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About this quote

What does it mean?
The quote equates sexual appetite with basic needs, urging minimal restraint.
In plain terms
Sex should be as free as eating or drinking.
What can you take from it?
Treat sexual desire without a natural bodily need.

Where it applies

  • in personal relationships
  • in discussions of morality

Putting it to work

  • advocate for sexual openness
  • challenge double standards

Questions to consider

  • Is sexual freedom comparable to hunger?
  • Where should limits be drawn?

Another view

It overlooks consent and social context.

More from Donatien de Sade

  1. One must do violence to the object of one's desire; when it surrenders, the pleasure is greater.

    Permalink to quote #17
  2. Sex without pain is like food without taste.

    Permalink to quote #19
  3. Lycurgus, Numa, Moses, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, all these great rogues, all these great thought-tyrants, knew how to associate the divinities they fabricated wi…

    Permalink to quote #16

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