another, she seldom misses, and the wound is invariably fatal.
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
Don't you remember that love, like medicine, is only the art of encouraging nature?
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
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.
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos
You may conquer her love of God: you will never overcome her fear of the devil.
Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos de Laclos