Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

It is merely the egoism of the man, who wants to bury a woman like a treasure. All attempts at using vows,…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Every woman has the instinct, the propensity to profit from her charms, and there's a lot to be said for giving oneself…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Whoever allows himself to be whipped, deserves to be whipped.

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

“The real comic muse is the one underwhose laughing mask tears roll down.”

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Be then my slave, and know what it means to be delivered into the hands of a woman.

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Man is the one who desires, woman the one who is desired. This is woman's entire but decisive advantage. Through man's passions,…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

I saw sensuality as sacred, indeed the only sacredness, I saw woman and her beauty as divine since her calling is the…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

“Yes, I am cruel—since you take so much delight in that word-and am I not entitled to be so? Man is the…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

“Place thy foot upon thy slave, Oh thou, half of hell, half of dreams; Among the shadows, dark and grave, Thy extended…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

“All about us the earth steamed; mists rose up toward heaven like clouds of incense; a shattered rainbow still hovered in the…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

“Why not?" she said, "and take note of what I am about to say to you. Never feel secure with the woman…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

People who want to live like Olympian gods must have slaves whom they throw into their fishponds and gladiators who fight during…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Cats exercise... a magic influence upon highly developed men of intellect. This is why these long-tailed Graces of the animal kingdom, these…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

The true comic muse is the one with tears running down under her laughing mask.

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

“The individual who rebels against the arrangements of society is ostracized, branded, stoned. So be it. I am willing to take the…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

“You of the North in general take love too soberly and seriously. You talk of duties where there should be only a…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

If I can't enjoy the full and total happiness of love, then I want to drain its torments, its tortures to the…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

“She had wrapped her marble-like body in a huge fur, and rolled herself up trembling like a cat.”

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

“But why talk in superlatives, as if something that is beautiful could be surpassed?”

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Love knows no virtue, no merit; it loves and forgives and tolerates everything because it must. We are not guided by reason...

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

I love her passionately with a morbid intensity; madly as one can only love a woman who never responds to our love…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

You are cold, while you yourself fan flames.

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

My heart is a void, dead, and this makes me sad.

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

I imagine that the goddess of Love has come down from Olympus to visit a mortal. So as not to die of…

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

Why become well-versed in science and the arts if not to impress a lovely little woman?

— Leopold von Sacher-Masoch