Pierre A.F. Choderlos de Laclos
Pierre Ambroise François Choderlos de Laclos (1741-1803) was a French novelist, official and army general, best known for writing the epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses.
A unique case in French literature, he was for a long time considered to be as scandalous a writer as the Marquis de Sade or Nicolas-Edme Rétif. He was a military officer with no illusions about human relations, and an amateur writer; however, his initial plan was to "write a work which departed from the ordinary, which made a noise, and which would remain on earth after his death"; from this point of view he mostly attained his goals, with the fame of his masterwork Les Liaisons dangereuses . It is one of the masterpieces of novelistic literature of the 18th century, which explores the amorous intrigues of the aristocracy. It has inspired a large number of critical and analytic commentaries, plays, and films.
Cyrillic profile: Шодерло дьо Лакло
“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.”
“I willingly allow that money does not guarantee happiness; but it must also be allowed that it makes happiness a great deal easier to achieve.”
“...it is not for the illusion of a moment to govern the choice of a lifetime.”
“Don't you remember that love, like medicine, is only the art of encouraging nature?”
“I see you are already as timid as a slave: you might as well be in love.”
“You may conquer her love of God: you will never overcome her fear of the devil.”
“How characteristic of your perverse heart that longs only for what happens to be out of reach.”
“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?”
“Je sentis que le seul homme avec qui je pouvais parler sur cet objet, sans me compromettre, était mon Contesseur. Aussitôt je pris mon parti; je surmontai ma petite honte; et me vantant d'une faute que je n'avais pas commise, je m'accusai d'avoir fait tout ce que font les femmes. Ce fut mon expression; mais en parlant ainsi je ne savais en vérité quelle idée j'exprimais. Mon espoir ne fut ni tout à fait trompé, ni entièrement rempli; la crainte de me trahir m'empêchait de m'éclairer : mais le bon Père me fit le mal si grand que j'en conclus que le plaisir devait être extrême; et au désir de le connaitre succéda celui de le goûter.”
“If, for example, I had just as much love as you had virtue (and that is surely saying a lot) it is not astonishing that one should end at the same time as the other. It is not my fault.”