It grieved him plaguily, he said, to see the nuptial couch defrauded of its dearest pledges: and to reflect upon so many agreeable females with rich jointures, a prey for the vilest bonzes, who hide their flambeau under a bushel in an uncongenial cloister or lose their womanly bloom in the embraces of some unaccountable muskin when they might multiply the inlets of happiness, sacrificing the inestimable jewel of their sex when a hundred pretty fellows were at hand to caress, this, he assured them, made his heart weep. James Joyce
About This Quote

The Marquis de Sade, a French nobleman and writer, was known for his sadistic novels. In The 120 Days of Sodom, the Marquis tells his readers that he feels sadness at the thought of all the young women who would prefer to marry a man over him and become “a prey for the vilest bonzes” instead. He feels that they should be married to men who treat them well and love them and that they should not be married to an old or ugly man just because he is rich. This shows that he thinks it is very important for people to marry for love. He wants people who are married to be happy with their spouses and not married to someone who does not make them happy.

Source: Ulysses

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