Quotations

"Wonder is the first of all the passions."

— Rene Descartes, French philosopher, born 1596

"Illusory joy is often worth more than genuine sorrow."

— Rene Descartes, French philosopher, born 1596

"An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?"

— Rene Descartes, French philosopher, born 1596

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."

— Rene Descartes, French philosopher, born 1596

"Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems."

— Rene Descartes, French philosopher, born 1596

"A truly submissive woman is to be treasured, cherished and protected for it is only she who can give a man the gift of dominance."

— Anne Desclos, French journalist, born 1907

"Lovers and mystics are familiar with this sense of grandeur, this taste of joy - in abandoning oneself to the will of others."

— Anne Desclos, French journalist, born 1907

"A man in love is the master, so it seems, but only if his lady friend permits it! The need to interchange the roles of slave and master for the sake of the relationship is never more clearly demonstrated than in the course of an affair. Never is the complicity between victim and executioner more essential. Even chained, down on her knees, begging for mercy, it is the woman, finally, who is in command. The all powerful slave, dragging herself along the ground at her master's heels, is now really the god. The man is only her priest, living in fear and trembling of her displeasure."

— Anne Desclos, French journalist, born 1907

"I think that submissiveness can be and is a formidable weapon, which women will use as long as it isn't taken from them."

— Anne Desclos, French journalist, born 1907

"Woman is the divine object, violated, endlessly sacrificed yet always reborn, whose only joy, achieved through a subtle interplay of images, lies in contemplation of herself."

— Anne Desclos, French journalist, born 1907

"I wrote 'The story of O' alone, for Dominique Aury, to interest him, to please him, to occupy him. I wasn't young, nor particularly pretty. I needed something which might interest a man like him."

— Anne Desclos, French journalist, born 1907

"I think I have a repressed bent for the military, I like discipline without question, specific schedules and duties."

— Anne Desclos, French journalist, born 1907

"To me faith means not worrying."

— John Dewey, American scholar, born 1859

"We only think when we are confronted with problems."

— John Dewey, American psychologist and philosopher, born October 20, 1859